Finally Nekkid!

Ha! Made you look! Seriously, though, I have finally gotten most of the acrylic off my nails without endless filing (or popping them off like I usually do and suffering the aftermath for months until they grow out). I used the aluminum foil method, which resulted in me having robot fingers for the better part of an hour, but it worked like a charm.

I soaked a cotton ball in acetone polish remover (Zoya Remove + to be exact) and then applied the cotton to my nail and wrapped it tightly in foil to hold it in place. I left it on, one hand in a time, for about thirty minutes. When I took the foil off the acrylic had softened considerably and I was able to scrap it off with a metal cuticle pusher with minimal effort. I buffed the remainder off pretty quickly and my nails are back to being au naturale! If I had somebody else with me, I probably would've done both hands at once, but I couldn't figure out how to wrap my other hand with robot fingers. Also, I had something like 12 coats of polish on so it had to soak though that first before the acrylic was breached.

Something funny happened when I took the acrylic off. I realized that my nails weren't as 'short' as I thought they were. I have always wanted long nails and as a result I have worn acrylics off and on for years. But now that I have taken them off and am actually paying attention to my natural nails, I have realized that I really like them like this! I'm learning that keeping polish on them and keeping them decorated that I actually love them at my natural length. They aren't talons, but they aren't bitten down to the quick. They're long enough to do cute nail art yet short enough I can type easily at my day job. They don't get in the way of my texting abilities and they don't get in the way of important things like buttoning my jeans.

For this week's decoration, I finally broke open my new bottle of Essie's Mint Candy Apple. I painted the base with two coats and let it dry then before taping them off on the diagonal. I couldn't find my scotch tape, thanks to the mini who used it all up 'building' on a box he keeps in his room. I ended up using washi tape, and it worked really well. Its easy to tear and isn't as sticky as scotch tape so it came off easily. I painted the diagonal with a coat of grey then two coats of silver glitter. Once everything dried, I added some decals and top coat. I love the way it turned out, but it peeled off after a day. I blame the fresh nail bed and hurried prep. I didn't base coat like I should have, and I didn't let the other layers dry as completely as I should have before I put the top coat on and I think it made the whole thing less permanent.But, they were cute for a few days and I got lots of compliments!

Hope you guys have a great week!