Hello savants! Please forgive any formatting issues as I'm on the app. Long time lurker first time poster, reformed chronic nail biter and as you will learn painfully late to the party on how to Nail anything. As someone who had nothing but bloody nubs for the first 30 odd years of life, my collection consists of an eclectic variety of barely touched polishes obtained over the same amount of years, during occasional bursts of short-lived empowerment where I promised myself I would start taking care of my nails, lose 50 pounds and gain some god damn self respect. Proud to be here to tell you I finally met at least one of these pipe dreams and full credit is due to this group!
Because of yall, I learned lacquer 101 on basics of necessities beyond "ooga booga pretty color" and the order of operations required to get there. You taught me how to hydrate, oil and moisturize, buy a glass! file and use it, application techniques to include strokes and timing of coats, how to stop flooding my cuticles and how to fix it with a detail brush if I do. You shared with me the dangers of water and pro tips on how to avoid super big consequences from super small nuances. Could I have learned this stuff on some random blog article found through a Google search? I guess, but you don't know what you don't know, so I never knew how to identify the issues that I was having enough to ask the questions. I found answers through your discussions, even if most of what you queens talk about to this day is completely Greek to me.
Most importantly, yall taught me how to be kind to myself and show myself the same grace everyone is entitled to. To experiment wildly and let myself have it, to believe that I deserve to rock all the colors that I probably have no business wearing just like everyone else can, to laugh hard at the epic fails instead of using them as proof why I shouldn't try at all, to enjoy the journey of getting to the catwalk instead of holding myself to that level of perfection right out of the gate.
You might think I'm being dramatic, but believe me, nothing has come close to unlocking these chains of self-suppression quite like the little joys in manicures and experimentation have. Yall simply handed me the wisdom and the balls to do it.
Case in point: I just learned of "skittles" and thought this would be a great time to make use of some of the uglier, least appreciated polishes from ye olde times of yore. The 1st pic is when finished, but the 2nd pic is of pure colors in their glory at the 2nd coat stage. I wanted them to have a common skittle trait so I decided to experiment with a final layer of the Diamond Strength on every nail as other shades of this have shown to be sheer. It didn't quite work out the way I had hoped (thick overpowered, but thin streaked) but, alas, this is what trial and error is all about.
Please enjoy my broke-ass old-ass mix-and-match cheapy drug store collection of polishes and know YOU did this. YOU inspired this abomination.
Sally Hansen Strengthening Base Coat 555
Thumb and Pinky – Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nude Shimmer 420
Index – Sephora by OPI Curve-aceous 12192AXV SE 190 (is one of these an expiration date? Idfk)
Middle – essie no to-do 343
Ring – LA Colors color craze Orange Cream NP562
3rd coat on all of the Diamond Strength
Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat (not red bottle)
In closing, thank you, thank you, thank you, all that you divas do, and know that us plebs are watching, learning and appreciating everything you contribute. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to figure out what in the black magic fuckery magnetics are.
by dizzykhajit