New Year's Naked Nails Before & After

Yeah ... I don't think I'm even going to apologize this time.  You guys know the deal.  Trying (always trying) to get back into the swing of things.  So here we go.

Right after New Year's, after soaking off my Glitter Mosaic, I did probably the biggest chop I've ever done.  Now, like with any before and after part of making the after look really good is to make the before look really really bad - so we have the acetone-dried hands, after soaking off both glitter & patches - and the break that broke the rest of the way when the patch came off:

And then for the after, neatly-trimmed, buffed & moisturized nubbins:

I did record the soak & the hack, because I really wasn't sure at the time how bad the glitter was going to be coming off.  Turns out it was pretty easy (all things considered) but if you'd like to check it out here's the vid:

I can't promise I'll be posting regularly now, but I'm going to try.  If you want me on a more regular basis, consider following me on Instagram @mysimplelittlepleasures - it's such a quick, easy interface I manage to stay moderately active on there LOL.  Even if I don't have anything new I do Throwback Thursdays and have been including 15-second speed-tutorials for the manis that I'm throwing back to.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Naked Nails & Update

I'm still here, still alive ... mostly.  I think.  I've been sick for several days, actually missed some work, and I've been so drained I couldn't even make good use of the time by getting some posting done, literally all I've done is sleep.

Anyway, excuses out of the way - I have an absolute crapload of pics to edit.  I still have one mani from 2011 I haven't posted yet.  I need to just sit down & edit & post but I don't know when I'll have time so here are some naked nails from the past month.  

At the beginning of the month I put some fresh patches on; when I changed them this past weekend I decided it was also past time for a chop.  A full centimeter is lovely, probably my preferred length, but difficult to deal with & all but impossible to fit gloves with in the winter.  So now they're down to about 5-6mm, which is as short as I think I can have them & still feel kind of normal LOL.  Still playing a bit with the white balance on the new camera (the top is auto, the bottom 2 are manual & I think reality is somewhere between the 2), so please excuse that & also the post-acetone dryness in the middle pics:

I feel like I've been asking for patience for a long time, but just a little more please =)  & I'll get caught up with nails, and books, and then maybe I can squeeze in a top 25 from last year.  IIRC it took me until the end of March last year LOL - hopefully I can do better than that this year.  But do know my absence here does not mean I've been neglecting my nails

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Meet the Nubbins (Naked Nails 7-19-11)

My nails were so sad & patched I didn't even take before pics ... you can see the most recent long naked nails HERE from back on the 4th - I was at about 11mm of free edge.  Just about my favorite length LOL - and with 8 nails patched.  Very very sad.  Now I am down to about 4mm free edge & still 4 nails patched including my mangled left thumb:

I hate short nails.  The left hand is a bit shorter than the right to partly balance the nubbin that is my pinky.  Yes I know they're not SHORT-short ... but they're short to me.  Still past my fingertips but shorter than I like or prefer - shorter than I've had them since I think last fall.  I took me 2-3 days to get back comfortable typing LOL.  But I would really like to completely grow out all these bad breaks without getting any additional ones along the way.

Since this was last Tuesday, I've already had several short-nubbins manis - including one that may well be my favorite pink so far this year =)   So stay tuned for those.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Nubar Moon Shadow ... and My Worst Break Ever

Pretty, happy things first.  With plans for a big chop, I've been enjoying lovely things on my long nails, and a purple duo-chrome seemed a good choice.  Nubar Moon Shadow is a classic, and it was beautiful on, going from deep purple in most lights to almost bronze at certain angles:

Now, I think you guys know I'm pretty good being careful in situations that I consider dangerous to my nails ... and so my breaks end up happening in the dumbest circumstances.  Remember the bag of cheese break?  The pinky I snapped against my own other fingers somehow?  This takes the cake.

I'd successfully navigated 3 cases of soda & several grocery bags into the car.  A breeze sprang up & I grabbed for the skirt of my dress - purple like my nails might I add.  And somehow my thumb knocked against the idle shopping cart.

I'm warning you, this is not for the faint of heart ....

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... if you have a weak stomach turn back now ...

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I warned you!  I did!

Arrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!!  OOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!  OUCH!  OUCH!  OUCH!  OUCHOUCHOUCHOUCHOUCH!  Shitmotherfuckergoddamnsonofabitch!

I put a band-aid on it, and managed to get myself & my throbbing finger home.  And then I painstakingly - and painfully, very very painfully - took off the polish  & saw the true extent of the damage:

Scary part?  It's still attached on the side.  Meaning even if I wanted to leave my vulnerable finger flesh exposed, I'd have to sever it's fleshy anchor.  Mom really hated when I kept saying that by the way.  I cut it down ... I glued the flap ... I added a patch ... & things are mostly OK now:

Good lord only knows how long that will take to grow out past the quick.  Thanks for the sympathy pains =)  & of course thanks for reading.

~Colette

Naked Nails 7-4-11

My nails suck right now LOL.  Manicures are fine, I'm talking about my actual nails ... I love them at this length, but they don't love being this length!  I have so many tears & breaks & patches =(  I'll be cutting them down after my birthday, but I refuse to have short nails until then.  So I put on some fresh patches on Monday, and actually in pictures I can't even spot them all:

8/10 nails patched.  4 pretty serious breaks & 4 minor tears.  I just have such a hard time doing maintenance filing, because I always like them longer, but while 10-11mm might be ideal in my mind, my nails are much happier around 7-8mm.

I have an old gift-haul vid that I forgot I recorded, from when my friend de-stashed & I reaped the rewards, and I also went hauling over the weekend & picked up the China Glaze Metallic Crackles & the Ulta OPI exclusive colors, so that's what will be coming up soon, along with Zoya Jules on Mom's nails (it definitely looked much better on her) & China Glaze Starboard under Cracked Medallion which is on my nails matte-ified right now.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Zoya Reva

From the Summertime collection, Zoya Reva is a beautiful red with gold sparkle.  I really wasn't quite happy with how any of the pics turned out, they make the red look much brighter than it was IRL, so picture this a little deeper & darker:

 

 

I broke my pinky nail deep into the quick on both sides while wearing this =( 

 

My own clutziness to blame, I  put in my air conditioning unit Monday with no mishaps & then somehow managed to bend it backwards while I was stretching in my chair at work.  I still don't know exactly how I did it.  Polish remover sucked big time but I managed to get through it & give it some support with a patch.

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

Quick Staining Update

For those of you who're curious =)  I soaked off all that glitter with pure acetone + foil, and took off my patches also.  It all came off pretty well, but still a lot of staining underneath:

 

 

I don't normally care, but this was bad even for me.  I made a paste of baking soda + peroxide, and did a few rounds of scrubbing with that, and it really helped a lot:

 

 

In the process of redoing my patches right now, then I'll see what I feel like doing for my manicure =)  Also still need to do mom's Mother's Day marble, because we both got totally lazy yesterday & didn't get to it LOL.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Orange Hard Candy + OPI Black Shatter

This orange Hard Candy is from a 4-piece holiday collection, and unfortunately doesn't have a name ... it's very close to another from their normal line (that I don't remember the name of) but they're not exactly dupes.  Still, it's a very lovely orange with gold shimmer:

 

 

Then I added a coat of OPI Black Shatter - reminds me of like cooling lava:

 

 

The only downside to this polish - to the Hard Candy, not the shatter - was the removal:

 

 

Even after some attention with 100% acetone, my nails were ridiculously stained:

 

 

I can't remember ever wearing something that stained this badly.  The patched nails fared better than those without, as you see.  So if you're someone who doesn't always wear polish, like I do, I'd recommend staying away from this particular color, because you're not going to want to run around with naked nails looking like this LOL.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

Naked Nails (4-10-11)

Gave the nails a trim after I took off Teenage Dream, I had a couple of breaks that had grown out long enough to cut down, though there are a few still left.  I didn't take any before shots, but I'd guess I took off probably 3-4mm.  I know they're not short ... but they're shorter:

A bit more stained than I'd prefer, but I can't pretend that I really care too much.  You can actually see towards my cuticle when I switched from using a ridge-filling base coat back to the sticky - you wouldn't think they'd be that different (same brand) but the sticky seems to prevent staining better.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Naked Nails 12-26-10

It's been a while since I did a naked nails post ... partly because I'm so far behind with other stuff, partly because they've been a mess under the polish LOL.  But I wanted to have my biggest canvas possible for all my holiday designs =)  Now that the holidays are about over though, I decided I should cut them down a bit before I had an accident, and get rid of some of the patches ... unfortunately I decided this like a day too late, after I managed to get a tear on my right index at the very start of the free edge =(

 

Here is the before - about 9mm of free edge on the left, a little shorter on the right ... middle was showing it's curve way too much also, some days worse than other for whatever reason:

 

And here is the after - about 6 mm of free edge:

 

 

Still long for most people & I guess they look good (if a tad chunky) but I just prefer them longer.  As if I had any doubt LOL.  Hopefully this will be the last time I have to patch the left index, the break is almost grown out to a decent length.  I don't exactly mind patching at this point, but this particular one has just been a PITA.  Only upside is that it seems to be growing out straighter than before, it was as curved as the middle still is.

 

I'm thinking about doing a test to see how fast I can whiten them up but I'm too lazy so far.  I was going to pick a treatment & do it every day, or every day I change my polish, and take pics each time ... but I just don't really care that much LOL, they're covered in polish all the time so what's the point?

 

Do you bother trying to keep your nails white?  What's your favorite product?

 

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Nail Maintenance

Another that's pretty much just what the title says LOL.  This is my between-mani routine:

As I said in the vid, Nubar Reclaim is awesome, & I will have a boatload of pics & a vid of it up next.  Hopefully later tonight but maybe tomorrow =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

PS - anyone else like the show Castle?  I am so enjoying the premier I almost forgot to hit "Publish" LOL =)

Polish Removal

Kind of self-explanatory ... this is how I take off my polish:

I'm trying to build up my Tips & Tricks playlist a little, I also did one on nail maintenance, but I haven't edited it yet =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Naked Nails 8-29-10

When I've got patches on, I kind of have to time when I wear hard to remove polish like glitter - since soaking off usually also will soak off the patches LOL!  So after I took off Violet Sparkle I redid my patches, did a minimal amount of filing, and thought I was about due for a naked nails post =)

It's been about 6 weeks since my big chop back in July.  I like the length they're at right now, about 7-8mm most nails.  I'm still growing out some old breaks & of course being a clutz managed to acquire a few new breaks too, but can you spot all the patches?

It's actually easier to tell you which nails are not patched that those that are - my left index & ring, and my right middle are the only nails without some kind of trauma right now.  But I know they're there & I can still barely see them, so I don't really mind.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette