How to Grow Long Nails

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One of the most common questions I receive is how to get long and strong nails. I also see this question asked frequently in Facebook groups. This article will explain what has worked extremely well for me and others. However, keep in mind that each person’s body chemistry, genes, and lifestyle are different. It’s important to experiment and figure out what combination of the follow tips will work best for you!

Here’s the short answer: Use a jojoba-based nail oil, eat right, and be careful with your nails.

Here’s the long answer:

The #1 Way to Get Longer Nails

Oil! Oil! Oil!

According to Ana at nailcarehq.com, oil is the glue that holds the layers of your nail together. She has thoroughly studied Doug Schoon’s book, Nail Structure and Product Chemistry, which I am now in the process of reading. Your nails are made of about 100 of layers of keratin and oil is what keeps them together. When your nails get too dry (not enough oil), then the layers start to peel apart. By the way….oil is also the solution to peeling nails. ;) With peeling, come breaks! The fewer layers you have at the tips of your nails, the easier they will break!

Here are my nails from three years ago. You can see I had short nails and terrible cuticles. (Not to mention terrible photography!)

(It still pains me to look at this picture…)

In an effort to help my poor, destroyed nails, I bought some Duri Rejuvocate. Duri made my nails worse!! In fact, I first discovered nailcarehq.com when I Googled “Duri Rejuvocate reviews”. That day changed my life! I immediately purchased Ana’s jojoba oil based Pure Nail Oil and did the three day go naked challenge. (Basically, you go without polish for three days *insert gasps here* and oil your nails whenever they look dry. For me, that was like every hour.)

I’m sure you’re familiar with how my nails and cuticles look now, but here is a picture to refresh your memory. ;) (Please note that I don’t Photoshop my pictures. I don’t own Photoshop…so I just crop and wordmark and I’m done.)

To this day, I am still shocked at the difference this one little change made. I can’t recommend a jojoba-based oil enough! Keep in mind that it takes 4-9 months for your nails to grow out so if you start using oil today, the real benefits won’t be seen for a while. Your cuticles will have quick improvement, but fixing the peeling and breaking will take longer. It’s WELL worth the wait. Trust me.

Want long nails? Take care of your body!

In other words…eat healthy! When I’m eating right, (my preferred plan is Weight Watchers. If you use this link to join WW, you’ll get a free year of the WW magazine) I notice a huge difference in my nail strength and growth. And it makes sense! If your body is getting the right nutrients, then it will have spare ‘supplies’ to make better nails. As an added bonus, my hair also starts to look fantastic when I’m eating right. Hmmm….I think it’s time to start eating right again! LOL. I’ve kinda fallen off the wagon this past year…but I don’t want my nails and hair to look bad! Not to mention my waistline! :P

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Morgan Taylor Cinderella Collection Pick

Mar4

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I couldn’t help myself. When I saw Morgan Taylor The Best Ball Gown Ever at CosmoProf, I had to get it. It just looked so pretty! I’m boycotting most Cinderella collections because the movie looks so boring. Don’t get me wrong – it looks well done and the dresses and makeup are beautiful, but there doesn’t appear to be any sort of new ideas involved. Based on the previews, it looks just like the Disney cartoon, but live action. I love the Disney cartoon, but do I need to see it IRL with hardly a script change? No. I do not. I hope I’m wrong and that it’s the best movie ever…so if you see it, let me know!

Morgan Taylor The Best Ball Gown Ever is a light blue duochrome that shifts to a greenish gold.

This is two coats. Based on the color in the bottle, I expected this to lean more blue. Once it is on the nail, it leans a lot more greenish gold no matter what angle I hold my nails!

For a little nail art, I used Konad Princess Pink and a design from Pueen plate 97.

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Sally Hansen Patent Gloss Moto Swatch

Mar3

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I have a quick swatch for you of Sally Hansen Patent Gloss Moto! I swatched some other Patent Gloss polishes for you here and here. None of my usual stores had the red one, though! I was randomly driving around and happened…on accident….to find myself on Bartell’s. I swear that looking for polish was only like 10% of the reason I went there. (Ok. It was 90%. You caught me.)

Lo and behold! The missing red color from my patent gloss collection! It would have been wrong not to buy it. All the other patent glosses have been asking me where their Moto friend is and I haven’t been able to come up with a good answer. When I told them that all the stores were sold out, they accused me of not looking hard enough! The other patent glosses were pretty excited when Moto joined our family.

As with the other patent gloss swatches, I did not use a topcoat. They really are this shiny on their own! Moto is a deep red – almost oxblood, but not quite. There are no issues to report with the formula.

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Yellow Flowers Nail Art

Mar3

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Today’s mani is two coats of Sally Hansen Velour which is from their Velvet Texture Collection. Then, I used Mundo de Unas Cream and a design from Cici&Sisi’s Yellow Collection to create this look. There’s something pleasantly spring-like about this mani. I know spring isn’t for another few weeks, but isn’t it kind of nice to think about? Sitting outside, reading a book, petting my dogs, and looking at holo polish in the sun!

Here is a plain swatch of Sally Hansen Velour. I’m a huge fan of this collection! I really love the textured look that Sally Hansen came up with!

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GlitterDaze Daze of the Month February 2015

Mar2

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Last month, I signed up for the GlitterDaze Daze of the Month Club. You can see my first post here. This month, the polish is called Glitter Daze Intergirlactic Princess. I think the name is adorable! This is a glitter topper that has all sorts of glitters in it. Big, small, hearts, stars, circles, gold, red, pink, and more! I layered this over black (OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy??). I did two coats of the glitter topper.

In this month’s package, I was also sent a sheet of space-themed nail decals. It has planets, aliens, and rocket ships on it. To be honest, I probably won’t use them, but it’s a cute idea and goes with the theme of this month.

I don’t normally like glitter toppers all that much, but this one is going to have to be an exception because it’s just so darn cool. There is so much going on that there is something for everyone to look at!

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