Confessions of a chronic nail biter

Yeah I'm a nail biter. And I'll admit that I am a tad bit defensive about it. People still judge nail biters. As if there is something wrong with us. Psychologically wrong with us. Which is kinda true. Part of the nail biting is a nervous thing. Part of it is boredom. And part of it is just that I don't like how long nails look or feel on my hands.




The picture came out funny but at least you can see that I don't chew off my fingers like some nail bitters. I just bite the nails off.

I've tried lots of tricks throughout the years. Nasty tasting polish that doesn't taste that bad. Getting hard as rock acrylics that I was still able to bite through. Hynosis. No I'm kidding. I never tried that. At least not for nail biting. And no, hypnosis didn't help the million other problems I thought it might help.

Truth be told I would get a manicure once a week if I ever won the lottery. That's part of the problem that I have with nail polish. It just doesn't last. If you have your hands in water it really doesn't last. And the best manicures really do come from professionals. I put manicures into the beauty category of things that you can do yourself but turn out better when the professional does them (bang trims, brazilian waxing, single process hair color).

Then I read about Shellac, a new gel overlay that claims to give you chip free nails for up 14 days. Seems like a miracle. Until you see the cost. One salon advertised it at $40 dollars a service. I'm not quite ready to splurge on my nails. Beauty is all about spending priorities. I will spend $60 for someone to color my hair or $30 on a great moisturizer but nails have never been high on my list. So $40 seems crazy and $10 for a manicure that gets chipped in a week seems like a waste. My friend Bianca has the nail hookup so she's going to get the expensive Shellac manicure at a discount and let me know how it is.

Here's a short video about the Shellac gel nail polish from CND:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqg_axyAW6k

I do feel the need to put something on my naked nails though. Right now my favorite thing is Sally Girl glitter polish. 99 cents at Sally's and you can reapply as often as you like. There are never any chips since you are just putting a clear polish on with pieces of glitter. And it lasts pretty long even if your hands are in the water. I usually reapply once a week and keep it next to the computer so that I remember.




I would love to hear from you what your favorite nail tricks are. Have you gone for the expensive polish? Ever worked out a trade with your girlfriends? That's what I find so frustrating about DIY polish. It never goes on as well as someone else doing it. So I've always dreamed of a sister that I could trade manicures with. Until that day or I win the lottery, I am going to just stick with cheapo glitter polish.




UPDATE: I got silver polish in a press gift bag when I went to IMATS and on a whim I just threw it on my nails. They look cyberific and futuristic and kinda cool so I'm gonna try out this new look. My favorite part of the polish, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Spanglemaker is that I just needed one coat and I was done. That's probably my biggest complaint with other polishes that I have to pile it on. But with this OCC polish, blamo after about a minute I was good to go. Also I've noticed that stylists at the salon throw on their nail polish whenever they have down time so I think I'm going to be less of a perfectionist about polish.