Fun stuff for your nails
Like many ladies, I love playing with nail polish. When I was little, I had this peel-off polish for kids that was so much fun to play with, and I never understood why adult nail polish had to be so hard to take off. The noncommittal peel-off way seemed so much easier to deal with. Then I went through my middle- and high-school phase where I liked to do my nails with unconventional materials, i.e. white-out, markers and masking tape. This usually stemmed from extreme boredom and not having any money. Around the same time, glitter polish, crackle polish and crazy colors were all the rage (this was in the late 90s), and I had a lot of fun layering colors as well (something I wrote about in a previous post).
Nowadays, it seems like everyone I know pays more attention to their nails than me. I only rarely indulge in painting them (badly, I might add), and I’ve only gotten like two manicures in my life. When I do paint my nails, they chip so fast I feel like it’s barely worth it. As for fakes, I played with press-on nails once or twice in my childhood, but I can’t get into going to a nail parlor and getting acrylics put on. Also, there’s the whole typing and doing things with your hands aspect that makes fake nails difficult to live with.
That’s why I’m happy to find that there are all sorts of new nail products that allow non-experts like me to experiment with different looks without a hefty investment or a visit to the beauty salon. Here are some of my favorites.
Soak-off gels
Yesterday’s New York Times featured an interesting article about these acetone-soluble temporary gel nails. I guess the alternative used to be much more painstaking and damaging to your nails. Ouch!
Nail art pens
If you love the look of professional nail art but don’t have the cash to invest in something so temporary, these affordable nail art pens are a good solution. If you find it hard to paint on your own hands, you can have a nail painting party with artistic friends! By the way, the pen and brush combo pictured above is $6 at Delia’s, and comes in a bunch of different colors. Sally Hansen also makes its own version, available in stores.
Peel-off polish
It would seem that the blog BellaSugar agreed with me about missing peel-off polish, and they reported that the cosmetic company Sula was reviving the trend with its Paint & Peel polish line ($9 a bottle). I can’t wait to try it out myself!
Stick-on nail patches
These nail stickers from Sephora are like the grown-up equivalent of putting masking tape on your nails and coloring it with a sharpie. The technology is pretty much the same, and at $5 (discounted from $10), you can’t go wrong. Black glitter seems to be the only color available right now, but that would be my choice anyway. You can also get a French manicure-style version for $12.
Skull press-on nails
For a slightly more edgy and youthful alternative to the nail patches above, Sephora also carries these Dashing Diva Design Nails On the Go ($10). Skulls! Diamonds! I never thought I’d say, “I want those press-on nails.”
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michelle said this on March 28, 2011 at 1:53 am