Naked Nail P0rn

Okay, this isn't really p0rn 'cause there are only 2 pictures, but who doesn' t need a blog post with p0rn in the title? :)

Until recently I didn't know anything about proper nail care. For years I simply let my cuticles exist and rejected hand lotion. I painted my nails and that was it. If they got too long, I trimmed them with clippers. I didn't even realize I should start filing them until a few years ago. Then I found out I was filing my nails the wrong way and was actually damaging them.

Only in the last few months have I even heard of OPI Nail Envy, but many polish addicts swear by this stuff. I have been living with flaking nails and chipping corners for the last decade, so I thought I should try this stuff out. If you aren't sure what flaking is, it is where the top layer or two of your nail peels off leaving a bit of a dent in the surface of your nail tip. It's something that only occurs at the raw edge of your nail. Usually it isn't my polish that chips, it is the nail underneath that flakes and takes a bit of polish with it.

Recently I've had to take my nails pretty short because of severe chips and flaking, but I would say that after a week or so of consistent use, the Nail Envy is making a difference. :)

Maybe it's just a better base coat than the horrible Nail Tek I was using before or maybe it is because my nails are too short right now to be used as tools, but my polish isn't chipping and my nails aren't flaking. Here are a couple pictures from a day or so after my first use of Nail Envy.

Right Hand w/o Flash

Left Hand w/o Flash

I tried taking some photos with flash, but then you could see how horribly yellowed my nails are and that isn't really the point of Nail Envy. It is supposed to strengthen your nails. The yellowing has never been an issue for me until recently. I did some googling and it turns out that the nail strengthener I was using before from Nail Tek was the culprit. I immediately stopped using it, but now I have to wait for all of the yellowed nail to grow out.

As you can see, my pointer and middle finger nails are quite short while my ring and pinky fingers are roughly the length I like to keep my nails. I will consider the OPI a complete success if I can stop having to trim my nails and cut the flaked part off in between each polish.

Have you tried OPI Nail Envy? What do you use to strengthen your nails?