Sunday, September 30, 2012

Nail care

Alrighty folks ! So I wanted to try out a new nail care routine and regimen . I was getting tired of growing my nails out the having them break one by one then eventually I was back at square one . Having to wait weeeeeeeeks for them to all grow back . I decided to do some research and came up with a new nail care routine adding to what I was already doing . On my research I looked to see what were good oils/creams and such to keep my nails moisturized and healthy .

What I was already taking and doing was :
-Every night before bed I took vitamins like Prenatal and Biotin Hair, skin and nails .( I wasnt being consistent with taking them everyday )
- 2x a day I would rub Burts Bees cuticle cream on my cuticles and nail beds  .
- Wore gloves any time I did the dishes

That all worked out fine and dandy but it just wasn't cutting it anymore for me , I still was having some issues and needed a little something more for my nails .

With the research that I did, I watched nail care videos and read up on the products that people were using in their nail care that had worked out well for them . Then after a little reading I made myself a list of things to go out and get .
What I did read a lot of was,  making sure you protected and moisturized both your nails and cuticles everyday . I didn't think about it till after someone said that when your are doing any small amount of cleaning make sure you wear gloves. I had a pair that I would use for when I did the heavy duty house cleaning . But as of late I've made sure that I wore them with annnny type of cleaning I was doing from Dishes, mirrors , counter tops ect. I made sure that I was wearing something to protect my nails. Im sure its not the 1st thing that comes to mind when you want to just wipe down your bathroom mirror. Is to throw on a pair of gloves for something small. But the chemicals in the cleaning products are very drying and can strip the oils and whatnot from your nails then you would start to have splitting or peeling of your nails after time of not protecting your nails.

So down below are weekly photos that I was taking to keep track of my nail growth and care routine .
I hope if you decide to try this out and it works for you please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know how it has gone for you .

DAY :1 
I filled and trimmed my nail to begin the process . 



Mixed up some of my own cuticle oil 




                               How I noticed the growth on my nails was some nails barely reached the tip of my fingers compared to a week later . Going into week one all I did was moisturize my nails with the oil mix( morning and night), I had nothing on my nails for the 1st week just left them bare. 








Ending week 1 : 
With ending week one going into week 2 ,  I am doing the same thing with the oil everyday 2x a day( more if my hands are in water a lot )  . Then at this point I am now adding a nail strengthener along with my oil routine . Any type of strengthener of your choice will work fine . Just follow the instructions of how often to reapply . 

My recommendations are :
*My HG ( i have like 5 back ups ! hah ) is Nail-aid triple thickener * 
  • Nail Tek foundation II ridge filler 
  • O.P.I Nail Envy in original or Matte 
  • Essie grow stronger  








Here on out I'm just continuing what I'm doing . 
Week 2 






Week 3 














 Week 5 to date * 8-17-12




week 6 to date *8-24-12



So as you all can see they have grown out pretty well in the weeks of keeping track. This has been THE best my nails have EVER looked.  And this has been the longest I have ever been able to grown my nails out. The length of week 2 was pretty much the length I could ever grow my nails out to . So the length that they are at now I am so excited and happy with. 
 I have only had 1 breakage with my right thumb with what I was doing at work , but ever since then it has grown back fast like a champ . hah
They have been flexible and strong , I have had so many incidents where in the past my nails were for sure goners and have broke. But as of late every time I do something I have that moment of pardon my language but SON OF A BITCH! it's a goner then look down and nothing has happened . No cracks or breaks when there would have been before.  

So next ill just kinda list off the things i now do and don't do .


  • Use a glass file , the regular kind are too abrasive 
  • File in one direction , not in the back and forth motion . It may seem like it's not a big deal but you are sawing the tips of your nails especially if you use a regular file.
  • Always wear gloves with any type of house work you are doing , big or small.
  • Wear gloves when doing dishes , constant exposure to water is not good for your nails.
  • Always moisturize your cuticles .
  • Try not to over buff your nails ... too much buffing makes your nails thin and prone to breaking (healthy nails do not need buffing . If your nails are healthy they will grow out smooth... I haven't had to buff my nails in weeks)
  • Starting out you  an use a nail hardener like Sally Hansen Triple Strength nail hardener, but id say only use it for a couple months to help the start of your nail growth.  But then after that switch to a nail strengthener . The hardeners takes the moisture out of your nails there for making them strong , doing that for too long will make them too dry then they can break. Most hardeners contain formaldehyde in them . 
  • Each time I give myself manicures I file then slightly , maybe up to 3-4 passes with my glass file to take away any possible micro splits that I may have. So that if I run my fingers thru my hair it wont snag and make it worse . 
  •  I oil my cuticles up to 3x a day more if I feel its necessary . Morning , noon and at night right before bed. ( I keep a small thing of cuticle oil on my side of the bed.
  • I do NOT use my nails as a tool anymore.  Not opening boxes with my nails.. not opening containers with my nails... not scratching things off of stuff ect. 
  • I take my vitamins every morning &  night before bed. 
  • You are what you eat I guess haha and drink so I mainly drink water in my day sometimes i'll let myself have 1 thing other then water .

My recommendations for moisturizer for your cuticles. I absolutely love these both 
LUSH - lemon flutter
Burts Bees - lemon cuticle cream 



I feel like I'm forgetting something but it's not coming to my mind right now . If it does hit me ill come back and update the post.

One more thing this has helped me out a great deal with my nails. This may or may not work for everyone. Some people are lucky to have naturally strong nails without doing anything extra. I however am not one of those. And have stuck to this routine for now going on 7 weeks and its going great . 

I hope you all have a great day ! <3



Sunday, September 2, 2012

DIY nail polish rack

Hey guys !!! 

Alrighty I have had some girls ask me how I made my nail polish rack , so I figured since Im making a new polish rack for my sister in law that id post it for all to see . =) 
I had originally made my 1st nail polish rack the same way everyone else had done it , using a glue gun , some foam boards and fancy smancy duct tape . Now with that being the fast and cheap route it didn't hold up for too long . A couple of the shelving had fallen off  Id fix them and they'd fall again .... lucky for me none of the polish bottles had any crazy breakage and I didn't get polish all over my floor . Unfortunately for some they were not so lucky in that and got polish on their carpet . So kicking myself for not  going the wood route the 1st time like I had wanted to I did foam board and kinda wasting my time and some money .

But now I am haaaapy as can be with my polish rack and have not had any issues with it  . 

This is my rack hanging right now <3


Below I have photos of the rack I just made for my sister in law . I tried to take photos as I went so that you too can make this polish rack .


I went to a local hardware store near my house which was Home Depo and headed towards the lumbar and came across these hobby boards  when I was making my polish rack . 





I just had the guy there cut them down to the lengths that I wanted . ( double check all the pieces next to  each other and make sure they are all the same before you leave ) 






There were 3 types of hobby wood I went with Poplar because it was the cheapest @ $1.84 a piece . 











What I did here was take some scotch tape and used that to hold the pieces together while I was figuring out the spacing for each shelf . Then I took a pen and marked the side panels for where each self was . 





The glue that I used was Gorilla wood glue ( you  can also find this at the hardware store)






  Make sure any glue that you pick up esspecially the gorilla glue that it says no foam . trust me you don't want that.  hahah 






 What I did here was glue the outside panels together and  used the same pieces of tape that I saved from the test run to hold the panels together . 
 I let that sit over night because I started this after I got off work so it was late , But letting the outside sit with out the inside panels was i think better for later . For when I go to do the shelves I don't have worry about being super careful.  








Again scotch tape to help =)









 After letting it dry a bit I go and add a little more glue now to the sides of the panels for added security.







Using my fingers to smooth out the glue














Double checking the spacing with the tallest polish bottle I  have.













After letting it sit and dry for a couple hours I went out and ran some errands ;-)



 Once the whole thing is good and dry I got some small nails to tack the shelves for another added security to the shelving . 













For a little added touch to my sister in laws polish rack I added her name to the top.













TADA!!!!! painted and completed !




I hope that this was helpfull to you guys annnd if you happen to try this out let me know =) 

have a greaaaaat day !!!