On and off in my life I've attempted to let my nails grow and have been successful at times. I am most successful if they are painted. For some strange reason, when I see the white of the nails I am compelled to bite them.
I have gone to places for manicures and I've also done my own.
- Doing my own can be time consuming....about a half hour or so to actually paint them, but then I can't really do much the rest of the night because I end up messing them up. They do end up lasting a week or more when I paint them though, and I've gotten better at not covering my fingers with polish
- Going to a salon is quicker, but I still seem to mess them up. Plus, I have an issue with salons that use UV for regular polish as I think this is totally unnecessary and leads to "old" looking hands on people that get manicures regularly. I have managed to find a place near work that uses fans for regular polish manicures though so that makes me happy.
As you're aware, I'm going to Disney in September. I'd like to have my nails done and have them last the whole trip. I'd even like some Disney Art put on them. I looked into Disney Nail Art online and found some cute ideas that I figure I could do with the right tools (which I bought of course). Well...in my research to find how to get a manicure to last two weeks (I'll be gone for 10 days) I ran across Gel polish.
From my research, gel polish can last anywhere from 2/3 weeks to 4 weeks+. The polish is cured with UV light (more on that later), and has to be removed by soaking in acetone-based polish remover. Most cheaper nail salon's (you know the ones I'm talking about) use a grinder to get the old polish off rather than soaking it off. This is SO bad for your nails!! Not only do they grind the polish off but they grind off some of your own nail too! This not only hurts but can be dangerous and will ruin your nails and nailbed.
I decided to try out the gel manicure before getting it done for Disney to see how long it would really last. Also to find a place I liked and seemed good. So, I looked around my area for a salon that wasn't one of the cheaper ones around and found a day spa not too far from work. I called to inquire how much a gel manicure cost ($30) and made an appointment for yesterday after work.
I somehow managed to let my nails grow without polish on them. Here they are before the manicure:
I wasn't sure what to expect with the gel manicure, as I've always had regular ones. She didn't really do much to my cuticles, but I trimmed them the other day so there probably wasn't much for her to do. She didn't soak my fingers like the other places do.....I don't know if that's because of the gel polish or not. She also did the lotion massage after the manicure instead of before. She didn't have my wash my hands beforehand, but she did put some stuff on the nails before putting the base coat.....maybe that was to clean them? I really should have asked more questions, but didn't think of it then.
I love the color I picked out and she did a good job putting it on! There are five total layers in the gel manicure: base coat, three coats of color and a top coat. Each one was under the UV light for a minute to cure it before putting the next layer on. I don't know how often I'll end up getting a gel manicure done, but for now I'm not too worried about the UV light as I'm not getting this done every week. If I end up getting this done regularly, I will probably put sunscreen on my hands beforehand.
Here's what they look like now:
The nail surface is smooth and shiny! The picture makes it look like there are imperfections but that's just the light reflecting off of them.
I was talking to the lady and asked how they remove the polish to do a new one and she said they buff the surface lightly by hand, then soak in acetone-based remover (right answer!!!). I will definitely go back to them again. I also asked her if they nail art and what they charged for it. She asked what I was looking for, so I told her I was going to Disney and was looking to get some simple Mickey heads (the three dot kind) and dots and such and she said there's no extra charge for simple nail art! Yah! I will probably try my hand at it next week, but good to know they can do it also.
So, we'll see how the manicure goes.....my plan is to take a picture every week and see how it's doing.
~Chelle *o*
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