press-on nails making a comeback?

I’ve never wanted press-on nails as bad as I do right now…except for maybe when I was in elementary/middle school, a chronic nail-biter with no hopes of getting to a nail salon anytime soon. While discussing Minx and their lack of gorgeous patterns, my cupcake Jacqueline told me about Urban Outfitter’s new line of press-on nails. Sounds trashy, doesn’t it? But look at how cute these are:

Come on, they’re gorgeous! I mean, I’d like a sheet set in that pattern. They also have Chrome and Sparkle patterns. The effects of nail glue on my nails remains to be seen, but at only $8 a pop, it might be worth giving it a try.

What do you think – would you be seen with press-on nails?

the never ending nail polish battle

I have a confession to make: I can’t wear nail polish for more than 24 hours. I must be extremely anxious, or neurotic, or just a nitpicker, but for whatever reason, I begin picking off the nail polish within 24 hours after applying a fresh coat. Seriously, it’s disgusting. At any given time, there are little pieces of pink or red (or purple or white) polish chips on the ground beneath me. It’s quite sad because I have a thing with OPI nail polishes – I really, really like buying them!

photo: cheshir

Is it just me? Why is it so hard just to LEAVE IT BE? Let it be pretty? The thing is, I’m a perfectionist, so if one gets messed up even a hair, I have to start over. If I’m not in a place with polish remover and polish, I’ll just chip it all away, often tearing at the layers of my nails. It’s really cool to watch (yea right). On top of that, I’m also impatient (though I try). I can’t wait to let it dry because there is always something that is more important – I want to make the bed, fold the laundry, bake something, read something, fluff something, pet something, whatever – and my nails always look crackpipealicious afterwards.

This is just one small part of my lifelong troubled relationship with my nails. My entire childhood I was a dedicated nail-biter, despite repeated efforts by my family (and myself) to get me to stop. Once I even bought that stuff “No Bite” or whatever it is called, from the drugstore. I remember putting it on before going to the county fair and picking it all off (even with my teeth – despite its horrible taste) before I got home. My poor Stepmom Stella even bought me a fancy little manicure kit when I was younger, thinking the right supplies for perfect nails would be incentive enough to stop biting my nails. No dice.

It wasn’t until high school that I grew my nails out for the first time EVER. I remember sitting in Physics class looking at my thumbnail which had grown longer than the tip of my finger. That was a first! I was SO proud. It didn’t last. Eventually, my Mom took me to get acrylics… what a disaster that was. Expensive, and disgusting. After several rounds of “filling,” tearing them off, getting another full set, refilling, and tearing them off again, I vowed never to put that nastiness on my hands again. So gross. I was going to have to learn to have pretty nails on my own.

Eventually, I trained myself to not bite my nails. Willpower was really the only thing I can attribute to my success. Yet I still do it from time to time; I tend to go months alternating between biting and non-biting. It’s a nervous habit, something I do when I’m reading, watching movies, basically anytime I’m not using my hands to do something.

Right now, they’re short but in the process of growing out. I want them to look nice for Christmas and Valentine’s Day and all other days of the year, but still keeping them short because I live on a keyboard what with being a professional blogger and all (I love saying that, btw, I’m a professional blogger. What now?), and having long nails that prohibit me from reaching keys is a bad idea.

Manicures might be an obvious choice, and they do work, matter of fact getting a manicure has been the only thing that keeps a coat of nail polish on my nails for more than 2 days at a time. That being said, I’m a frugalista and I’m not paying $15 (plus tip) for someone to paint my nails when there are starving people half a mile away. That is NOT one of the things I allow myself to splurge on.

Tell me- how do you keep from picking away at your nails?