... When acetone is not your friend - Part 1 ...

[Seems I got a bit ranty ... sorry!!]

I've been in a bit of a polish rut lately *sad* I've been unmotivated, unmoved and unexcited about doing a manicure. It's a same as I've had some really great opportunities come my way lately and I've blown them off *mega sad face*

So why the major sadness?? Well cos of this ... (if you are squeamish look away now)

I'm growing out an injury - a cat bite to be exact (lesson learnt - don't hold a frightened kitten!)  While I've done some great growing on my nails (the original was right on the cuticle) and the bruising just seems to be a colour on the nail now, that white mark is a dent. A deep dent. It looks like a crack but I'm not proding around on it. My doctor said it's fine - I'll trust her judgement as originally I thought I'd lose my whole nail.

I naively thought nothing of it after it happened and did my nail removal as usual. Lets just say this happened.

It hurt. A lot. 

I think I even cried. Even the hardcore nail polish addicts would find this hard to bounce back from. Even non-acetone hurt.

So I've been avoiding polish, just so I could avoid removing it. Only painting 9 nails isn't fun and even painting one hand to swatch still means that you have to wear a glove on the other hand when removing to make sure nothing transfers over. Annoying. Too Hard Basket. Frustrating. Depressing. Blah!

Recently I went out to celebrate my birthday with my favourite polish loving friends and my beautiful mate Margie suggested wearing some Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips. Sadly those require remove to get them off but it got me thinking. Surely I'm not the only polish addict with a nail injury. Plus we've all had the ouch acetone feeling when it's gotten near a cut.

So ... here's a small series on suggestions on how to have pretty nails without resorting to swearing like a sailor or painting your nails with sharpies!

Thanks for the friendship acetone ... but it's time to part for us to part ways temporarily.

So first up on the test block are these - Salon Nail Foils from Pretty Woman.

I didn't buy these but I'm pretty sure I've seen them at Woolworths or Coles. The first thing that grabbed me about these is the fact it contains 16 foils. I get having a few spare but 16 just seems like an odd number!  The second thing is that it comes with some spiffy scissors, file and a pusher.

I've had zero luck with foils in the past so let's see how we go this time!! As always I manged to stuff them when putting on the nail but that pusher - man it works magic!!!

Seriously shiny and everything. Removal instructions are to wash hands in warm soapy water and to lift an edge of the foil and peel it off which worked really well.

Pros - Easy to apply, Look good, Easy to cut the right size, Super easy to remove!

Cons - Not long lasting. Can't wear in the shower or doing dishes. You could wear for a day/night but after that it will start to catch. Boo!

I was quite impressed though. I've had no luck with foils in the past and these covered my bite no problems and removal was so easy. Definitely give this a thumbs up.   I'll be back tomorrow with another gem!