Fibreglass Nail Extensions- the Aftermath

*warning horrible nail shots below*

I thought I would share with you the state of my nails which prompted me to get my nail extensions off. If you are a regular reader of the blog you will know that I have had my nail extensions on from the beginning of December until mid May. I have loved having nail extensions on my nails, however as I have quite a wide nail bed and massive man-sized hands I haven't been wearing bright colours on my nails.

In the end it was getting to the stage that I was cleaning behind my nails up to 6 times a day as I was keep thinking my nails were "dirty". Also once the nails started to grow out, they would get caught in my hair, as well as coming away from the fibreglass.

My main gripe with the nails came when I saw the state of them without nail polish the week before they came off. As you can see on the pictures below- the backs of my nails are stained with fake tan (making them look dirty) and on the second picture you can see where nail polish as bled underneath the nail bed. Due to this I couldn't wear light coloured nail polish (ie Opi Passion) as you could see these through the polish.

The removal of the nails took about an hour, which involved me soaking my nails in solution, and Jill rubbing the layers of fibre glass off with her fingers. I took the pictures below as soon as the nails came off. As you can see there is no damage to my nail surface- normally with acrylics I would suffer from damage. The one thing Jill did warn me about was the fact that my nails would feel quite soft for a few days- I actually experienced this for a week, however I cut my nails shorter than how they are on the picture.

Ignore the state of my little finger nail- this was the nail which got ripped off when I was drunk- as you can see the nail extension must have taken the brunt of the damage. I'm now enjoying having brightly coloured nails again!! Been debating whether to get extensions put back on for Holly's wedding however I don't think I will be, I'm enjoying playing with my nail polish again.

Have you had nail extensions? Whats your experiences? If you've done any posts on this, let me know and I'll check it out.

Massive hello to all the new followers too!!

Still going strong

So some people have been asking about my fibreglass nail extensions, and I thought I would do a post to show you how fab they are. Now many moons ago, I used to have strong long nails (a bit like JEMs) which grew fast, however working part time in a supermarket totally wrecked my nails. My nails have never recovered- normally I keep my nails short as they split, and as soon as they get to a certain length they split.

I've seen many reviews on blogs about nailene nails and how realistic they look, so I tried some false nails from Boots (can't remember the name but they weren't nailene), and they totally wrecked my nails and looked a complete mess. Luckily my friend Jill is a trained nail technician and offered to put some fibreglass extensions on for me. Now the major advantage of fibreglass extensions is that they are built up via layers (fibreglass wrap is placed on nail bed, and an activating spray builds the layers up) and they don't damage your natural nail underneath.

To date, I've had one lot on infils since beginning of December, and I'm getting my second lot done tonight- purely because of Jill's work shifts, I could have gone another week or two. None of my nails have snapped off, bar my two index fingers which I have peeled off (purely because I had stained the back of my natural nails and they looked horrid), however there is no damage to my nails.

The damage on the top half of my nails were caused by the fake nails I bought from Boots, however as you can see there is no damage to the bottom of my nails.

Another major advantage of having extensions is the fact that my nail polish lasts way longer- this polish (OPI Lincoln Park After Dark- my new fav) has been on my nails for nearly too weeks. The only chips is on the polish on my natural nail as it grows, and this is purely due to the oil in my nails. There is some wear on the tip of my thumb nail purely as I use my thumbs to text on my blackberry.

Could I go back to au natural nails?? Nope I love my fake nails too much.