Strong nail: how I do it.

When you’re an avid nail painter you have to take of your nails.  If your nails are in bad condition there’s just no way that your polish is going to stay on there without chipping away.  I get a lot of questions about my nails, most people think they are fake or that I’m wearing some sort of acrylic nail under my polish.  But no such thing, my nails are exactly that: MY nails, nothing fake about them.  When I let people feel them I always get the comment that they are so hard, you can’t bend them unless you put a lot of strength on there.  So I thought that this time I’d show you the products I use to keep my nails healthy and strong.

First up: TRIND products.  These products have literally changed my life.  I think most of the credit for my strong nails goes to them.  After I take off my nail polish, I always put a coat of Nail Balm on them.  I let it set for a while and then I massage it in.  It conditions and hydrates your nails like nothing else.  When the balm has disappeared completely in my nails, I put a coat of Nail Repair Natural (nailstrengthener) on them.  Usually I put my nail polish on next but if I’m putting on a color that might stain my nails (like red) I put an extra base coat on first just in case.

TRIND cosmetics is a Dutch company that specializes in nail care products.

Every evening before I go to bed I put some Lemony Flutter by Lush on my cuticles.  It’s become part of my night time routine.  I put on some Lemony Flutter and slowly massage it in.  Since it’s a very ‚greasy’ product you have to give it enough time to really sink in but that’s what the night is for.     It’s also a great product to put on your feet or dry spots on your elbows.  Because it’s a lush product it has an expiration date but I find the formula stays great after that, the smell changes a bit though so for me it’s usually at that time that my Lemony Flutter transforms from cuticle cream to heel cream. 

You know all the articles that tell you about which foods to eat (or not eat) for great skin.  Well, the same applies for your nails (and hair).  Your lifestyle has a big impact on the condition of your nails, not enough sleep, too much stress, unbalanced diets …  So to give my nails that extra boost I do a special vitamins cure once a year. I usually go for the Oenobiol Cappilair vitamins, a 3 month cure where you take 2 tablets a day (preferably with a meal).  Upside is that they also strengthen your hair and prevent your hair from falling out (even my man notices that there are less hairs in the shower drain when I’m on the cure).

I also never ever cut my nails, not with a nail clipper and not with a nail scissor.  I always file them. I didn’t used to but I’m amazed at what a difference this makes!  

There are some body parts where the signs of aging appear faster than on others.  One of them is your neck, another one are your hands.  So it’s important to take care of them and hydrate them properly.  Hence all the hand lotion.  I always have hand lotion with me.  When I’m at work there’s a tube standing next to my computer and I use all day long.  You just have to take care of your paws, they are the only ones you have!  

And then there are the things that are ‚bad’ for your nails but I do them anyway:

• doing the dishes (or cleaning in general) without rubber gloves: I hate rubber gloves, when I take them off I just can’t get rid of that smell, I feel like it stays on my hands forever and I hate it.  So no rubber gloves for me!
• nail polish removers with acetone: my normal nail polish remover is without acetone, not because I feel like remover with acetone is bad for my nails but just because I don’t feel like it takes off the polish easier.  But when I’m done painting my nails I always use pure acetone to clean up.  That’s right: pure acetone!  But when I’m done, I always take good care of my nails so I don’t find it’s that harmful.

Creating a decent nail routine has taken me a while.  I sometimes try to switch products but I find I always come back to these.

Where to buy:

• TRIND: you can buy trind at bol.com, make sure you look for sets because they are cheaper than buying the product separately, the set I’m showing costs €19,99, the products separately are €12,99.
• Lush Lemony Flutter €10,65 at your Lush store or local website
• Oenobiol: at the pharmacy, if you can buy the set for three months it’s so much cheaper than buying three bottles separately (1 month is around €20, a 3 month set is around €40)