A Scientific Approach to Nail Polish

I miss having fun colored fingernails. It just seems that the color never seems to stay put for more than a day or so, my nails start peeling horribly. I could live with a small chip or two, not whole missing sections. I can be a little obsessive about hand washing at times, but you would think I could get a couple of days out the fresh polish.

I’ve tried a lot of different basecoats trying to find something that worked. Even the expensive stuff doesn’t seem to solve the problem. More recently I’ve been trying a few nail strengthens that even disappear after hand washing dishes.

Yesterday I found a semi-inexpensive basecoat that is based on acrylic gel (single-step) that I’m trying. It’s supposed to bond with my nail, something that nothing else has seemed to do well except professionally applied tips. I’m really curious to give it a real workout to see how well it holds up. Fingers crossed this works.

Granted, this could still become (financially) dangerous. Salon trips were expensive (and time-consuming) but when I can’t leave a store without at least one bottle of cool polish… Dangerous, very dangerous. I’m a OPI-addict. I have 25-30 regular bottles of polish with another 10 small trial bottles. It’s a collection that I’ve built over the last four years. If this experiment works I could see a lot more trips to Ulta in my future. At least I get a coupon every couple of weeks or so.

OPI Colors for the week: on fingers – Chicago Champagne Toast and on toes – Hungry for My Honey. I clash horribly right now but since my toes generally stay hidden, I’m not really worried about it. I’m trying to go with autumn colors right now, but grabbed a relatively light color for my fingers just to test. I’ll resurrect Chicago Champagne Toast around New Years unless I pick up a new version before then. If I can get my finger nails to grow out longer and the color to stay put, I’ll switch to the darker colors. My favorite: Cara Mia Crimson. How cool is that???

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