So I Finally got my First Acryllic Mani.

After years of following aesthetic blogs on Tumblr for the... aesthetic, I finally bit the bullet and got what bf affectionately refers to as "Thot Nails". Not the pseudonym I would have opted for since they've got a proper name, but for humor's sake I'm gonna roll with it. SO, I've never had my nails maintained professionally; this all came about one morning when my girlfriend text me. She was on my side of town and invited me on her appointment with her. Normally I would have declined; when I hear the word 'Salon', I naturally don't dare to walk in unscheduled. It's just rude, or so I thought: she took me to a place that accepts walk ins (and is open twenty-four hours). There weren't more than two guests already seated so we didn't have to wait long before that magic happened.

Now, when I say I've never had my nails professionally maintained, what I really mean is that aside from the NOTD posts you all get to see almost bi-weekly, I've never had any professional help to get my nails to look like they do; not even to get them shaped, which I heard is like, a big deal. Anyway,  our appointments took less than an hour even with all the extra stuff we got done: acrylics, gel, shaping, and then my friend got stencils over her last coat, which didn't last long but it looked good the first day so we didn't think much of it, since the design wasn't extra. Over time, I think I had consistent problems with the middle and index finger on both hands; the rest of them pretty much held up for three months.

      I know, I know. You're not supposed to keep acrylics that long. Not only did I have an obvious amount of space between my new growth and the color, but the nails started to grow out from underneath. So I caved and got them redone at the same place with a regular lacquer. Gel is nice and doesn't chip (very easily) but it cost more and my nails basically grew out eleven minutes after my appointment ended, every time. So standard varnish quite literally saved me.

I had the color redone that morning. The space between my install/cuticles = mani meltdown.

     Would it have been easier to just have the nails removed? Yes (and no), for one thing even getting them removed cost money; aside from that, my nails grew out as they normally do underneath the acrylics and I didn't want to cut them... Until I went to get one or two nails refitted. My technician clipped the nail off too close to my skin and lifted the rest off with her bare hands. Painful and had I known better at the time, my cue to leave. once they were on I paid and left. One nail salon didn't sour the magic of the whole, entire ordeal for me, but it was enough of a wake up call so that I went on to maintain the nails on my own so that no more would break until I was ready to take them off. 

     Don't get me wrong; having nice, 400 likes-worthy nails was nice, and having someone else do it all for me was even nicer. But it was a habit I couldn't really keep up with considering the fields I work in (and not sanitary probably. My boss would have a fit). I think I was able to throw on about four different shades in between all the maintenance, not that I remember what their called. None of them were me, but when you're trying something new, it's gonna be a little uncomfortable. A little wiggle room and voila, suddenly if felt fresh as hell. I'm not gonna lie, they did make me feel like everything I wore for those three month was gram-worthy. In the future though, I'm gonna stick with gel over my natural nails, and that's assuming they ever grow in the same.

This is what I like to call 'PSL'. I'm sure that's what it's actually called, OPI churned this one out.