It's a Manicure Miracle!

You guys, something huge has just happened. My manicure has lasted an entire week without any noticeable chips!!! This has never happened before. I always pick at my nails, and my polish almost always chips significantly by the 4th day since I use my nails a lot for work and they sometimes get beat up when I play music. But besides the small dent that was basically there to begin with, they look stellar!

I probably should have taken better pictures so you could marvel (okay, I'm the only marveling, but still) at how great these still look. But, here's what they looked like right after painting them a week ago:

And here's what they look like now:

So, what did I do differently? Well, I tried out a new product - Chip Skip from OPI. I was skeptical at first, but goodness, it really works! I have a tiny bottle that came in a sample pack, but I would definitely consider coughing up the money to buy a full bottle of this stuff. It would be especially good for giving other people manicures, since I change my nails rather frequently anyhow.

In other news, I finally bought some striping tape. I tried it out for my pedicure and it turned out pretty well for my first time using the stuff, although I don't have a picture to show you. It's a bit tedious and certainly time consuming, but I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with striping designs in the next few weeks.

Okay, last point of business. This floral design was inspired by pinterest, and that got me thinking of creating a nail art challenge inspired by pinterest designs. Would anyone be interested in doing a challenge like this?

Happy Painting!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Well, here's the deal: I've changed this blog quite a bit. It will no longer be "Adventures in Toe Nail Art" since I've started to paint my fingernails more often. I'll still have many posts devoted to toe nail art, but will also start devoting more posts to my manicures. I also have a new 'About' page as well!

In other news, I built another new light box today, since my other one got destroyed when I moved. One dull pair of scissors and a bloody finger later, my pictures have gone from poorly lit with random backgrounds to this:

Much better, don't you think? It's a decent picture for a camera phone. Also, this Beauty Secrets Brush Cleaner is amazing! My brushes kept getting hard and were pretty useless even after cleaning them in my normal polish remover, so I invested in this guy. It's fantastic! You just put the bristles in, swirl it around for a few seconds, let it sit for a minute, swirl it again, and it's like your brush is brand new! It's a life saver for my brushes and I highly recommend this product. You can get it for only $4 here. Considering it's cheaper than most bottles of nail polish, it's seriously worth investing in.

Happy painting!