Sometimes I wonder why I bother? This post should have gone live at Christmas, but we all know what happened there, then I promised you it way back in March but again life got in the way again, and do you know what it just keeps getting in the way again, and again. I've got a little update post coming later this week but in the meantime here's a little nails of the day that I shot way back in December.
Over the last couple of years my nails have pretty much gone to hell, accurate reflections of my health I guess, but after scouring social media for nail growth tips I decided to give the whole BIAB, builder gel in a bottle thing a try. Basically builder gel is a thicker form of gel polish that can help support the growth of natural nails. I bought the stuff and started using it as both a sort of second base layer, and as a polish in it's own right, and gradually my nails started to grow.
Not super long by any stretch of the imagination but long enough to showcase a bit of colour and a tiny bit of easy nail art. My plan was to wear two different gel shades in December, a fabulous emerald green glitter for the big day itself, and this fabulous Sensationail Color Gel Polish in the shade of Disco Fever for the start of the month.
Disco Fever is a fabulous metallic silver with an almost holographic sparkle. These pictures really don't do it justice.
I must admit the coverage wasn't the best. It took 3 coats on top of a layer of base coat and a layer of builder gel, and it still looks slightly sheer in some of these pictures.
It's such a pretty shade though it's much of a neutral silver, rather than a bright, metallic silver if you know what I mean and of course I love anything with sparkle and holographic nail polishes really are my thing!
I think this final picture probably shows it off at it's best (excuse the dry cuticles!) the smoothness, and gloss of the polish, and of course the fabulous sparkle.
This polish certainly did it's thing for the for the first week or so of December, but for my festive cinema trip with one of my besties I thought they need a little bit of extra sparkle.
I do love me a nail sticker, and these silver snowflakes, added a festive twist to a my super sparkly mani and they also helped to detract from a weeks visible nail growth! Being silver on silver the effect was quite subtle (less so in real life though) but I still think it looked super pretty.
Being a gel polish the wear time was pretty good, I did add an extra coat of top coat when I added the nail stickers but after two weeks there were only a few tiny tiny chips, and a tiny bit of tip wear. The plan as I said earlier was to remove them on Christmas Eve and to do a new set in a gorgeous emerald sparkly green ahead of the big day but like so many plans I've made over the years it went quickly down the drain.
Instead I ended up with a horrible flu bug, and a hacking cough, being upright was hard enough let alone inhaling a load of chemicals so I left then be, with vague plan to remove them when I felt well enough. December ended and January began and still the lurgy continued, my nails just weren't a priority. They were grown out, chipped, a few had already peeled off and I bet you can guess what happened next? I did the worst thing I could possibly do and I picked and peeled the rest off.
Predictably my nails were shot- lifting, splinter hemmorhages, breaking and ultimately peeling off - the photos below show my nails on the 15th February this year, and even though I took these pictures when the bleeding and worst of the redness had subsided they weren't a pretty sight!
My immediate priority was to baby them, and give them some love so I bought some tea tree nail oil, and started to take care of them, with love, oil, and moisture. It's been a long journey, I'm talking one step forward, two steps back territory.
I've tried lots of different products, and whilst I still have a long to go to achieve the length that you can see in this Tik Tok (follow me on Tik Tok if you haven't already) they are much healthier, and I'm starting to see some growth in fact I even painted them for my birthday, with my old favourite Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer in 512 Cyberspace.
As I say still a long way to go length wise but at least I have something to work with - I've been taking pictures for months now monitoring my progress so when they've reached a level I'm happy with I'll be sharing an update post, showing time lapses and giving more info on some of the products that I've used and that I would recommend x In the meantime though I have definitely learned my lesson don't pick off your gel polish, take it off properly and respect those nails. Honestly this is nothing against the polish just my 'method' of removal, Disco Fever like a lot of Sensationail polish is quite hard to find now but there are a few available on eBay if you fancy giving it a try. If you have any questions or any nail growth tips please leave me a comment below x Thanks as per usual for sticking with me and I'll see you later this week with an update and life lately post x
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