My nails have been a struggle since as far back as middle school. I can remember walking home and noticing that my nails were peeling in layers, and flash forward to 10+ years later, not much has changed. However, back then I also had constant peeling skin around my nails as well, whereas now I experience very little of that problem.
One of my biggest loves and appreciations in life is a beautiful manicure, and when I do my nails my dream is for them to last for about a week before they go to hell. In reality it's about 3 days before small chips start showing up, but that has been a major improvement from even a year ago. The difference? The steps I take to ensure proper care of my hands and nails.
Rome wasn't built in a day, so I don't expect my hands and nails to be magically cured after my entire life of not taking better care, but now that I have figured out a few things the least I can do would be to talk about what has helped my hand and nail health:
1.) I wear rubber gloves when I hand wash any dishes. I feel like a house wife from the 50's, but it makes a HUGE difference.
2.) I've begun using a vitamin-enriched base coat under my nail polish color and I now use 2 layers of my top coat to ensure a harder, long-lasting manicure.
3.) Instead of regular nail-polish remover, I use a soy polish remover from Ella + Mia. This is quite honestly one of the biggest improvements in my nail life, ever.
First and foremost, the whole aesthetic and packaging of Ella + Mia is absolutely adorable and was what drew me in to explore the brand. Elephants are my favorite animal, I've been obsessed with them since high school. The bottle itself of the nail polish remover has a soft velvet-y feeling, like a high-end product.
However, no matter how cute the packaging is, the most important question to ask with any product is: does this product work? The answer is: yes, this nail polish remover takes off my nail polish and nourishes my skin and nails in the process. With normal acetone nail polish my nails and skin feel very dry after removing my nail polish, and I've often wondered if me using an acetone nail polish was causing my top layer of my nail bed to dry out, thus causing it to peel.
One of the biggest perks about this product? It doesn't smell bad! With acetone remover I have to close the lid immediately after wetting my cotton ball because the smell is vile to me. With the Soy Remover, I can leave the lid off and not a single smell emits from the bottle. It's lovely to remove my nail polish and not feel like I'm getting high.
One of the biggest perks about this product? It doesn't smell bad! With acetone remover I have to close the lid immediately after wetting my cotton ball because the smell is vile to me. With the Soy Remover, I can leave the lid off and not a single smell emits from the bottle. It's lovely to remove my nail polish and not feel like I'm getting high.
Despite the wonderful way this product makes my skin and nails feel, there are some draw backs. With acetone nail polish remover, I only need to use one, maybe two cotton balls and in a few minutes I've removed the nail polish from all of my fingernails and some of my toe nails. With this Soy Polish Remover, there's no acetone, so it takes way more cotton balls and waaaaay more time to remove my nail polish. It takes me on average of 15+ minutes and 6-10 cotton balls for my fingernails and toenails with this remover. Glitter/shimmer nail polish takes even longer, and I usually have to go in with an acetone remover to clean up the leftover glitter residue.
While it's not a 100% perfect product, I love this product due to how much stronger my nails feel after each time I use it. While I won't be ditching my glitter nail polish any time soon and for that I will keep my acetone remover around, this is best for every other nail polish I use.
Score: 9/10 elephants approve.
Score: 9/10 elephants approve.
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