Beauty

[ChynnaBlue]

Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore today.

[lulu2]

I am truly flabbergasted by the number of responses to a thread I started. In all my years here, I've seldom reached double digits! Thanks for your posts and hopefully we can keep it going.

[RinaRina]

On 10/21/2014 lulu2 said:

I am truly flabbergasted by the number of responses to a thread I started. In all my years here, I've seldom reached double digits! Thanks for your posts and hopefully we can keep it going.

I hope so too! I'm always interested in what colors people are wearing.

[Hoovermom]

How does someone who has had acrylics for 25+ years get started doing her own nails? Seriously, I read all of your posts and am amazed how beautiful all of your nails are. I wish I could accomplish the look without anyone knowing that I did them LOL. Anyway, you all are an inspiration. It would have to be baby steps for me. Have a great week.

[woodyend]

On 10/21/2014 LipstickDiva said:

I tried to post a picture of my color and it came out ginormous. LOL

Do you have link?

[ChynnaBlue]

On 10/21/2014 Hoovermom said:

How does someone who has had acrylics for 25+ years get started doing her own nails? Seriously, I read all of your posts and am amazed how beautiful all of your nails are. I wish I could accomplish the look without anyone knowing that I did them LOL. Anyway, you all are an inspiration. It would have to be baby steps for me. Have a great week.

I bit my nails until I was 39 and now strangers compliment me on my nails and ask where I get them done, so I know the change you ask about it possible! I definitely took baby steps.

It takes a lot of practice. I started out with pale colors because then no one would be able to tell if I got polish all over. If you polish at night, any polish you get on your skin will usually wash off in the shower the next morning, so that's also a big help! You can also use a small liner brush dipped in acetone to clean up any areas where you missed.

The frustrating part is usually finding the right base/top coat combination that works for you. The right combination usually provides days worth of wear and the wrong combination results in chips and peels. Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" and things that I swear by were a disaster for my friend and the things she loves don't work for me. I've also found that I need to change my favorite base coat every so often because whatever I've loved for ages will eventually stop working for me (or be discontinued) and the search stars over. But once I get the right combination, painting my own nails is fun and relaxing. I do it while I watch TV at night.

[lulu2]

On 10/21/2014 Hoovermom said:

How does someone who has had acrylics for 25+ years get started doing her own nails? Seriously, I read all of your posts and am amazed how beautiful all of your nails are. I wish I could accomplish the look without anyone knowing that I did them LOL. Anyway, you all are an inspiration. It would have to be baby steps for me. Have a great week.

Hoovermom, keep in mind, some of the pictures are from blogs that swatch colors.

I wore acrylics for a few years. When I decided to get rid of them, I continued to get professional manicures. I used Nailtiques #2 and Barielle Liquid Protein. I was lucky that my girl always hand filed and never used a dremel or cheap products so my nails were not paper thin.

I get a professional manicure every 2 weeks and have a polish change (usually do it myself) in between. I have one nail with a chronic split and keep a tip on it or nail glue with acrylic powder. I'm lucky I do not get a lot of chipping with most brands. Truthfully my natural nails are more work than my acrylics ever were. With them I went every 2 weeks and never worried about polish chipping or nails breaking.

[Hoovermom]

On 10/21/2014 ChynnaBlue said:

On 10/21/2014 Hoovermom said:

How does someone who has had acrylics for 25+ years get started doing her own nails? Seriously, I read all of your posts and am amazed how beautiful all of your nails are. I wish I could accomplish the look without anyone knowing that I did them LOL. Anyway, you all are an inspiration. It would have to be baby steps for me. Have a great week.

I bit my nails until I was 39 and now strangers compliment me on my nails and ask where I get them done, so I know the change you ask about it possible! I definitely took baby steps.

It takes a lot of practice. I started out with pale colors because then no one would be able to tell if I got polish all over. If you polish at night, any polish you get on your skin will usually wash off in the shower the next morning, so that's also a big help! You can also use a small liner brush dipped in acetone to clean up any areas where you missed.

The frustrating part is usually finding the right base/top coat combination that works for you. The right combination usually provides days worth of wear and the wrong combination results in chips and peels. Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" and things that I swear by were a disaster for my friend and the things she loves don't work for me. I've also found that I need to change my favorite base coat every so often because whatever I've loved for ages will eventually stop working for me (or be discontinued) and the search stars over. But once I get the right combination, painting my own nails is fun and relaxing. I do it while I watch TV at night.

Thank you ChynnaBlue for those tips. I guess a lot of it is trial and error.

[Hoovermom]

On 10/21/2014 lulu2 said:

On 10/21/2014 Hoovermom said:

How does someone who has had acrylics for 25+ years get started doing her own nails? Seriously, I read all of your posts and am amazed how beautiful all of your nails are. I wish I could accomplish the look without anyone knowing that I did them LOL. Anyway, you all are an inspiration. It would have to be baby steps for me. Have a great week.

Hoovermom, keep in mind, some of the pictures are from blogs that swatch colors.

I wore acrylics for a few years. When I decided to get rid of them, I continued to get professional manicures. I used Nailtiques #2 and Barielle Liquid Protein. I was lucky that my girl always hand filed and never used a dremel or cheap products so my nails were not paper thin.

I get a professional manicure every 2 weeks and have a polish change (usually do it myself) in between. I have one nail with a chronic split and keep a tip on it or nail glue with acrylic powder. I'm lucky I do not get a lot of chipping with most brands. Truthfully my natural nails are more work than my acrylics ever were. With them I went every 2 weeks and never worried about polish chipping or nails breaking.

Thank you Lulu2 - I actually asked my tech about switching to manicures and she basically told me my nails were too thin. No wonder they are thin due to how long I have been getting acrylics LOL (10+ years with them). I just took my nails off this week for a breather and plan on going in and asking for a manicure. Wish me luck!!!

[WhateverLolaWants]

On 10/21/2014 lulu2 said:

On 10/20/2014 WhateverLolaWants said:

On 10/20/2014 lulu2 said:

Thanks ladies for all the responses.

I've seen some lovely shades, particularly the Zoya polishes. I'll have to check my stash to see if I have any of them. When they run their specials I usually order, then do not remember what I purchased.

I will try Elmer's glue as a base for my glitter polishes.

Hi lulu, two of my "hints" -- OPI "Glitter Off" Base Coat, a commercial version of the Elmer's Glue, I suspect. And, I too forget what I have, so long ago, I started keeping a spread sheet on my computer of the polish colors I own under a heading for each brand. As soon as I buy or order a color, I add it to the spread sheet and this helps me not duplicate. It's also so much fun when I discover, "Yep, I already have that one!"

Lola, I just ordered the OPI base coat from eBay. ($7 and free shipping seemed reasonable abd saved me a trip to find it)

I really should do a spread sheet; I'm just afraid I'll be embarrassed when I see the actual number of polishes I have!

Hope you are well.

Good morning, lulu! Yes, thanks for asking, I am well and I hope you are too.

I agree, not having to go shopping to find a specific polish I want, often a lower price, no sales tax, free shipping, why not just order?! I ordered two colors yesterday from this thread .

When I got into nail art and needed lots more colors, I decided to stop beating myself up over my polish "addiction" (and struggling to limit my polish collection to no more than what would fit in one drawer) and call it my "hobby" -- no more guilt, and I'm not embarrassed, either! It's harmless IMHO, and there are WAY worse, more expensive things I'm NOT doing! I got clear, stacking drawers to hold and organize it. I try to keep colors grouped, but sometimes a polish gets "mis-filed" and I might not find it where I think it should be; having the spreadsheet helps me confirm I do have it.

Have a great day!