How I went from brittle and weak to strong, healthy nails.

 Hey there! 

A few years ago, I wrote a post making fun of my nail art skills (you can find that HERE) trigger warning though, they were absolutely brutal. Whoever let me go out with nails and cuticles like that was NOT a good friend.. My cuticles were horrendous and my nails were paper thin from when I abused them with a drill. Yes, you read that right, DRILL. Not a file, a drill. Unqualified. Untrained. Drill. Tragic. I did my own gel nails for a very long time, probably since I was like 15? I did go to salons from time to time, but I kind of enjoy doing them myself. I wasn't the greatest or anything but I think that now after ten years of practice I've finally found myself in a good place. 

I've been anaemic for a few years so my nails definitely took a hit. I had paper thin nails ever since I can remember, they were also very wide and would never grow past a certain length, so I've been doing gel nails for a little confidence boost.

Now I know I was doing more bad than good. I finally got them to a good place so I don't feel the need to get nail extensions. I do use a clear gel to make them stronger but not as much as before because I simply don't need it which is great. I do make sure to pay attention to the cuticles and I learned how to work a drill to my advantage! Too bad it was a trial and error kind of learning.. I think I will do a post showing you how I do my nails now compared to how I've done them in the past, I find illustration works better than explanation. 

Have you seen those nail conditioners that promised you they will help your nails grow long and strong? Yeah, complete waste of money in my opinion. I've tried so many and they were absolutely useless, don't even bother with them. Unless you have found one that does actually help, please put it in the comments!

When I was younger I loved long, fierce nails. You know, the nails that were popular on Instagram a few years back, but now I just love the look of natural, short nails. Short nails seem so practical? I can type on my laptop without being uncomfortable and I type a lot for university atm (so much I've developed carpal tunnel, but that's a story for a different post), I can use my phone without having to position my fingers at a weird angle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not shaming girls with long nails of course, long nails are still beautiful and I admire girls that can function with those, they just aren't my thing anymore, I've simply grown out of them. 

These days I go for solid colours like white, pink, lilac or a nice transparent pink. They go with everything and transparent pink nails are a bit more forgiving when it comes to refilling them? You can't see the growth as much as you can with a solid colour which is great for girls that don't really have the time to get them done once every three weeks. 

I used to bite my nails like crazy and I'm quite proud that I managed to stop AND get my nails to a place where I don't feel like hiding my hands anymore. How can I stop biting my nails you may ask, well I just used a disgusting smelling and tasting hand cream and a gross topcoat that tasted like death. It wasn't just those two things that did it for me though, some strong willpower and motivation is definitely needed for a success story. But this is how my nails look like now! 

This is what my nails look like most of the time, minus the cute gingerbread men of course. Those took me like two hours to paint, never doing that to myself again it was almost traumatic. 

This is me by the way, hi! But if I want to be a little fancy fancy, I let my nails get a little longer like in this photo. I only keep them for a week or two before I cut them shorter cause I hate the clicky clack of my nails against my laptop keyboard. 

Warning, gruesome nails ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.. 

But THIS is how I used to do my nails. Gel spilled all over my cuticles, my cuticles getting absolutely butchered with some uneven and awfully filed gel. I mean, the cheetah was definitely a cute look back then..

What do you like doing with your nails? Do you prefer them longer or short? 

Love, Weronika..