FINGERS

Top Twelve of 2012: Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Miracle

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

dr-lewinns-strengthenerNow, I never did get around to my superfantastic celebratory manicure, due to Auld Schplitty — although, having said that, I did give myself a nice fake French Manicure. And the only reason the fake French manicure worked is because of Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Regime.

Incorporating a Nail Strengthener and a Nourishing Oil {for the cuticles}, this is a miracle worker of the highest order. Having had manky, weak, ridgey nails for the entirety of my life, I suddenly have longer, stronger, smoother nails.

Suddenly? Yeah, not really: it did take discipline, and I didn’t maintain, and I learned my lesson. But if you do the work, you will reap the bennies, and in fairness, it’s not that big a deal.

The result? You can refer to the Dr Lewinn for the whole saga, but if you just want to see The Wowness, then click here.

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Blog Imitates Life: In Denial About The Christmas

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Yeah, so I’ve got a bunch of plans, as usual, about a theme thing for Christmas shopping, and — well, too many plans, I guess, and I can’t settle and figure it out. You know, just post, for cryin’ out loud!

It has to be right, at least in my mind.

There will be plenty of stuff for the women in your life — your mum, your sister, your cousins, your pals — there is going to be a special category for nieces! — and there is stuff for dudes, too. Also: aunts/uncles, and your parents as a duo.

Oh, I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Until such time, I will leave you with this: the World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ sporting Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Cha-Ching! Suitably festive!

Seriously, though, some truly excellent stuff coming this way, including some of the most amazing hampers I have ever seen.

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Sally Hansen Gem Crush comes in eight shades and retail for €8.95

Horseriding Rucksack Hero: Cuticura Hand Wipes

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Sure, anybody can be a handbag hero! It takes something extra special to make it into my horseriding rucksack.

I am never averse to cross-polinating my blogs, and whilst my horsey musings are not updated as often as are my cosmetic cogitations, they are always on my mind. And the evidence of the activity is always all over me.

I am currently volunteering for the Riding for the Disabled Ireland organisation, Leopardstown Group. As I was saying goodbye to Soprano, a massive 18hh bay gelding who is as gentle as a lamb, he rested his enormous jaw on my shoulder and rubbed. Having been ridden well on the bit, there was a lot of spit on his mouth; much of it transferred to my sleeve.

That is cool with me, but it’s the stuff that gets on my hands that is: not so very. I generally drop into the shops after a session, or a lesson, and it’s important that my hands are clean. Sometimes, well… sometimes soap for humans is not a priority at a yard. So, talk about handy: Cuticura Anti Bacterial Hand Wipes {€1.49} are a new big hit with me.

I feel far less unfit for human consumption after using these, and feel like they are doing a more comprehensive job that would a liquid disinfectant. Although, the brand’s Anti Bacterial Hand Serum {€1.99/50ml} works a treat too! In this case, however, I need to feel like I am totally removing the scurf from my mitts.

I’ll be using three of these a week, so this is five weeks worth, and for less than €2? Works for me, and for the grateful general public. I can’t help the eau de equine I exude, but I won’t be spreading the germs around.

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Available at all good chemists. Stay away from the bad chemists!

Sparkletacular Twinkly Toes from Sally Hansen

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Love!

Here’s Gem Crush Nail Colour from Sally Hansen, a flock of new glitter varnishes. Behold, the perfectly named Blingtastic.

I don’t bother with a base coat on my toes, and I expect that this will go on much more smoothly with one. The mass of glitter makes it sparkle like Rockefeller Center at Christmas, but it also makes it difficult to apply as quickly as one might wish. You’ve got a couple of coats to do here until you get total coverage.

Once total coverage is achieved, though, the look is spark-tacular. Sparkletacular? Eh, whatevs. Shiiiiiny!

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Gem Crush come in eight shades and retail for €8.95.

Nail it! Until Tomorrow with Clarins

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Since I am caring more for my hands these days — and ‘caring’ is code for ‘desperately trying to avert disaster’ — this offer from Clarins caught my eye.

And it certainly can’t fail to catch yours! Weee, that is massive. Suitably so, as the offer is all in the name of charities, in the name of three, in fact:

> Jack & Jill Foundation
> Debra Ireland
> The Irish Raynauds & Scleroderma Society

And you needn’t go way out of your way either, as the offer is good in your local Doc Morris or Sam McCauleys, and in CH Chemist in Tralee and Petals Beauty Salon in Westport, for southern and western readers, respectively.

Seriously, it couldn’t be easier if they came to your house!

Plus, oh my canny gals: you get the treatment and then maybe you put aside the wee gift for someone’s stocking, or for the dreaded Secret Santy…?

The offer is good until tomorrow. Sorry so late on the update, crayzee bizzy kthxbai.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive: OPI Shatter

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

We call upon World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ once again. {Honestly, must start its own Twitter feed.}

Sure it was only yesterday or the day before I was saying that I had some OPI Shatter in my future, and the future is clearly now.

I wish I had video capabilities on this site, because watching this stuff work is cool. You brush it on and just watch it… well, shatter.

I like this look, because as I am generally so sloppy with my varnish application, this makes all my ills look I’ve done them on purpose.

Now I really can’t wait ’til my split nail is all grown back! Except I’m looking at it now, and overnight, that fault line looks to be back. Is the Dr Lewinn’s Renunail not enough?!?! Blast!

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€13.20 {RRP}

I Love It When Stuff Works: NYC Smoky Top Coat

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

Like that.

There’s a whole new world of top coats out there — I’m expecting a sample of OPI’s shatter-y looking stuff any minute now — and since my nails are in the rudest health ever, I am very much enjoying the exploration.

NYC sent out their autumn trends, and amongst them was Rock Muse Smoky Top Coat. I liked the look of the sparkles, and didn’t believe that htey would ever look as good out of the bottle as they did in. I muttered to myself, Yeah, right as I twisted open the bottle.

Ha! So there, Cynical Sue! Completely shiny and totally protective, all in one go. It is a bit of a crap shoot, it has to be said, as to the volume of sparkle that you’ll get, and I reckon if you keep applying, you’ll end up with a clump of confusion at your fingertips.

Underneath is the Avon Nailwear Pro in Naked Truth, from last week, so as you can see: smoky to the max. It’s going to look like that no matter what’s underneath. A stronger pigment, like a red, will fare better, if you want the colour to show through.

It lasted for the guts of three days with no chipping; removal was as much effort as any of these sparkly yokes generally require, which is: a lot.

Best of all: cheaper than chips! €1.29!

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Available in pharmacies nationwide.

Lovely and Long Lasting: AVON Nailwear Pro+

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

Here’s Naked Truth from Avon Nailwear Pro+:

V purty. Once again, the World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ is called to duty, and what a spectacular job she does, eh, ladies and gents? {Still working on growing back all the nails I willingly pared back to take the pressure off of Auld Schplitty.}

This made it through one night’s horseriding lesson, and its attendant gloves!

I am still loving the neutrals. They are so elegant. And of course, lighter colours wear better, too.

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€8. Available from your local Avon representative; ring 01870 6540 or visit www.avon.ie to find one near you.

This is the Only Way It is Okay to Fake It

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

Hey! It looks as if I have had a French Manicure! Except, it is not!

As ever, ignore my poor application method, the backbone of which system is: just get it over with.

Why this is so exciting:

> My nails have never, ever been this healthy.
> Since they are so healthy, the white parts are really clean and, er, white.
> Because the white parts are so white, when I brushed on Ballet Slipper by Essie, a magical thing happened.
> Magical thing: one coat of polish/varnish, and it looked like I got a French manicure!

Yeah, well, so?
> So! If I don’t have the patience to do even one coat of colour for a manicure, forget doing all the malarkey required for a French one.

Why are they called French manicures? Nobody knows! Big disputes! Do they have anything to do with France at all, or did some American dude called Jeff Pink make them up in the 70s — or was it Max Factor {an actual man, not just a name brand} in the 30s? All that conjecture is via here, there’s links if you are interested.

I’m not. I want nothing more than to gaze upon the photo of my amazing nails. I have since pared them all down to match Auld Schplitty and am confident that they will soon be ready for another foray into the now satisfying world of fingernail painting. There’s this bottle of AVON Nailwear Pro+ in Tweed that I am gasping to try…

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Colourful Claws: Essie Nail Varnish

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What a difference healthy nails make. Nail varnish, once relegated to be reviewed on my toes, because my fingernails were so, so manky, is now one of my favourite things in life.

Essie probably won’t thank me for posting a picture of a less-than perfect finish, but sistuhs: this is day four. Day. Four.

Here’s what my nails went through in four days:
> Horseriding
> Dishwashing x3/day, without gloves
> 3 showers
> Lots of keyboard work {I had a big gig in the last week} which I am only realising as I am now typing, does indeed have an effect

That’s high stress stuff! And yet: four days! And only a wee bit of chippage! I don’t know, I’m sure other people do better, simply because they are better at applying it, but me, I am dead impressed.

{What’s she talkin’ ’bout, horseriding? The gloves play utter havoc upon a manicure, of course.}

Clockwise from left: Beach Bum Blue, Smokin’ Hot, No Place like Chrome, and Really Red. I also got the very classic neutral, Ballet Slippers, and my abso fave, Nothing Else Metals, a lavender-y metallic wee bottle of gorgeousness.

I am going to remove this now {*sob*} and do up all the nails in Ballet Slipper, methinks. I’ve cut my splitty nail all the way down, which is why it’s covered up. But thanks to — I know, I know, it’s all I talk about — Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener, I have faith that it will grow back stronger than ever before. Because I wouldn’t even be bothering to paint my manky nails {not so manky now!} without its amazing benefits.

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€9.99/£8.50/$8.00