Author: RiaG

Nail growing project: after 4 weeks

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A month has passed since I started my nail growing project. The tear on the thumbnail has now grown out and and the index fingernail finally grows healthier and doesn’t peel and break constantly. There’s still some acrylic damaged part left and some green spots that the green glitter acrylic dyed on the surface of my nails. For some reason my right hand nails were and still are in a better condition than my left hand nails so I’m using the left hand for the photos on this project. The right hand nails can be seen on the polish swatch photos.

I think that the green parts are gonna grow out during the next two weeks and there will be very little of the damaged part left. I hope I can soon start growing more lenght on my nails too.

To help my nails grow healthy and strong I’m still taking Biotin pills and using a lot of lotion and oils on my hands and nails. I keep my nails polished all the time cos that protects my nails and makes them stronger.

I still want to say this again.. acrylic nails don’t do that much damage to your natural nails if you remove then correctly, not as I did ;) My nails are naturally very thin and removing all the acrylic at once wasn’t very good for them.

 


Natural manicure for a change

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After all the colorful manis I felt like just having natural looking nails. I used a Finnish brand Lumene’s nail polish. Lumene Natural Code nail polish shade 03 Be Happy is just perfect for natural manicure.

Be Happy is milky, very sheer polish that gives your nails natural look. It lightens and smooth your nail color just a bit. This one is my go-to polish when I want natural but well maintained looking nails.

In this mani I used: OPI NNS x2, Be Happy x2 and Seche Vite.

After today I think I’ll be ready for more color on my nails :D

 

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Nail Color – Glow

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Once again, green :D Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine shade Glow lives up to it’s name. This one truly glows! Amazingly beautiful light green polish with a lot of gold shimmer. Pretty, pretty, pretty!! This also stayed on my nails without chipping.

Glow is thin and quite well pigmented. Two coats was enough for my nails. SH Lacquer Shine polishes have a thin and long brush but even with that this polish was easy to apply.

In this mani I used: OPI Nail Envy Soft & Thin x1, Glow x2 and Seche Vite.

 

Nail growing project: new products

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I have bought a few new products to help me with my nail growing project. Everything is going well at the moment. My nails are growing quite fast and not peeling at all. I still can’t grow lenght until all the acrylic damaged part has grown out. I’ll take another photo of my nails next sunday so you guys can see how the project is going.

First new product I have is green Depend nail polish remover. You can buy this at least from the Kicks stores in Sweden, Norway and Finland. It’s marketed as enviroment friendly option. It leaves your nails and cuticles feeling oiled and moisturized. It works a little slower than the acetone free Maybelline remover I normally use. The scent on this is also very mild compared to the usual nail polish removers. For my nails and cuticles this is surely the most sensitive polish remover I have ever used.

I also bought Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme. I love how well this product works and after just few days my cuticles are softer and look much better. I will definately buy some more of this from my trip to USA in august. I rub this to my cuticles every morning and every night. This is a very rich feeling cream that absorbs to my skin quite fast. I also rub this all over my nails after I remove the nail polish. The lemon scent is quite strong but it disappears from your skin fast enough.

During the day I use Cesars Secrets Cuticle Oil to keep my cuticles nice and moisturized. This product has a brush and it’s easy to apply. My cuticles get so dry so easily that I need to use something on them a few times a day. I apply a very small amount of this oil on my cuticles. Using the brush means I don’t have to mess up my fingertips with oil and this goes into my cuticles so fast I can use it in a hurry too.

Next I’m going to buy the Creative SolarOil and Cuticle Eraser. I’ve also been hearing a lot of good things about NailTek Foundation I ridge-filling strengthener basecoat. I’m still looking for new product to help grow and maintain healthy and beautiful nails. I’ll be happy to look into any suggestions you guys might have :)

 

Random gel-nails again

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Here’s a photo of gel-nails I did for my customer last week. Just though I’d share it with you guys :)

 

China Glaze – Entourage

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his weekend we are having a Midnight Sun Festival here in Finland and this is my manicure for that.

During summer it doesn’t really get dark at all here. I love the so called nightless time of the year. The sun is still shining at 11 pm and it feels like you have all the time in the world to do things. Days are so long and nights are light. I love it! and my american husband doesn’t ;D I think after almost 5 years of living in Finland he still hasn’t gotten used to the light nights.

Then to the manicure :) China Glaze entourage is a fresh limegreen shimmer polish. The shimmer in this one is so fine you have to look closely to see it. Entourage applied well and two coats was enough for an opaque result. It took a little longer than usual to dry but I think I might have applied it a tiny bit too thickly. In this mani I used: OPI Nail Envy Soft & Thin x2, Entourage x2 and Seche Vite on top.

I got so excited about Konading that I decided to try it on this mani too. I used the same small pattern with black and white Konad polishes. After getting the pattern on my nail I added small rhinestones to the flowers. The other white flower didn’t look as good as I wanted it to so I covered it with a bigger stone ;) I’m still not all that happy with the result but I guess I’ll get better if I keep practicing a lot :)

 

First Konading

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I bought my first Konad stuff quite a while ago and they have been collecting dust ever since. Now I got this little Konad set as a gift and I decided to try it out. There’s only two patterns on that plate and they are small enough for first time Konading. The set also included a stamp with a little white Konad nail polish bottle and a small scraper.

So… last night I got an inspiration to give this thing a try and I used it on top of Color Club Flair mani on yesterdays’s post. Using the Konad was surprisingly easy with those small patterns. I know they are all over the place but I’m happy with them since it was my first try. The little finger looks different on purpose.

I got a little Konad fever now and I think I’m gonna order some plates with small patterns and some more polishes next ;)

 

Nice camera reflection on the Konad plate ;) 

Color Club – Flair

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Today I’m wearing Color Club Flair. I love this intensive orange-y red shade. It is so bright and eye catching without being neon. I gotta test this one on a pedicure next. I’ll definitely will re-photograph this when my nails are longer.

Flair was well pigmented and applied perfectly. For some reason I imagined this one being sheer but it’s quite the opposite. One coat of this is enough for short nails. Longer nails might need more than one coat. I used two cos I needed more protection for my nails.

This is a day old manicure and I used: OPI NNS x2, Flair x2 and Seche Vite.

 

Illamasqua – Rampage

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Here’s the amazing Illamasqua Rampage!! Dark green creme polish that is clearly green inside too and doesn’t look black anywhere. This one cost me some serious money with shipping but I don’t mind paying for a great quality such as this. I’ve been wanting a green creme like this for a while now and I finally got it. Other bloggers have been going crazy over this and for a good reason. Green perfection in a beautiful bottle!

Rampage is thin in the bottle and applies really well. Two coats was enough for opaque result on my short nails. This one also dries pretty quickly. In this mani I used: OPI NNS x1, Rampage x2 ja päällä Seche Vite.

I had to change my photograph hand cos all the nails on my left hand are different lenght and it just looks down right ugly. The right hand isn’t all that cute either at the moment but I gotta take pics of something ;) I just hope I can get my long nails back someday without using acrylic to get the lenght.

This was my first Illamasqua order and based on that experience I can recommend their online store. Service was good and quick and the shipping time from UK to Finland was less than a week. I love the quality of this nail polish and I’m going to order more shades soon. Illamasqua also sells other cosmetics products on their online store.

 

Nail growing project: first two weeks

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Here I am, first two weeks in to my nail growing project and I can already see some results. Tear on the thumb nail is now much smaller and I’m hoping that it’ll grow out completely during the next two weeks. The nail on my ring finger broke and is now really short. I had a little accident when I was a kid and they had to stitch back the fingertip and now it looks totally different than my other fingers.

My nails are still short, of course, but the healthy part is now closer to the nail line. Though at work I have scratched the nails on my index and middle fingers with a sandpaper file for a few times now (I really need to learn to use gloves). I don’t think I did a big damage to those nails yet.

My cuticles are also starting to look a little better and less dry. I’ve been oiling and moisturizing them every day now. I’ve also used cocoa and shea butter to oil my hands every night. I bought new nail polish remover from Kicks (green bottle of Depend nail polish remover) and it’s supposed to be real gentle to my nails and cuticles.

Next I need to order some new products. I have read a lot of good reviews about Creative SolarOil and Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. Those two are on the top of my shoppinglist.

From nail magazines I’ve also read about Duri Rejuvacote nail strengthener. Does anyone have any personal experience on this product?