Quick NOTD, last night filed my nails to the minimum length possible as part of my January "assume it's broken and darn well fix it" programme of self improvement. My nails are pretty ok at the moment, even the hideous full length flake on my right index finger is pretty much grown out (tempting fate or what?) but they are still getting lots of attention. My regime of Nailactan nightly after an application of Mavala Cuticle oil, hand cream all day long and twice weekly applications of Scientifique is still ensuring that my nails are looking good, I might not be the biggest fan of Mavala polishes but I have yet to find nail care products that deliver other than these. If you have flaking, peeling, weak nails you need this trinity of nail care in your life imo.
So China Glaze Stella vibrant purple with red shimmer to give a high gloss magenta finish. Application is all you would expect, perfect formula, fantastic brush that whilst long is still easy to use even on my very small nails. Wear is brilliant with this and whilst I was hankering after a burgundy cream polish this morning this one caught my eye instead. I am definitely going to apply a coat of Nails Inc London Bridge before I take this off just to see how it looks!
Excuse slightly chipped Nails Inc, its been on since Sat eve with no top coat. But look and marvel at the improvement in my nails! I am delighted. All I had wanted to achieve was short and without flakes as I don't do long nails and bar one patch on the tip of my left hand ring finger nail we are pretty much flake free. This is how they looked 9th Jan, not a pretty sight. They had a month with no polish which made no difference, just to be clear the no polish wasn't really about avoiding polish, it was about avoiding nail polish remover. So after a month with no discernible improvement I went right back to my old habits, but this time including Mavala Scientifique once a week and Nailactan every single night; brush teeth, say prayers (Dear God, please help me find a way to afford Illamsqua Scarab AND Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua on Saturday. Thank you. Amen), apply Nailactan, schimples.
Next time I have 5 mins between polish applications I'll get a naked nails pic so you can see just how the flakes have improved. Happy Monday all.
Post Edit: sometimes our prayers are answered! The incredibly fantastic and wonderful Helen at Sparklz & Shine has just sent me a link to Scarab and Viridian at the stupid price of £11.50 on ASOS, with free next day delivery today into the bargain! Don't mind telling you am giddy with excitement!!
My hands and nails are incredibly dry at the moment. Have been using Nail Envy since November on my nails but not seeing any great benefits. Was reading Lady of the Lane last week and noticed Charlie had been getting great results with the Mavala range so I decided to give it a whirl.
In the interest of being scientific here are photos of my nails as they look today. Brace yourselves its not pretty!
Left hand top pic and right hand bottom. Look at that flaking, these pics are making me cringe and I apologise now if you are sat with your arms crossed and your hands trapped in each armpit to protect them from these images!
I am going to start today with the Mavala hardener, which contains formaldehyde and carries all manner of dire warnings and will continue with the Nail Envy on top of that until I get chance to pick up one or both of the cream and serum Charlie has been using to hydrate her nail bed and cuticles. Certainly looking at her pics these products have really worked for her. I am not wanting to get my nails longer, I really like them this sort of length but I want all 10 of them completely flake free so fingers crossed!
Update since I wrote this: have been using the Mavala Scientifique, perhaps a tad more frequently than I should, and have decided on a total ban on nail varnish for a month - although not totally sure I can stick to that. Have only used the hardener, hand cream and olive oil for the last few days and already my nails and hands are looking so much better. Am thinking if I can stick to my no nail varnish rule then I might treat myself to something fab at the start of Feb to break the ban. At the moment thinking Illamasqua Scarab..... but prepared to be inspired - please tell me, if you were about to break a self-imposed month long nail varnish ban which polish would you really really want to break it with?
