An Update of Critical Importance: My Manicure

Bloggers sometimes get excited and blog about something new that they love. I’ve done it. Sometimes before it’s completed its life cycle. And sometimes we don’t blog later about how whatever it was we were excited about only lasted three days before it ripped, ran out, dried up or broke. Or we decide not to follow-up to say that whatever it was that looked so lovely in the photos had fallen apart by the next day, didn’t survive the washing machine or only looked good in the four photos that actually made the blog cut, whereas in the other 67 photos in the trash bin, you could see the obvious fit issues.

Over time, we learn. And occasionally, we forget. Like when I posted this about my new nail polish. I was thinking that they looked darn good for day 11. I completely forgot that removal could be hideously destructive. So when comments popped up, I got nervous. And regretted not completing the cycle before extolling the virtues. Here’s my honest follow-up.

Yesterday is/was day 23. The ends were still not chipped except in one spot, but the “outgrowth” was getting significant. Time to take the stuff off.

After doing some reading, I chose an acetone polish remover. Sounded like that was what was required. I hadn’t used one of these dippy things in a long time, seemed like the thing.

The last time I’d used one of these, it’d been spongey in the middle. I don’t recall ever seeing one that looked like an alien sea cucumber that’d eat my fingers. And beside the fact that it looked scary, I could only soak two fingers at a time in there.

That wasn’t going to work. So I poured the acetone into a glass bowl and took it outside to enjoy an unseasonably beautiful day and keep my house from reeking of nail salon. I did about 10 minutes of soaking and scraping at it a bit with my fingernails. Here’re the results after a little filing of the length:

I can tell that there’s still a little of the base coat intact on my nails, but because it’s colorless it’s hard to see. I’ve since added a coat of almost clear polish and it my mind, it looks good. Not as amazing as the Gelish finish, especially in the early days, but my nails don’t appear to be damaged, which is a relief.