Rescue Manicure

I used to be an incorrigible nail-biter. For years I tried unsuccessfully to kick the yucky and painful habit. It wasn’t until in my early 20’s I finally managed for good. After admiring for so long the beautiful long nails of other girls, I could finally be proud of my own! I quickly amassed an enormous nail polish collection- I was definitely making up for lost time! Generally I prefer to keep my nails as long as I can and prettily polished.

Well today I broke a nail, my thumb nail to be exact. Luckily the break was on the tip, so I lost maybe 1/2 cm of length but it wasn’t one of those really low painful breaks. Also I was still left with a decent amount of nail length, which was nice because when I break a nail I always file down my other nails to match the shortest one. I busted out my trusty Sephora Collection glass nail file and got to work! I love this nail file because it’s really efficient at filing down your nails but the grit on it is fairly fine so I don’t have to follow up with a buffing block if I’m pressed for time because it doesn’t leave a ragged edge. I also love that when it gets dusty looking I can just wash it off with soap and water to restore it to it’s full glory. I’ve had this particular nail file for years now, maybe 3 or 4, and apart from a chip on the tip from when I dropped it particularly badly once, it has held up beautifully!

    

Thumbnail all filed down. You can’t even tell it was broken!

Mostly all the same length

This is the shape I achieved on the broken thumb nail; it’s not exactly an oval, it’s definitely not square, and i don’t think it’s a “squoval” either. If pressed to name the shape, I guess I’d call it natural! It more or less follows the shape of my smile line. :)

    

After I was done filing all my nails down to match the broken one, I rubbed some of Dior’s Creme Abricot into the cuticles and nails. I bought my pot from Sephora in the fall of 2016, and as you can see I’ve used it often enough to be able to see the bottom peeking through. It’s got quite a sticky/ tacky texture so a little goes a long way, but at the same time it absorbs very quickly and doesn’t leave a greasy feeling. I love it so much that after I bought mine, I also bought one each for my mother and my aunt from Dior.com as Christmas presents. It’s a pricey product but it worked well for me, lasted a really long time (and I’ve still haven’t totally run out of it), and I’ve been able to remember to use it consistently. Maybe it’s because of the Dior brand name and how special it makes me feel, or the cute white packaging, or perhaps the results themselves, but in the time I’ve owned this nail cream I haven’t lost the motivation to use it.

     

One coat

 

Two coats

After about an hour I was ready for polish. Normally I don’t think I’d wait a whole hour, but I made some tea and then got sidetracked for a bit. By the time I sat down with my polishes, the cream was definitely fully absorbed. I used one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Basecoat, two coats of Revlon Brilliant Strength Enchant, and one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat to finish off the manicure. I have to say that the Quick Dry Basecoat is not my favorite at all, I'm just trying to use up the bottle. But the Quick Dry Top Coat is amazing- I've used up and repurchased over 10 bottles. At least. It dries fast, super glossy, and in my experience holds up well against chips and tip wear. Revlon polishes are available in CVS, Target, etc and run about $7-8 but I always find them cheapest on Amazon, so if I'm not in immediate need of a new bottle I try to order mine there.

Revlon Enchant is a shimmering pale pink color that reminds me a lot of OPI’s “Princesses Rule” and feel both seasonally appropriate for the chilly weather as well as cute and feminine for Valentine’s Day.  One coat looks very pretty but you can still quite clearly see my white nail tips peeking through. Two coats makes the color a little more opaque, although it’s still not fully so. If you desire absolutely no nail to be visible through the polish, I’d recommend applying a white polish as you base first, which would probably bring out the pink tones of “Enchant” a lot more as well. Personally, I like the more natural look.

And that’s it! When life serves you a broken nail, turn it into a cute manicure!

**This post is not sponsored in any way.  The Sephora and Dior links are provided to show where I specifically bought the item. The Amazon links may earn me a small commission if you purchase, but there is absolutely no difference in the cost to you.**