FINGERS

Colourful Claws: The Wild, as Seen in the Wild

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Sparrrrrrkllllly!

I am so delighted with the health of my nails, thanks to Dr Lewinn’s Nail Strengthener and despite Auld Schplitty. They have never looked better, and perhaps, I will now learn enough patience so that I don’t do such a sloppy job as regards the application of  nail varnish.

I like this LA Splash glitter nail lacquer. It feels very sturdy on the nails, but it certainly does not look that way! It is totally disco, in the best possible sense.

I so want this in black.

I must say, though, as dreading the removal of this — when I was taking off the other colours, this remained disturbingly unmoved by my present nail polish remover. We’ll see how we get on…

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LA Splash Nail Lacquer is €5.99, and available online only: http://www.creativestudio.ie.

Colourful Claws: Dare I Do All Ten In This?

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I think I dare.

LA Splash are a brand that is new to me, and I have indeed tried glittery nail varnish in the past, but this leaves them all in its sparkling dust.

It dries really fast — really really — and it’s thick, but in a good way. Not thick like it’s impossible to get an even coat, but thick as in: one coat, all done, see ya later.

Pictured on the World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ is Fire Siren. I’m procrastinating by trying to imagine all my fingers painted with this. It seems fairly bold!

I don’t know, I think I’ve just lost my nerve. BRB.

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LA Splash Nail Lacquer {€5.99} is available through cinemasecrets.ie

Colourful Claws: Ten Shades, Ten Thoughts

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First off: I am mainly rubbish at applying nail varnish, so take that into consideration, plz.

Also: my splitting nail, herein dubbed ‘Auld Schplitty’ is the really stubby one on my left hand, ring finger, so do give it some slack for being so abbreviated.

I had vowed to paint all the nails because I was feeling out of sorts, and then something happened, I don’t know, I had a sambo or something, and then I felt in sorts; then, I didn’t feel bothered to do the nails, but I had said I would, so I did, hurriedly, and well, yeah. Not the best manicure ever.

Surely the most colourful, though! Bright side.

The following replicates, as near as dammit, my first thought upon completed application of each colour.

>LEFT HAND {Clockwise from thumb}
LA Splash Glitter Nail Lacquer in Fire Siren
OMGGGGGGGGGGG awesomest glitter ever ever ever.

L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche in Wild Purple
Gloopy. This is not — yeah, too thick.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Cherry Jubilee
Ooh, love — bit thin, maybe?

Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Ruby Tuesday
Eh — this brush, so small. Too fiddly.

Lancome Vernis in Love Long Lasting Nail Polish in Madame Tulipe
Perfect! Perfect — one coat, flat brush, yesssss.

>RIGHT HAND {Clockwise from pinkie}
Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Frenzy
Best. Neutral. Ever. Deffo needs two coats, though.

Yves Saint Laurent La Lacque Couture in Taupe Retro
Bit thin. Three coats? Yikes.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Lucky Penny
Another Avon, don’t care: shinnnnnny!

Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire
Yeah, the brush is too small. So streaky!

Lacura Beauty in 171
Now, that’s excellent pigment. kinda thick, though…?

OVER TOP OF THEM ALL: Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat. This = great.

Underneath, I did an extra coat of Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener. I wonder if it is what is making most of the varnishes look crackly? Because there are fault lines showing up on almost all of them. This is not a good look.

The keepers? Chanel, Lancome, Avon, and especially: LA Splash. Wowweeeee it is fabbbbalis. I feel some fear about removing it, though, and will be following the advice found here, via CherrySue, Doin’ the Do.

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I still have my toes to do, and I’ve got a whole range of Avon Nailwear Pro+ with which to do them…

Post-Olympic Slump: I Haz a Sad. Is There a Cure?

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I’m not even supposed to be sitting here: the Dublin Horse Show kicks off today, and I really am supposed to be there. But even I am not about to go out in this hurricane.

Dammit. The show is my yearly visit to what is, for me, a mash up of Heaven/Nirvana/Valhalla < the latter minus the burning bark. Not that I can be at all spendy, but I really do need new jodhs. And a couple of pairs of those cotton gloves with the sticky bits on the palms.

The show is also meant to be a way to get over the great void left by the Olympics, which is of greater depth than I would ever have guessed. I have become less interested in the event the younger the athletes have gotten. Like, when you’re a child, even as unathletic a child as I was, you can still dream, you know? Not so much, the older you get.

Although! There was yer man Ian Millar from Canada: 65 years old and still jumping! Yeah, well, never mind, not much of argument, as I wouldn’t even feel able to hold the lead rope of any of those Olympic horses. So whilst the dream is well past its sell by date, I got all into the Games this year, and it took me a few days to realise that I really did miss them.

Sigh. I actually have work-work to do, which is grand, but I just feel so blah.

I think I will paint all my nails. In individual colours. I have many, many nail varnishes all of a sudden. I have a shedload from Avon, I’ve got to try & test a bunch for the newspaper, amongst which are samples from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Lacura, Lancôme and L’Oréal Paris. Also, just got a couple from Max Factor, and also from new-to-Ireland brand LA Splash. And I can finish it all off with a Sally Hansen top coat.

Yes. Can’t think of a better use of my time. Apart from the work-work, of course. 

BRB.

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Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Update: Magic Isn’t Magic

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But results can be magical.

‘Kay, here’s the thing: even though I’ve got the bottles of Nail Strengthener and Nourishing Oil right there, on my desk, to the left of my computer, I got a little lazy with my Dr Lewinn regimen.

Frankly, once you pile them on, the layers of Strengthener start to look pretty cruddy. I’m also having another healing crisis on my right hand: the cuticles look like I’ve got some sort rare skin disease that I contracted in the depths of the primeval forest.

So, counter-intuitively, I stop using the product. I know! Where is the sense in that?

See the thing is, magic isn’t magic. You can’t just wave a wand — or a brush — and say a magic word {me, I’d be partial to avada kedavra for my loathsome cuticles} and then it all goes away. Sad to say, this is news to me.

Only joking. Sort of. My fingernails need to be tended, and they are so terribly manky that I need to keep this up, or keep them cut down to the very nub.

But even though magic isn’t magic, the results I’ve gotten from this regimen are magical. Once I started over, the whites on the tips of my nails got brighter and cleaner, they were once again strong enough to file, and even though it’s going to take as much time as it takes, that nail that split is slowly growing out — but with a difference. It’s growing out with the support of the Strengthener.

This is a life long project, if you will. I spend a lot of time contemplating my fingers, as I sit here, hands at rest on the keyboard, wondering what I’m going to write next. If nothing else, I can’t bear them to be all gross and splitty and peeling, for my own peace of mind. And I really cannot wait to paint them up nice — so I won’t! Grotty cuticles notwithstanding!

My bank holiday project will be to give myself an amazing manicure.

I know, my life, it is much excite.

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Ha ha ha – google Dr Lewinn’s Nail, and my fingers are the top images! I’m faaaaamous!

Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Update: Lost Track of Where I Am At

/ brightandbeautyfull / 4 Comments

Well, I know I haven’t been bathing my cuticles, so hang on a sec, I’ll take a moment to do that now —

Hey, what is the point of cuticles?!? I’m going to go a’Googlin, wait —

In human anatomy, cuticles or eponychia are the small folds of thickened skin at the base of each of the nails. Their purpose is to protect the area between the skin and the nail from infection.

Thanks, Wise Geek! Ooh, there are answers for everything over there —

Sorry, went on a bit of a wander. So, I lost track of what week it was in my Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener treatment, overcome with ennui, maybe, because all I had to do was check the blog. Duh. I remember removing it, and leaving the nails, and then going Whoops! Gotta put some more on! and then doing that.

The problem is, my troublesome left ring fingernail is at it again. It is seriously split, so much so that I had to trim it waaaay down. And then file the others down to suit. This is too bad, because my right hand nails were looking so spectacular, I was about to polish them. But on the upside: my nails were actually strong enough to file!

Drat! So now I am chasing the cart with the horse, and layering on the Renunail, especially in that splitty fingernail, because it’s all I can do, isn’t it? I mean, the nail has to grow out of its split, right?

Here’s Auld Schplitty herself:

You can see that, yeah? Want to borrow my specs?

Right. So, I’ve anointed my cuticles in the Nourishing Oil, because it really does make a difference, and applying more strengthener, and hoping for the best…

Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Update: A Bit of Perspective

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

I am in the middle of the third week of Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener application. This is the fifth week of the whole process. I was only admiring my nails, my historically manky nails, earlier yesterday, thinking about how I was going to post another picture of their new and improved-ness.

They are not only whiter, and less ridge-y, but also stronger. I have been growing them without thinking twice. Until last night, when I removed my left riding glove and realised that my ring fingernail felt funny.

It had split all the way down the center.

Argh! Okay, so, in all the admiration yesterday, I had forgotten to apply the strengthener. Was that what happened? Or had I tempted the fates by letting the nail grow and grow? The riding gloves don’t help matters in any respect, so I am guessing that the confluence of elements — gloves tugging on too-long nail, too-long nail that had not been coated with supernatural strength — resulted in the split.

Dammit. Ah, well, time to file the nails down, and to keep strengthening.

Look, they are not even that long! I bet it is an aging thing…

Well, I am learning the limitations of the product as it conjuncts with the limitations of my own raw material. Still! The improvement is amazeballs.

Sweeties for The Sweet! L’Oréal Miss Candy Collection

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Stripey goodness! Let’s pretend it is summer! {Although I know that New Yorkers are sweating buckets, and frankly, wish I had your troubles, betches.}

Here comes the Miss Candy Collection via L’Oréal, comprised of Glam Shine Lip Glosses, Color Infallible Eye Shadows and Riche Nail Varnishes.

Clockwise from left: Dolce Pralina, Tart Lollipop and Miss Candy gloss; Sassy Marshmallow eyeshadow; Wild Purple, Dating Coral, and French Riviera nail varnish; Naughty Strawberry and Innocent Turquoise eye shadow.

I’ve used the Infallible Eye Shadows before: the pigment is rich but the stuff itself doesn’t go on on well with a brush. You may have a different experience, but when all else fails, do as I do and use your fingers. I’ve swiped a bit of Sassy Marshmallow on my hand it is shiiiiiiny. {It is too gloomy out to get a good photo.}{Or I am just a crap photographer.}

The glosses are shiiiiny, too, but without much colour; even the poppy-looking Tart Lollipop hasn’t got much actual pop.

Since I am mid Dr Lewinn’s treatment, I’ll save the varnish ’til my nails are perfect.

This came with:

Probably not going to get that with purchase, but if the line could be summed up by anything, it’s by those bright, fizzy sweets. Yum!

Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Update: Uh. Wow!

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

The story thus far: I treated my nails for one week with Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener, and also applied ‘his’ Nourishing Oil to my cuticles.

I took the layers of Strengthener off when the week was up, and gave the nails a rest, while faithfully keeping up with the Nourishing Oil.

I reapplied the Strengthener for another week, and removed it yesterday.

Now, if you are the type of person who starts a thing, a thing like this that is supposed to work miracles, and then the miracles are not happening in what you consider to be ‘miracle time’ which would be IMMEDIATELY and so you are like, Feck this, this is not a miracle and then you stop the thing — then you are me.

I complained and complained about my manky nails, and I tried things now and again to unmank-ify them, and gave up. Maybe it’s not all my fault — maybe the products weren’t very effective! The thing is: Dr Lewinn gave me, by the middle of the first week, an indication that this stuff might work. Since I began to have faith in the process, I was inspired to keep it up. And so, as we enter week four of the six week treatment… Continue reading →

Small and Perfectly Formed: Max Colour Effect Mini Nail Polish

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My toes are not perfectly formed, although they are weirdly small. No: what I am talkin’ ’bout is Max Factor’s Max Colour Effect Mini Nail Polish (€4.99). See, the thing about nail varnish is — other than the fact that it has been wasted on my manky nails — I get tired of a colour almost immediately. Also, it’s all about mood, isn’t it? Like, I’m not going to feel orange or sparkly all the time, am I?

When these little gems came through the letterbox, I was abso delighted. They are so small, I can’t even read how many ounces they are. I don’t think there is even room on the label to include it! Here’s another wack photo of one of my feet:

Combination of colour swatch/relative size of the bottle, of which its body is not as big as my big toe. I really think this is perfection in nail varnish dispensing.

Shown here is Candy Blue, part of the Dalston (London) palette, which also includes Lollipop, Cactus Green, and Cool Jade. This trendy London neighbourhood is joined by Via Tortona (Milan), Marais (Paris) and Brooklyn (NY) (<— LOL: honestly, if you only knew some of the places I have lived in Brooklyn… hilarious.) (Also: not a neighbourhood, it’s a borough, which is much bigger.)

There are 18 shades in all, and they run the gamut from deep opaques like the blue I am sporting, to yummy pale-and-creamy hues, to sharp and sparkly metallics. That’s all I need — you?

Oh: just so you know, this colour is coming allllll the way off before we meet Italy on Monday. Because: duh.