Acrylic finger nails. Don’t they look totally divine?
You look down at your ageing hands and the thinning breaking nails and wonder if it’s the only action you can resort to!
You pass by those nail salons and it’s ‘that smell' that alerts you to the fact that inside busy little ladies are working on someone else’s hands.
You look down at your beaten nails.
It’s a great solution but do you dare. In the scheme of things it is not that pricey and when that important event looms you look with envy through the glass windows of the salon and decide to give it a go.
You display your short broken nails to the nail technician who starts work immediately.
Filing and applying treatments you sit in a cloud of that appalling aroma. You don’t care; you are here making life changing alterations to your body.
The nails and nail shape are decided, and then on goes the glue. The acrylic restorations are firmly attached.
It takes quite a while to get used to the look as the attendant files and polishes and then paints.
You walk out of the shop with glamorous red nails that have transformed your hands into immaculate and elegant appendages.
Of yes, you have it all.
You know that the look of the hands make the difference.
But now the fun really begins ……..
You arrive at the car and as you open the door, your brand new nail catches under the handle which practically wrenches the whole nail from your nail bed.
This is the first agonising moment of hundreds of similar agonising moments coming your way.
You aren’t used to the extra one of two centimetres at the end of your finger tips and when they catch on anything the pain is like a torture treatment. And we elect to do this for goodness sake!!!
Once, having semi navigated your hands around most functions, a couple stand out as ‘bad’ in my book.
To name a few I would say: opening car doors, contact lenses, putting on pantyhose, tampons and they also prose enormous jeopardy during lovemaking.
These small blades at the end of each finger tip will have your lover dancing around the bed on high alert.
Your hands look lovely for a while and then it all goes pear shaped when they start to grow out. Suddenly your hands require endless filing, painting, gluing and anguish as they start to look very disappointing and then it’s off to the salon for a refill.
Backwards and forwards to the salon you go and the dollars rack up.
Whilst many women love these glamorous things, I must say I really didn’t have a good experience with my acrylic nails. I think it had a lot to do with the fact I was instilling glaucoma drops in my eyes. The liquid got under the nails which made the area constantly wet and then they got infected.
By the time I worked out what in the dickens was happening, I was told to ‘get them taken off immediately’!
The salon removed the acrylic nails and the paper thin wafer lying lifelessly on the ends of my fingers had me in despair. But that was not the worst thing. Oh no!!!
The nails were so thin and diseased that they had to be entirely cut off down to the ‘moons’. Suddenly I had no finger nails at all.
So one moment I am all glam and the next I have the hands from hell. I learnt I am able to lift myself above the horrified gaze of others, with the words ‘I can’t believe I am walking around with these hideous fingernails' ringing in my ears. It takes many months to get over it, oh yes how I know!!
So my experience was not a good one, but I know others who swear by them.
I plough on with my ‘not so perfect’ nails but they are a darn side better than my post false nails let me tell you.
They are worth a try just once and you may well master the whole thing like a dream….good luck but you won’t see me sitting along side you in the nail salon that’s for sure.
I am sure Lana has a much more reassuring story to tell!!! Over to you Lana…………………
Poor Gigi had a horrific experience with her new acrylic nails, which is unfortunate because I just love mine.
Even before acrylic nails were invented I would sometimes wear those awful looking stick on nails!
I don’t recommend stick on nails but I do recommend acrylic nails, as long as you choose a professional.
I just can’t grow my nails, I’ve tried calcium supplements, adding extra dairy to my diet, applying nail hardeners and other “magic” potions, all to no avail.
Over the years I’ve had some disasters...one nail artist ripped my quick and blood covered the table (sorry, that’s a bit gruesome isn’t it).
I’ve had nails created that have been so thick that my nail beds would constantly ache. I’ve also suffered the pain of having my own nails over-filed, resulting in smarting nail beds.
A number of years ago, when I semi-retired and was no longer working in an office, I decided to go ala natural and got rid of my long acrylic talons. I must say it took me quite a few days to get used to not having nails and I tended to stub the tips of my fingers often. My stubby fingers looked stubbier and I felt that my hands looked aged and somewhat ugly.
I persisted and persevered for a couple of years without the "perfect nails" until I became a marriage celebrant and noticed my less that glamorous hands were showing up in a few wedding shots of me signing the marriage certificates with the bride and groom. After the horror of having viewed the photographs, I realised that my flaky, chipped, slightly bitten finger nails just wouldn’t do. I needed to get myself some long, beautiful, lusty looking fingernails.
Initially, I tried a couple of nail artists that were not so good... the application process was painful and my nails were sore for days. I had to renege on the washing up and all other household duties that required the use of fingers (that part wasn't so bad).
Eventually, I found my lovely Hannah from Fresh Nails, a petite Vietnamese lady with soft, small, gentle hands. She is a nail application professional and although the electric drill that she uses looks daunting, I feel no pain.
Hannah, can do a complete set of nails inside of 60 minutes and an infill within 45 minutes - complete with nail polish.
I usually opt for a French polish with a rounded, natural looking shape.
How Are Acrylic Nails Applied?
Step 1
The hands are sanitized.
Step 2
Your nails are trim and filed.
Step3
An electric drill with a soft file tip is used to remove the natural nail shine (the top layer of the nail) in the direction of nail growth.
Step4
Cuticles are pushed back gently with the application of cuticle oil.
Step5
The nail plate is prepared by applying nail prep to remove moisture and oils from the nail.
Step6
Tips are chosen to fit - if you are having a French manicure, and applied with adhesive. Step7
The tips are clipped to the desired length and filed down into the correct form.
Step8
Primer is applied to the natural nail, and allowed to dry to a chalky white (usually under a small desk fan).
Step9
The acrylic is carefully applied by brush to the nails.
Step10
The nails are again filed to smooth out and are then buffed.
Step11
Nails are finally filed into shaped and excessive acrylic is remover underneath the nail.
The Cost $$$
In Australia the average nail salon charges around $45-$60 for a full set of nails. An infill is required around every three or four weeks (depending on your nail growth) and costs around $30-$35 including polish. A single nail replacement is around $5. Of course nail salon prices vary.
The Upside.
Gorgeous long, feminine, hand waving, ring bearing fingernails that I'm proud to exhibit. A happy husband who loves having his back scratched.
The Downside.
Having to re-learn the knack of doing up buttons, pulling up zips, unclipping necklaces, opening various cosmetic jars and plucking brows without poking my eyes out.
And last but not least, the downside for me is the never ending trips to the salon for infills (every 3 weeks for me).
If you are not happy with your finger nails, give acrylic nails a go and start letting your hands do the talking!
