THE GEL NAILS ARE OFF! *sniff*

So as you know, my original nail salon closed down and went into administration. Good bye OPI gel nails, Good bye champagne!

Since then I went to get my nails infilled once at another salon but the general upkeep and not having a good nail salon on my doorstep (with a wicked discount) has since led me to the conclusion that they simply HAD to come off.

I decided to go to Nails Inc in Westfield as they are a pretty reputable nail salon here in the UK. They also don't use that awful scary dremel tool thing which has been something I have always been keen to avoid.

So yes, today after work I went to have them removed.

You see, I had hard gels applied at Dr Russo. I didn't know that there were such thing as hard and soft gel nails.

Hard nails are a b***h to remove. You have to have them gently filled down and then they use an orange stick to gently pry the rest off. I say gently as any force will cause more damage to your original nail.

Thankfully I hadn't had infills done for almost two months (gels tend to have less of a "step" than acrylics so the grow out isn't so horrific), so half of my nails were gel and half natural. This meant less time was taken up removing them.

Cut a long story shortish...MY NATURAL NAILS SUCK!

Ok maybe that's a bit harsh as the left hand is not too bad actually, nails feel weak but bearable.

But the RIGHT. Eurgh, nails are soooo thin and weak (see photo above, the grey areas show how thin they really are). Esp my index finger which had to be filed down to a yucky stump. The tinest of pressure and they bend.

I knew they were going to be awful as when I had my gels on I could see how paper thin my real nails were underneath. I could literally see through them they were so transparent.

So yeah...*sighs*

Would I recommend hard gel nails? They look fab and keep nail polish on for an age and you can grow your nails long. But making your natural nails strong, nope. I don't think I will be getting hard gels again.

Soft gels on the other hand sound fab. Biosculpture is the brand and no filing of nails is needed and removal is done with acetone. From what the Nails Inc lady told me it sounds like a much better alternative.

All that being said though I decided against getting soft gels applied and have gone aux natural.

This does mean a new challenge for me though. I have bought every flipping nail strengthening, cuticle fixing, nail nourishing product I can get my hands on. Well the ones Scrangie mentioned in her blog and SHE has the most amazing natural nails.

So yes...apologies for the mass of text but thought it was important for those considering gel nails to know all this info.

Watch this space for blog entries about my quest for perfect nails. Am quite excited at the idea of growing long strong nails so yes!

BRING IT ON!