Category 4: Nail Polish

Getting started with this project , I knew one of the categories I needed to tackle was nail polish. I went for a manicure right before I left for my last pre-pandemic work trip and I really do miss that. When I lived in New York, I had two regular places I'd go to get my nails done and it was a thing you did every 1-2 weeks. I miss the routine of that. It's harder in Chicago; the closest nail place to me closes by six p.m. and that's not do-able when I don't get off the train until 7.   

My dentist would also like me to go back to that regular nail care routine. Yes, I still chew my nails.  Definitely a stress habit that has been ingrained for decades now. But I discovered  during the regular manicure years that if I spent money on my hands, I kept them out of my mouth. Nicely painted nails meant less chewing, which meant nicer nails next time I went to get them painted, etc. etc. ( I mention my dentist in particular as nail chewing is hard on your front teeth -- especially when those front teeth have had damage from other causes like toddler's heads.) 

Of course, between the chewing and the manicures, I'm also not particularly good at cutting my own nails, which usually leads to nails getting long and then breaking and once one nail breaks, do you cut the others or do you wait and and and....

Also how long does nail polish keep before it goes bad? Or just totally dries out?  I keep nail polish around; one does not wear as much hosiery as I do during normal times without nail polish handy both at home and the office. But I went diving into the drawer to see what I still had and what I could try using. To my great surprise, even though most of the colors had a bit of separation happening a solid shake and things seemed to be mostly okay?  

So I've started painting my nails again and lo and behold, apparently now if I paint my own nails and am mostly at home I can not chew my nails! (The staying at home part helps too -- I'm not caught out somewhere in public with a hangnail or a rough edge and no nail file. I'm going to need a veritable case of emery boards when the world resumes being public.) 

The polishes are varying in how well they are holding up; not a surprise. I've never been a brand loyalist and I'm not delicate with my hands. I wash a lot of dishes, knit, and do myriad other things that would lead to chips and damage to the polish. I could start wearing gloves while washing the dishes or wiping down the bathroom but I won't. I can tolerate the chips to a point and after that I can toss on another coat on that one nail that has chipped or I can replace the polish and try a new color. I have some red polish that is likely not long for the draw -- it flakes off at the touch of a water droplet. 

Probably the most amusing part for me is how little time it takes to do my nails. I have looked at these same polishes before and thought how that will just take forever and I need to do a minimum of four coats and I just don't have time. Now I'm finding that all told it's taking about 15 minutes and I can do plenty of computer stuff while I'm giving each coat a few minutes to dry.  Add another 30-45 minutes where I'm doing more computer things while waiting for full drying -- which isn't hard -- and I'm done.

Now, nail polish doesn't use up quickly, at least not that I've noticed, but I have tossed a couple of bottles that had dried up and I'm re-evaluating the colors I have, so a dent is certainly happening.

Are you pandemic nail painting? Any pedicure tips I should know about? I feel like my toes should be up next for beautification...