Clawing your way to the top....
Whenever I am on Instagram, pinterest, weheartit, or even shopping at the mall I love looking at other women's manicures; it is all about the claws. I probably look like a creep but, hey, we all have our moments. There is just one problem with my love for beautiful nails; In my area it cost a fortune, like you could buy 4-5 decent bottles of wine for the same price. For those who know me I was becoming the queen of press ons. I was able to extend a $9 manicure two to three weeks, #Target. I was satisfied with it for a while because it wasn't damaging my nails (too much) and I was still able to feel like a vixen.
After slaying the low budget manicure game for a while and I no longer felt like a one percenter, I noticed that every set looked kind of clunky. It is amazing how much things change when life rips off your rose colored glasses.
I finally decided that I was going to bite the bullet and go get a set of gel extensions put on. For those of you wondering, "what the hell is that?", it is acrylic nails but gel instead of acrylic. I grew up with a mom who worked as a nail tech for a while so I know how bad acrylics can be for your nails and how bad prolonged exposure to breathing in the chemicals can be. I tend to go through phases with everything in my life so I wanted something that would give me great nails but not the harsh commitment of acrylics.
Starbucks being on every corner is nothing compared to the amount of nail salons in my area. I made the mistake of googling "nails salons near me", and was completely overwhelmed. I just randomly started picking places and reading reviews; not all salons are created equal. I had finally settled on 3 possible places that had been ranked at over 4 stars. My excitement was boiling because I couldn't remember the last time I had been pampered. Then tragedy sucker punched me right in the wallet. Each place wanted $50 freaking dollars for a full set, not including a tip or any special designs. BITCH DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CAN GET AT HAPPY HOUR FOR THAT PRICE?!
Needless to say I was disappointed. Then I remembered watching my mom do may nails and customers nails growing up. I already do all my own manicures and pedicures, plus I also do my own hair. Why not use my Sally's card (this thing is freaking gold!) and try to pick up a new skill? buying my lamp from Amazon (highly recommend!), and the rest of the supplies I ended up spending the same 50 bucks. However, I can do multiple sets and I don't have to tip myself. Well, I mean I can...... a bottle of champagne is always a good idea.
Now I am a professional amature so of course I went where we all go... The Youtube. I watch way too many videos trying to convince myself that this was still a good idea. These are the ones I recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mDN3Zjjbk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rgDG8CjXzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-Da8MuCOc
Finally I took the plunge. I have to say I was not disappointed at all. It took me forever because I was trying to not screw anything up, but I was really satisfied with my first try. I am going on 4 days and nothing has fallen off. I'm not ready to call it a success but it is progress. The nails look so much more natural than the press ons.
After slaying the low budget manicure game for a while and I no longer felt like a one percenter, I noticed that every set looked kind of clunky. It is amazing how much things change when life rips off your rose colored glasses.
I finally decided that I was going to bite the bullet and go get a set of gel extensions put on. For those of you wondering, "what the hell is that?", it is acrylic nails but gel instead of acrylic. I grew up with a mom who worked as a nail tech for a while so I know how bad acrylics can be for your nails and how bad prolonged exposure to breathing in the chemicals can be. I tend to go through phases with everything in my life so I wanted something that would give me great nails but not the harsh commitment of acrylics.
Starbucks being on every corner is nothing compared to the amount of nail salons in my area. I made the mistake of googling "nails salons near me", and was completely overwhelmed. I just randomly started picking places and reading reviews; not all salons are created equal. I had finally settled on 3 possible places that had been ranked at over 4 stars. My excitement was boiling because I couldn't remember the last time I had been pampered. Then tragedy sucker punched me right in the wallet. Each place wanted $50 freaking dollars for a full set, not including a tip or any special designs. BITCH DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CAN GET AT HAPPY HOUR FOR THAT PRICE?!
Needless to say I was disappointed. Then I remembered watching my mom do may nails and customers nails growing up. I already do all my own manicures and pedicures, plus I also do my own hair. Why not use my Sally's card (this thing is freaking gold!) and try to pick up a new skill? buying my lamp from Amazon (highly recommend!), and the rest of the supplies I ended up spending the same 50 bucks. However, I can do multiple sets and I don't have to tip myself. Well, I mean I can...... a bottle of champagne is always a good idea.
Now I am a professional amature so of course I went where we all go... The Youtube. I watch way too many videos trying to convince myself that this was still a good idea. These are the ones I recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mDN3Zjjbk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rgDG8CjXzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-Da8MuCOc
Finally I took the plunge. I have to say I was not disappointed at all. It took me forever because I was trying to not screw anything up, but I was really satisfied with my first try. I am going on 4 days and nothing has fallen off. I'm not ready to call it a success but it is progress. The nails look so much more natural than the press ons.
Now here are some tips from my experience:
- Do this on a day when you have a lot of time.
- Get and LED lamp like this one here. I love mine, you just have to cure your thumb separately. I recommend and LED because the bulbs last longer and it is a shortened processing time.
- When painting keep the gel off your skin! If you get it on anything other than your nail it feels like a crap ton of angry fire ants.
- I love this neutral color and I want to get more like it!
- Remember practice makes perfect and take your time.
My first set isn't perfect, I still have some ridges from the tips and a couple of nails have thicker paint jobs than others. Myview is if I can walk around Bellevue and see bad boob jobs and bad lip fillers then I have nothing to worry about. My nails can be fixed and it will cost me nothing when I do fix them. If you guy have any questions for me I would love to hear them and I will answer them the best I can.
Stay Classy 🥂
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