Taking a Break

Not from blogging, but I am taking a break from my glue-ons, so I don't know how many polish posts I'll be doing for the next few weeks. 

Recently, I've been thinking about trying to give my natural nails a chance to really grow, but I didn't feel comfortable doing it.  I just didn't want to go out in public without my glue-ons.  Then I received an email from Marlo Marketing regarding new products from Dermelect Cosmeceuticals.  I thought it was just a press release, but then they offered to send me samples.  I received samples of their stregthener, ridgefiller, and nail thickener.  So I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to see if I can actually grow out my real nails. 

Yesterday, I took off my glue-ons and took pics of my natural nails.  They are embarassing, but I don't think I can give you all a fair review without showing you what I started with.  It's been a year almost exactly since I got my acrylics and almost nine months since I took them off.  There was tons of damage from the acrylic application.  However, I realize had I not been applying glue-ons, they probably wouldn't still be in this condition, but it was a double-edged sword.  I didn't want to show my natural nails so I applied glue-ons and I didn't like the condition of my natural nails because of the glue-ons.  It was a never-ending cycle.

So, here are my nails after I took off my glue-ons.  This is just my left hand, because I could not get pics of my right hand to come out.

Hand

Thumb (I have bad ridging on this nail).

I applied the product yesterday for the first time, then I went back today, removed it and reapplied it.  Here's how my left hand looks now.

I was able to use the ridge filler to basically build up the area on my nails where all I have is nail bed (basically the tips of my ring and pinky fingers) and I also used it to smooth out the bad ridges on my thumb.

I know they don't look great, but I think it's a huge change from my naked nails.  I used one coat of each product.  The pink/grey shimmer is the color of the ridge filler.  It looks a lot like OPI Give Me the Moon. 

I will be sure to give you all links to the products when I do my final review, which should be in a couple weeks.  I may start polishing my natural nails in a few days, but for now, I'm just going to stick to the ridge filler color.  I will be posting updates along the way.

Here's hoping I'll be able to polish my natural nails in a few weeks.  I like the way my glue-ons look, but I don't like the hassle of applying them every 2-3 days.