a.k.a) My lazy nail routine
Over the past three or so years, I feel like I’ve completed every stage of nail adornment. There was the ‘OMG I NEED TO OWN EVERY COLOUR UNDER THE RAINBOW’ stage, which conveniently coincided with us moving 80 miles down the road and me having to lug a box that was bursting at the seams upstairs to our new home, as my knees buckled under the sheer weight of it. I almost completed my challenge and at the peak of my nail polish obsession I must have owned close to 100 bottles of the stuff. Madness. Then came the editing, the downsizing to a more useable amount. I binned the bright yellow that I have no idea why I ever bought, condensed my collection of reds to an amount that didn’t mean I could paint my nails a different shade of rouge for the next 267 days and realised that I had an unhealthy addiction to the most riveting shade of all – taupe.
Here’s the thing though; I’m not actually a massive fan of painting my nails. You know some people pour over the activity and treat it as a pillar of relaxation? Well I’m not the one of those. My shaky hands and ability to flood my own cuticles EVERY. SINGLE TIME. makes doing an at-home mani a slightly stressful occurrence. So eventually as my distain at painting my nails increased, my nail polish collection dwindled down to 30 polishes, then 20 and now rests at around 10 that compromise mostly of Smith & Cult Polishes that are my faves thanks to the cremé-filled colour range and the chunky brushes that aid my wobbly grip.
I’ve never been one for getting my nails painted professionally. Until this year. This year I discovered the wonder at walking into a salon and leaving with talons that looked like they could be holding a bottle of nail polish in a magazine ad. No flooding! Colour right to the edges! A revelation! Even better – gel polish! You can leave without smearing it as you put your coat back on and the results can last weeks. FYI if you’re looking for a London recommendation I’ve always loved the CND Field Fox manicure at Dry-By. It’s what I wore on my wedding day.
However I soon realised that my nails underneath were well and truly f-ed. I haven’t got the healthiest nails in the first place. They’re prone to flaking and are the only part of my body with extreme flexibility, so I’m not exactly an ideal candidate for back-to-back rounds of gel manicures. So for the past two months I’ve gone polish free – be it self or salon-applied – and have embraced the bare nails. You know what? I actually bloody love it and can’t see me going back to colour anytime soon (side note: I always paint my toe nails because ain’t no one need to see my toes bare *shudders*).
The best bit about my new routine? It’s so low maintenance that I have to tend to my nails for all of about 10 minutes per week. Plus a clear polish on a nail means that it’s NBD if it chips or snaps off when you’re trying to wedge a powder compact open. It’s cool! No one can see it anyway! The clear base also goes with every outfit, lip colour or colour combination you can think of (even though all I wear is a nude lip and black head to toe). Plus, I’m telling myself that it’s the epitome of the whole ‘cool gal, Parisian vibe’ even though I’m pretty sure every piece I’ve ever read on ITG on the subject dictates that I should be wearing a shiny, polished red. But hey, I’m into it and my nails are thanking me for giving them a bit of a break. Here’s my current routine…
STEP ONE: PREP. Give your hands a wash, remove any grim under the nail residue with the Elegant Touch Cuticle Tool, then get to work on your cuticles. I’ve used the duo of the Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover and the Tweezerman Cuticle Trimmer for years and they’re still the best choices out there. The former does the job quickly and is a bargain when it comes to repurchasing and the latter removes any excess without pulling the cuticle completely off *vom*. Then I give my nails a trim and a quick file down with the Leighton Denny Crystal Nail File (a.k.a, the best nail purchase you’ll ever make).
STEP TWO: PAINT. This is the easy bit. I’ve gone back to an old bottle of the OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener that I had hanging around and I’m mad for it again. At the beginning of my experiment I followed the instructions to apply an additional layer every day to really beef up the hardiness of your nails and I do believe that it works. I was rolling my nails on the table like a movie star baddie. These days I just do a quick refresh every week and apply two layers to add a bit of shine and a protective barrier to my beds.
STEP THREE: NOURISH. I’ve been rotten at this step in the past and you could tell from the state of my raggedy old cuticles, so these days I try and give them a little more TLC. I find the best way to do this is to keep a hand cream and a cuticle oil in my bedside table and force them to be part of my pre-sleep night-time beauty routine. I don’t do it every night as I keep falling asleep diagonally across the bed with the lights still on which Mark just LOVES, but when I do I use the CHANEL La Creme Main, which is the most luxurious hand cream I’ve ever had the delight of smoothing on my palms (but seriously the dispenser is genius) and a little of the Nails Inc Vitamin E Cuticle Oil across my cuticles (FYI I buy these in bulk on Amazon because I go through them so quickly).
Photos by Lauren Shipley
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