Favorite Product: Nailtiques 2 Plus

I know, I know, I’m probably the only person who cares about having long fingernails and painting them, especially at my age. 

But you see, I never got to have long nails growing up, what with all those crazy piano lessons.  (!)  Anything past the quick “clicked” on the piano keys.  So I have especially loved having them as an adult. 

But growing my fingernails out, and keeping them from breaking has been a challenge, to say the least.  Especially as hard as I am on my hands.

I haven't ever had a professional manicure...  I paint my own nails, and use stuff from the drugstore.  I use whatever color I like, plus a speed drying product, like Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat, guaranteed to dry any color in 30 seconds.  Or Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

(After all, I can’t sit around waiting for wet nail polish to dry...
I’ve got stuff to do, for cryin’ out loud!)  :)

But my poor nails were absolutely giving me fits this time last year.  They had really paid for it the previous summer when I was working in the flowerbeds and putting out mulch and doing all sorts of yardwork.  And even though I wear garden gloves, I just scratch and claw so much, and am generally so hard on them, that my nails had just had it.  Peeling and breaking--it was a constant and vicious cycle.

The fact that the H1N1 scare the year before had caused me to become an absolutely manic Purell-user probably didn’t help them much, either!  Ha-ha!  

Should "Purell-user" be hyphenated?  Oh well.  You get the drift.  Alcohol... drying... breaking.  (But I didn’t get sick that year, so Purell on!!)

The worst, of course, was my poor right index fingernail.  I’m right-handed, so it just does all the work and takes all the damage.  I thought I had pulled out all the stops in trying to help it along, but I was still having trouble with it.   In fact, come to think of it, that one nail has had problems for a few years.

Anyway, I realized that I had tried everything I knew of except for one product.  So I decided to try it:  it’s made by Nailtiques and called Formula 2 Plus, for difficult nails.  And I found it at CVS Pharmacy, no less.  (I’ve also seen it at Ulta and, of course, Amazon.)

They have 3-4 formulas to choose from to match your needs.
www.nailtiques.com

I paint my nails with whatever color I want, wait 2 minutes and use the Insta-dry.  And then later that day I will repeat that, because I need 2 coats of color.

After that, ideally, you use the Nailtiques every day as a topcoat.

And, you know what?  It’s worked!!  It’s actually worked!! 
And it dries almost instantly, which really helps.

Now, here’s the real secret… 
You can’t just buy it, you have to use it!   

I know, I know, where do I come up with all these deep insights?  hahaha  But that’s the tricky part, isn’t it?   Following through consistently, and making it a new habit.

Seriously, though, if I put that stuff on like a topcoat every morning -- and I’ll grant you, that’s a pretty big IF -- but if I put it on faithfully, it actually works! 

Yay!  Happy dance!  ♥

And after awhile, when your nails are thicker and stronger, you can cheat and use it less often, and then even less often.  But a nice benefit to applying it, is having super-shiny nails.  It looks like you just painted your nails, but you didn’t.  Cool!

Sooooo, if you’ve always wanted to have longer fingernails, there’s something new for you to try.  And in your very own home.

And believe it or not, I have to cut that right index fingernail now, it’s doing so well.

For what it’s worth…!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

p.s.  And if you ever do get a break, use the paper from an unused tea bag and Super Glue to mend it.

p.p.s.  It’s kinda funny…  I usually, like 99.9% of the time, use a Mauve cream nail polish, but purple and mint green are fun, too.  Those colors are from CVS, too:  Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer.

[Edited to add:  I'm sad to report that Milani has discontinued their holographic colors in an apparent fit of insanity.]

p.p.p.s.  Tomorrow's 11/11/11!  Do something special!!!!!!  ♥