Mani Monday: Nail Strengtheners

What’s on my nails today is nothing.  Well, not completely nothing.  I have on a couple coats of Nailtiques Nail Protein Formula 2 Plus.  I started using this regularly a few months ago, and it has helped my nails tremendously.  I use it alone once in a while, but usually it’s the base coat under whatever polish I’m using.  I felt like my nails needed a break after wearing this manicure for a week.

It was my Fourth of July look.  It’s OPI Euro Centrale Collection 2013, Eur So Euro with some old as the hills Mary Kay French White and a E.L.F. red glitter I got for Christmas.  I thought the red, white, and blue would like patriotic, but something about it just made me think of baseball.  It wasn’t my favorite look.

So, I’m taking a teensy polish break, and I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite nail care products this week.  My nails are generally very weak and peely.  It’s the main reason I wore acrylics for so long.  Wearing polish was the only way to keep them from breaking, but they were so thin, the polish chipped within 24 hours.  I loved how polish stayed nice on my fake nails for two weeks.

I stopped wearing acrylics years ago mostly because I got sick of spending so much time at the salon waiting my turn.  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  Plus, I rather like painting my own nails.  I had an ex tell me once he could tell painting my nails calmed me.  (Lord knows I need all the calming I can get!)  I found home gels, and used them for a while, but the removal process seemed to make my nails even more thin and brittle.

I decided this winter to try a new system, and I bought the Zoya Color Lock System.  The whole system did seem to help my polish last an extra day or so.  I liked the Zoya polish I bought with it, but you can use the other components with other brands of polish and get the same results.

What I really love is the remover, Zoya Remove Plus Nail Polish Remover.  It’s expensive, but I’m telling you, it’s worth it.  It removes polish almost as well as pure acetone without any of the damage to your skin or nails.  It actually improves the condition of your nails, helps your polish stick better, and it smells good.  I won’t go back to using anything else.  I love this handy pump container, and you can buy larger refill bottles when it’s empty.  Honestly though, I’ve been using the same one for almost 8 months now.  It works so well, I use a lot less than I would of other removers.

I totally credit the Zoya remover and regular use of the Nailtiques strengthener with dramatically improving the condition of my natural nails.  They very rarely break now, and I regularly have to file them down, because they get too long.