Nails: Acrylics vs Press Ons

Acrylics:
♦Last a long time
♦Have to go back for a fill after a week or two or the growth looks weird
♦Done by a professional
♦ Have to go to the salon to get them done (30 min-1 hour)
♦Have to pay the salon price ($20-50)
♦If you have sensitive nails it can hurt when they file them down
♦Different colors/designs
♦Hard to take off by yourself
♦Usually painful to take off regardless of if you go to the salon to do it
♦To have the removal process be pain free you would probably have to soak them in acetone for an hour
♦Damages your nail, either slightly or severely (makes them weak, leaves weird indentatoins)

Press Ons (with glue, not strip):
♦Can get these at any drugstore
♦Can do them yourself
♦Looks like salon nails
♦Much cheaper (around $8 usually)
♦Lasts a long time
♦No nail damage
♦Can take off quickly and pain-free by soaking in acetone for a minute or less and poking underneath with a nail tool (they pop right off)



These are press-ons. I definitely prefer them to acrylics. Cheap, easy to apply and take off, and

they have the same look as acrylics without damaging your nail, having to go into the salon, and spending the extra money.

Some people don't like them because they get air bubbles. I don't get bad ones, I just apply the glue directly onto the nail and press for a few seconds. If I get a tiny air bubble, it's barely noticable and still worth paying so much less without damaging the nail. Plus, most likely no one is going to be staring at them that hard. You might get some glue on your skin, but it rubs off usually within an hour. Just try not to get glue on the finger you press down on the nails with or it will take them off if the glue is still wet.

I wore these on my birthday, and painted a silver line above the white part with my nail art polish (the kind with the really thin brush). They can actually end up looking better than this; I accidentally got the wrong kind and had to file it down to fit my nail better. But for $8 and ten minutes I think it's a pretty good job. Just hold your nail up to the package to see if you get a good fit. They make them with longer or smaller nail beds, different sized and shaped tips, and even in different colors and with different designs, etc.

If you get sick of them after a few days you can take them right off without feeling bad that you spent a ton of money on them. You don't have to bite at them and rip them off painfully untill they come off tiny piece by tiny piece.

For the money and look they're so worth it, especially because you won't have to wait 3 months for the indented line on your nail from the acrylics to grow out! Or for them to get back to normal after being filed paper-thin at the salon. A lot of people don't even think of trying them, but they're definitely worth at least a try.

: )

Nails: Frost Bite

This dark electric blue called Frostbite, by China Glaze, is an interesting color. The shade is bright yet dark at the same time, and the blue is something that isn't seen as aften as say a nude or red. You might not want dark blue nails if you're working at a conservative company or something like that, but otherwise I think it's fun to play around with different colors. People will definitely notice and compliment "louder," more unique colors more than the more common ones.

Thanks for reading.

♥

Nails: Pink Flame

I found this color at a random beauty supply store, on sale for only $3.99. I love it because is pretty but unique, because in real life it actually looks a little bit more purple-y. A lot of brands have a lot of pink colors and a lot of purple colors, but not a lot of in betweens, so I really like this.



The brand is called Color Club and the color is Pink Flame. As you can see my nails are pretty short right now. I grow them long every now and then because they grow quickly, but if one breaks I'll cut them all off cause I like them to be the same lenghth. Shorter nails are definitely easier for contact lense wearers like me, though. And safer. I also like to file them in a square shape.

Thanks for Reading.

♥

Nails: No More Issues with This Quick Drying Topcoat

Pretty nails are a great way to make your overall look seem a little bit more polished. Nails that are taken care of show that you have good hygiene, and a little color or design shows you took a little time out of your day to pamper yourself or show a little creativity.

The problem when doing nails yourself, though, is that when you're at your house you're tempted to go do things before they're all the way dry. Or you might forget about them and go do something, and then notice your work is ruined. To me it is soo annoying to take the time out of one's day to polish your nails, and then within a few minutes to an hour there are smudges, wrinkles, or chips already. And this would happen to me 9.5 out of 10 times. So I would either redo it a hundred times (I'm kind of a perfectionist) or just leave it looking crappy, only for it to chip within the next day or two. But since I am a perfectionist, once it starts to chip I feel compelled to compusively peel off the polish wherever I am, untill I can get home to remove it. So this could happen the day of or after the application.

No matter what, polish seems to chip really easy on me. Most people love China Glaze, OPI, and Essie nail polish, some even say it won't chip for a whole week, but on me, regardless of whether I use a base coat, my polish usually chips within a few days. If I don't use a base though, it peels off in a few hours. I use Seche Clear Crystal Clear Base Coat. The chipping within a few days doesn't bother me now though, because I was used to it smudging within the day, but If ound a product that helps dries nails almost instantly, so redoing my polish isn't a big deal. It just takes a few minutes.

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat will dry your polish within 10-15 minutes (not the usual 1/2 hour to an hour). Since your polish will actually be dry, and quickly, your polish won't chip or smudge within that first day of application. Have you ever left a nail salon after waiting a 1/2 hour for it to dry, and then you realize it's chipped a few hours later anyway? And you think "Great, so for it to fully dry I would have had to wait like 3 hours? And I even spent all that money to get it done. Ridiculous. I'm never doing my nails again."

But now you can do your nails while you're watching TV, or online, or whatever, then wait a few minutes and they will be completely dry and won't chip. Seriously. I'm one of those people who would always have to redo my nails or even take off all the polish and give up because they would smudge super quickly (even if I built up the patience to wait a long time for them to dry before doing anything which is especially annoying). I do my nails so much more now because the process is so much easier/quicker/less annoying. Like I said though, for me, regardless of what brand I use they tend to chip within a few days, but I really don't mind because redoing them is super quick. (To be even more efficient you can you use pure acetone to remove polish, but be careful, it's super flammable and chemical-ly).

You can purchase both the Seche products Sally's, other beauty supply stores, and Ulta. You can get acetone at both those places and at drugstores, though it usually comes in a small round tub used for removing acrylics.

Do you use a quick drying top coat? Or any at all?

Thanks for Reading.

♥