Nothing to Disclose
Hello lovelies! Happy Wednesday!
Last night my little one was having a rough and needy night, so I wasn't able to polish. Instead, I decided to go naked for a night, since I'm gearing up for my own Get Naked 3 Day Hydration challenge (waiting on a friend to get her Pure). I had mentioned last week that I would post some tips and tricks to get the most out of your Pure Nail Oil™, and what better time than now?
First of all, if you haven't joined in the challenge, please head over to the original Get Naked Challenge Post and check out all the info there. There is a prize involved: 1 winner from the challenge entries will be chosen at random to receive a Pure Nail Oil Starter Kit ($22 value!). Right now the odds of winning are excellent, so come on and join in! The sale is, unfortunately, over, however you can still grab Pure™ at the regular price. Links are in the original Get Naked Challenge post.
Okay, so you've ordered your Pure Nail Oil™ Kit - now what?
As you all know, the first 3 days are the initial hydration treatment, which requires that you "go naked" for all 3 days. I know, I know....going naked is hard for us polish addicts, but happy nails are healthy nails, and to get healthy nails, they need to be hydrated. Nothing can truly penetrate all those layers of polish, and as we now know, Jojoba based oils are the only oils that can actually penetrate the nail plate. There are other Jojoba based oils out there, but Pure™ has the highest concentration of Jojoba on the market. You've all seen what it did for me 2 months ago - Pure™ literally saved my nails and cuticles (you can check out my latest results update here).
So how does the initial hydration treatment work?
First, like I mentioned above, you must get naked. Take that polish off and get ready to start on your way to healthy, happy, beautiful nails and cuticles.
Pure Nail Oil comes with a Pure Nail Oil™ Pen and either a glass polish style bottle with brush, or a plastic dropper bottle full of oil. Although you can use Pure™ any way you like, the Pen is intended to be the actual method of delivery. Not only is it convenient to carry with you, but the click style twist barrel ensures that you get the correct amount of oil (it's very easy to overdo it). So use that pen!
For the first application, you'll need to "prime" your pen. Just twist the barrel until you see the oil start to come into the bristles. You don't need to saturate them until they're dripping, so don't click until there's oil pouring from the bristles.
Once you have a small amount of oil in the bristles, brush the oil over your cuticles, sidewalls, and bare nail (don't forget to get the undersides of your nails!). You only really need 1-2 clicks per nail (depending on how dry your skin and nails are, size, etc), so there is no need to add another click until you don't see any of that oil sheen on your skin/nails. I use 2 clicks for 2 nails, then repeat until all 10 nails are done. I will be honest, I do need an additional click every now and again since I have callouses from writing on one finger, and my thumbnail on my right hand seems to suck up oil like there's no tomorrow, but that's it - just one extra click. Your skin can only soak up so much at one time, and if you'r slathering oil on your nails and cuticles, all that extra is just being rubbed away by anything you touch as opposed to soaking into your skin.
I know, it seems like such a small amount wouldn't do much, right? Wrong! That tiny amount of oil works wonders. Pure™ aborbs into the skin very fast, and since it's molecularly similar to our own natural oil (sebum), it works fast and effectively.
After you're all oiled up, just massage to the oil (gently!) into your nails and cuticles. You don't need to push your cuticles back, just rub that oil in. At first it may seem like there isn't much to rub in at all, but that's because your nails and skin will absorb the oil lightning fast at first.
Over the next hour or so, rub the oil into your nails and skin (down to the first knuckle) until they no longer feel oily (Pure feels kind of like a dry oil, so they won't actually feel oily in the traditional sense. You'll know what it feels like when it's all absorbed!). This can take anywhere from 40 minutes to a few hours, depending on how dry your nails are. Once you feel no oil left on your nails, go ahead and re-apply, and repeat for 3 days. For the first day, you'll be re-applying ALOT. I was using my Pure™ pen about every 45 minutes for the first 36 hours or so! By the time I reached day 3 though, I was at about 3 hours between applications. Keep in mind that I was an extreme case, and you will more than likely need alot less oil than I did. :)
Using this method, you'll start seeing results within 24 hours. My cuticles were torn to shreds and my nails were so dry that they curled inward drastically. Within 24 hours I was seeing tons of improvement in both. I know, it sounds to good to be true, and I was skeptical at first as well. But Pure™ works. I call it my miracle in a bottle.
Okay, so that's the initial 3 Day Hydration Treatment in a nutshell. Now let's check out some tips and tricks to get the most from it!
1. I cannot say this enough - do not slather!! We're all conditioned to slather our balms and oils as much as possible to get the best results, and that's just not how Pure™ works. Even if it seems like it's not enough to do anything, use the 1-2 clicks ONLY. You'll be re-applying often, so no need to worry about not using enough, and using more and oiling less frequently does not give the same results. You'll just end up wasting alot of oil.
2. Use the pen! This is the best application method for controlling the amount of oil you use. It's not just for travel - Ana intended the pen to be the method of delivery for Pure™. If you use the polish style bottle, I guarantee you'll end up with way too much oil and feel totally greased up. The dropper bottle is much more controlled, but even one drop is too much for just one nail. The pen is the most reliable method for controlling the amount of oil. Use it!
3. Avoid water and soap as much as possible. i'm not saying stop washing your hands and bathing, but try not to wash your hands too often. Soap and water will wash away those previous oils, so you're going to want to keep it to a minimum. I was a compulsive handwasher so this was incredibly hard for me. My OCD really acts up if I get the slightest amount of anything undesirable on my hands. I had to learn to just rinse them unless they really needed to be washed with soap, and then I would try to wash just my palms if I could. I also carried baby wipes for those times when I just needed to wipe something off. When you do wash your hands, shower, or bathe, make sure to apply your Pure™ afterwards. The oils in Pure™ are also antibacterial and antimicrobial, so you don't need to use harsh antibacterial soaps, hand sanitizers, etc. We're all conditioned to be afraid of those bad germies, but pure will help kill all of those off anyway, so why dry out your skin and nails?
4. If you're going to be doing dishes, cleaning, etc - use gloves! I cannot stress this enough. Even without Pure™ you want to protect your skin and nails from cleansers and exposure to water, right? SO use those gloves! I know they're sometimes cumbersome and irritating, but your skin and nails will thank you later.
5. If you're going to be using your hands a lot and don't need to wear gloves (working, picking up/touching a lot), grab something with beeswax and add a thin later to your cuticles. I use straight beeswax when I'm working or doing things like sorting laundry. It helps to seal in that moisture and keep the oil on your skin. It also repels water a bit, which is always helpful if you're going to be getting just a touch wet. It's a neat little trick, and works incredibly well.
6. Don't forget the undersides of your free edge! You lose moisture through the undersides of your nails as well, so you want to add some oil there to replace some of that moisture loss. Just like with the top sides of your nails, a little bit will do.
7. Keep a Pure Nail Oil™ Pen in places that you frequent. I keep one on my polish table, one on my bedside table, one in my purse and one in my bathroom drawer. That way I'm never far from my oil when I need it.
8. After the initial 3 day hydration treatment, you'll be dropping down to a minimum of twice daily application. I recommend morning and night at the very least, but I use mine a bit more. I always oil up after I've removed a manicure - waiting a good 2-3 hours before starting a new one so that the oil can do it's job. If I'm swatching, I still oil in between polishes and wait 15-20 minutes so that I can replace some of the moisture I've lost due to acetone, etc. Before polishing, use isopropyl alcohol to remove dirt and surface oil from the nail as opposed to acetone or soap and water. The alcohol will remove only the surface oils instead of drying out the entire nail and cuticle area.
9. Don't be afraid to moisturize those hands! At first, I was afraid that my lotions/creams would interfere with Pure™ somehow, so I waited 15-20 minutes after oiling up to use them. Now I use pure, organic, virgin coconut oil on my hands and have found that I don't have to wait long at all after applying my oil. I do concentrate the oil on my hands and the lower half of my fingers though!
10. At some point you'll need to refill your Pure Nail Oil™ pen. And you should refill them - don't throw them away! They can be pesky to open up, but with practice it gets easier. Just pop off the cap, grasp both ends of the barrel and pull. It takes some effort, but it will pop open. Next, you pull out the plunger mechanism (the white stem with the clear piece at the end) from the bottom half of the barrel and wind it back down. Just turn the larger white piece until it sits against the clear piece at the bottom. Then replace the white piece within the bottom barrel, making sure the teeth line up with the teeth on the barrel. Fill your pen with Pure Nail Oil™ (I fill mine to the bottom of the little flower on the old label and to the bottom of the "B" on the new label) and insert the bottom barrel into the top barrel and push. Voila! You're done!
11. After refilling your Pure Nail Oil™ Pen, you'll need to re-prime it. You'll more than likely see an air bubble in the barrel, and you want to get rid of that or you won't get much oil coming out with each click. I hold my pen straight up so that the air bubble is centered, and twist the barrel until I see some oil coming from the bristles. I always stop and use that oil - don't waste it! If the air bubble is still there, I repeat this process until it's gone. I usually end up with a good amount of oil on my nails and cuticles, so I massage that in, all the way down my fingers and hands. Like I said, don't waste it! Put it to good use!
12. Once a week or so, I go naked for 18-24 hours and use the initial hydration treatment guidelines to keep my nails and cuticles happy and hydrated. Since I change my polish A LOT, my nails and skin takes a beating. All that acetone from polish removal and clean up really takes it toll. Since I'm prone to dry skin and nails, going naked for a day really helps keep them happy and healthy. Keep in mind this isn't a requirement, but it helps in maintaining your nails and cuticles.
That's it! Really simple, right? Even if you just follow the 3 day hydration treatment guidelines and use Pure™ twice daily, you'll still see amazing results. My cuticles are all healed up, my nails are healthier and stronger than ever! I still get breaks, but now they're from my own silliness as opposed to just accidentally whacking them on random objects. In fact, if I would stop getting impatient and using them to pry things off/open, I wouldn't have had a break since I started using Pure (obviously not counting the crack in my index nail that I had from when I got rid of my stilettos - that was filing the sidewalls in). As a bonus, the skin on my fingers look healthier and younger. Maximum payoff for minimal effort, I tell ya!
I hope this was helpful in some way. I actually tried to make a video of all of this, but since I'm naturally camera shy I couldn't manage to pull it off. In fact, I couldn't even keep my hands in frame (I talk with my hands)!
If you have yet to join in the Get Naked Challenge, head on over the the Get Naked Post and check out how to enter.
I'll be back tomorrow with some more Luscious Potion for you. I also have more from Fandom Cosmetics, Shimmer Polish, Polish TBH, and Love, Angeline coming up, so be sure to check back!
Thanks for stopping by and happy Naked Nails!
-Kimber
Nothing to Disclose
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Cuticle Care. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Cuticle Care. Tampilkan semua postingan
Rabu, 10 Juli 2013
Selasa, 02 Juli 2013
Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil™ Update (and why you should join the Get Naked Challenge!)!
Nothing to Disclose
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**
I mentioned in today's post about the Get Naked Challenge that I was planning on posting an update on my own progress with Pure Nail Oil™, as well as some simple tricks on how to get the most out of your Pure Nail Oil, so here I am! This post is solely my results with Pure™- I'll be covering how I get the most out of my Pure Nail Oil™ in the next post. It's like a trilogy over here today!
It's been a good 2 months since I started using Pure Nail Oil™, and I'm still just as impressed as I was after the initial 3 day hydration treatment. I'm sure you all remember the initial reveal - How could anyone forget what I had been hiding underneath all that harsh lighting, photo filters and creative angles?
If you're just tuning into this saga, let me explain where I was when, out of desperation, I ordered my first Pure Nail Oil™ Kit.
I was a nipper. That's right. A serious cuticle nipper. I nipped away at anything and everything that looked like it might stick up, stand out, or post any sort of issue. In fact, I nipped so much that I essentially obliterated my Eponychiums (the small, tight band of skin at the base of the nail - most people refer to this as the cuticle, however it is not the true cuticle), and created a fairly bad infection. In fact, I'm still dealing with the fallout from the infection - I have some severe damage to the nail bed on a couple of nails that will take another 3-4 months to grow out. Yup, I was that bad. I could tell you about it all day, but nothing tells the story like photos, right?
Let's look at my left hand - which was my *good* hand. This hand wasn't all that bad (says who!), so I didn't bother with the ultra bright lighting, creative shadows and filters. I just hid behind my phone. You can still see how nasty and torn up my cuticles are though! The first picture was taken before I used my first drop of Pure Nail Oil™. The after photo? Well, that was taken this morning. Neither photo has been altered (save for watermarking). Feel free to do the click to enlarge thang!
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**
I mentioned in today's post about the Get Naked Challenge that I was planning on posting an update on my own progress with Pure Nail Oil™, as well as some simple tricks on how to get the most out of your Pure Nail Oil, so here I am! This post is solely my results with Pure™- I'll be covering how I get the most out of my Pure Nail Oil™ in the next post. It's like a trilogy over here today!
It's been a good 2 months since I started using Pure Nail Oil™, and I'm still just as impressed as I was after the initial 3 day hydration treatment. I'm sure you all remember the initial reveal - How could anyone forget what I had been hiding underneath all that harsh lighting, photo filters and creative angles?
If you're just tuning into this saga, let me explain where I was when, out of desperation, I ordered my first Pure Nail Oil™ Kit.
I was a nipper. That's right. A serious cuticle nipper. I nipped away at anything and everything that looked like it might stick up, stand out, or post any sort of issue. In fact, I nipped so much that I essentially obliterated my Eponychiums (the small, tight band of skin at the base of the nail - most people refer to this as the cuticle, however it is not the true cuticle), and created a fairly bad infection. In fact, I'm still dealing with the fallout from the infection - I have some severe damage to the nail bed on a couple of nails that will take another 3-4 months to grow out. Yup, I was that bad. I could tell you about it all day, but nothing tells the story like photos, right?
Let's look at my left hand - which was my *good* hand. This hand wasn't all that bad (says who!), so I didn't bother with the ultra bright lighting, creative shadows and filters. I just hid behind my phone. You can still see how nasty and torn up my cuticles are though! The first picture was taken before I used my first drop of Pure Nail Oil™. The after photo? Well, that was taken this morning. Neither photo has been altered (save for watermarking). Feel free to do the click to enlarge thang!
Big difference! Now I know these appear to be results that I achieved in 7-8 weeks, but I was seeing dramatic improvement in less than 36 hours. You can take a peek at my original results post here, and you'll see that you don't have to wait weeks to see results. Be sure to check out the macro shot of my ring and pinky nails on my right hand. ;)
Now, my right hand. Oh what a disaster this baby was! If my left hand was scary, then my right hand was downright terrifying. What's worse, was that I was swatching on that hand since my left hand was so short, so I had to be very creative in order to hide all that damage. The "before" photo here is actually unaltered, but still uses that bright light to wash out the redness and swelling. Normally I would have used a skin smoothing camera setting on top of my lighting, as well as focusing only on the nails to blur out the cuticle area. If that didn't work, then I'd use more filters. It took a very long time to create a photo that didn't show just how horrible my cuticles were. In fact, this hand was so bad that my doctor told me that it would take 3-6 months to even begin healing well enough to have actual eponychiums.
Now *that* is a serious difference (Save for the spot on my ring finger where I stabbed myself with a sewing needle, but hey, accidents happen!)! At first glance it may seem as though I still don't have eponychiums, but that isn't the case. They're just small and tight as opposed to nipped to oblivion. When they first grew back, they were actually rather large, but I think this was due to the fact that they were nipped so far back that they were growing in at different stages all the way across. Once they were grown in completely, they started "shrinking back" into what you see now. I think this is where the myth that once you cut your eponychiums they will grow back larger and thicker comes from!
Obviously I still have a lot of damage to the actual nail on my ring and pinky fingers- that's where nipping and resulting infection destroyed most of the nail plate. I'm actually lucky to have those nails at all. Oddly enough, Pure™ has helped a ton with that damage- those spots, although indented, are actually smooth to the touch (I don't buff them either!) and do not peel away.
I also want to point out that my skin, all the way from my fingertips to the back of my hands, looks smoother and healthier. Before I started using Pure™ my hands looked much older...lots of wrinkles, some dark spots, blotchy uneven skin. Now they look much younger and healthier! I still have an odd skin tone - it's just genetics - but my hands have never looked better!
Again, you can check out my original results post (with daily pictures from the first 7 days) here. It honestly does not take weeks to see amazing results - this is just where I'm at now.
"But Kimber," you ask, "Isn't any nail/cuticle oil just as good?'. The answer is a resounding NO! Before I discovered Pure Nail Oil™, I tried almost every product imaginable. I tried Avoplex, Solar Oil, Burt's Bees, Lemony Flutter, Almond Oil, Shea Butter, various lotions, balms, and creams...all to no avail. Sure, they *masked* the problem a bit, but my nails and cuticles were never any healthier, and were still incredibly dry and scaly. My nipping was a result of this dryness, as well as untamable cuticle (true cuticle - the white, flaky stuff that attaches to the actual nail over the Matrix) growth. Once I started nipping, no product was able to help my skin heal. It was a vicious cycle. It was embarrassing and I felt hopeless.
I know I sound like Ron Popeil (although I prefer Vince The Sham-Wow Guy) here, but the bottom line is Pure Nail Oil™ works. Within 24 hours of my first application, I was showing improvement. At 3 days my nails and cuticles were drastically improved. At 7 days, I was almost entirely healed. For skin that should've taken months to heal, that is beyond impressive.
"Okay Kimber, why is Pure™ better than any other oil?"
The answer is Jojoba Oil. Jojoba Oil is the only oil that can penetrate the nail plate (and obviously it does a fantastic job with our skin too!). It is molecularly similar to sebum, our natural body oil, which means that it is literally the closest thing to sebum. Ana has a fabulous article about why and how Jojoba Oil works here.
"Okay, that's pretty cool, Kimber. But my current product works just fine. Why should I try Pure™ if I'm okay with what I have?"
My honest opinion here is that we could all benefit from healthier skin. In the case of our cuticles, Healthy skin is tantamount to preventing infection, and as you've seen in my pictures, healthy nails. Your current product may seem to be doing a great job, but what happens when you wash your hands? Does your skin go back to feeling tight, looking a little ashy and dry? Do your cuticles look dry? Scaly? Itchy?
I also want to ask you this: Does your current product moisturize your nails? And I mean truly moisturize, as in hydrates your nails. If you're not using a Jojoba based oil, the answer is simply...No. Before I started using Pure™, my nails were so dry that they would literally curve inwards, almost to a complete circle (when they were long enough). I would slather on oils and balms, and that would help for about 20 minutes, but as soon as it evaporated or rubbed off? My nails were right back to that scary dryness. I used hydrating base coats, slept with vaseline and gloves on my hands, you name it...I tried it. And although some things masked the problem....nothing ever truly helped. Since Pure Nail Oil™ contains Jojoba Oil as it's main ingredient, it actually hydrates the nail. And not just temporarily - they stay hydrated.
One of the biggest myths out there is that strong nails are HARD nails - that just isn't true. Healthy, strong nails are actually a mix of strength *and* flexibility, and if your nails are dry, they aren't flexible. How many times have we whacked a nail against a countertop or something and had it just snap off like a dry twig? I've had that happen more times than I can count, and my nails sure seemed strong..they were hard, that's for sure.
Healthy nails are a perfect blend of 18% oil and 5% water (source: Ana @ NailCareHQ.com/Doug Schoon), and in order to really hydrate your nails you need to replace what you lose. Water is simple enough - just washing your hands and gently scrubbing with a nail brush will do that. But what about the oil? How do you replace Sebum? With an oil that is similar to Sebum, and the only one around is Jojoba Oil. You see where I'm headed here, but here's another article from Ana that explains the balance between oil and water in your nails and why Jojoba is so important (and amazing!) when it comes to hydrating your nails. This article also shows more results after using Pure™!
Here's the bottom line, lovelies.....Pure Nail Oil™ works. I see so many of us talking about dry cuticles and nails every day, and this oil is the solution - no joke. No smoke and mirrors, no bull. It's the real deal. Here's one more article that I believe speaks volumes about what Pure™ does - this is Sue's story, all the way from day 1 to 5 months later. It's a great read, and a fabulous example of the magic that is Pure Nail Oil™.
Phew! That was a lot to take in, right? Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Now, who's ready to get naked with me!?! Head on over to the Get Naked Challenge Post for all the info!
Stay tuned - Up next I'll be sharing some tips on how to use Pure Nail Oil™, including how to avoid mangling your pen at refill time! :)
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Nail Nudity!
-Kimber
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** Nothing to Disclose
We Want *YOU* ...to get Naked!!!! Pure Nail Oil™ Get Naked Challenge!!
"LET'S GET NAKED WITH A FRIEND" Challenge, Contest and Sale!In celebration of Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil™ finally being available onAmazon, I've teamed up with Ana from Simple Nail Art Tips and Leticiafrom Teen Polish Junkie. We are each hosting a huge "Get Naked WithPure Nail Oil™ Challenge.### PLEASE READ EVERYTHING BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS ###Are you ready to get rid of hangnails and hydrate your nails?*********************************************************** THE CHALLENGE is to go three days with "naked nails"and follow my Initial Hydration Process using Pure Nail Oil™*********************************************************** THE SALE:____________________________________________________________ ______ Tuesday, July 2nd through Monday, July 8th ending at Midnight, PSTAna offering her biggest sale of 32% off the Pure Nail Oil ™ Starter Pack soas many people as possible can participate in the Challenge.Ana offers 2 sales per year—during Get Naked Challenges—July and January only!*** BONUS!!!! ***We're encouraging you to introduce Pure™ to a friend and do the Challenge together.USA: Anyone who orders 2 Starter Kits or 2 Refill Kits will receive FREE SAMPLES of Bliss KissSimply Smooth™ and Simply Quick™.
INTL: Anyone who orders 2 Starter Kits or 2 Refill Kits will receive one free Pure Nail Oil™ Pen in Summer scent.NEW CUSTOMERS:You'll receive a Pure Nail Oil™ STARTER Kit for only $14.99 US! You're saving $7.01.
- No Order Limit (this is a great time tell your friends and stock up!)
- TO ORDER
- UNITED STATES: http://bit.ly/
GetNaked-Kimber_ST_US - INTERNATIONAL: http://bit.ly/
GetNaked-Kimber_ST_Intl RETURNING CUSTOMERS:You'll receive a Pure Nail Oil™ REFILL Kit for only $14.99 US! You're saving $7.01.There is NO LIMIT on Refill Kit orders, so tell your friends!
- TO ORDER
- UNITED STATES: http://bit.ly/
GetNaked-Kimber_RK_US - INTERNATIONAL: http://bit.ly/
GetNaked-Kimber_RK_Intl THE RULES:____________________________________________________________ ______ THE CHALLENGEWHEN: July 2nd through July 31st at Midnight, PSTWHO: Anyone can participate using Pure Nail Oil.Purchase is not necessary for current customers. Use what you've got ladies! :DWHAT: Please Follow ALL of the Directions IN ORDER!______________________________
- Take an IN-FOCUS picture of your nails before you start the Challenge. (No cell phone photos please).
- Post your before photo on my fan page @KimbersLacquerKorner (click here to go to my FB Fan Page) with the text "I'm going Naked!"
- Do the Initial Hydration Treatment for 3 days any time between July 2nd and July 31st.
- Take an IN-FOCUS picture of your nails after the 3 days. (No cell phone photos please).
- Post BEFORE and AFTER photos on my fan page @KimbersLacquerKorner (Click here to go to my FB Fan Page) with a description of your experience.
______________________________ __
THE CONTEST:
Email your entry to me at KimbersLacquerKorner@gmail.com.
- Include the following:
- Subject Line: NAKED CHALLENGE
- Before & After photos
- Your experience description
- Your mailing address
***By entering this contest you are giving Ana permission to post your photos and experience on her website as testimonials. Thank you!***THE PRIZE:____________________________________________________________ ______ One lucky winner will be chosen randomly from all of the EMAIL entries.
- One Refill Kit of Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil in Summer ($22.00 USD Value)
- One (each) mini bottle of Bliss Kiss Simply Smooth™ Base Coat and Bliss Kiss Simply Quick™ Top Coat ($5.00 USD Value)
Now you know that I really want you lovelies to join in! Pure Nail Oil™ changed my skin and nails in such amazing ways (You'll see how in my next post!) - I can't wait to see what it does for you! So C'mon! Let's get naked!!!!!!
Senin, 13 Mei 2013
Pure Nail Oil™ - The Big Reveal! Pic Heavy!
Nothing to Disclose
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information*
**DISCLAIMER**
All photos shown are in their natural state. They have not been altered in any form other than to crop and add my watermark. Results are from use of Pure Nail Oil™ only - no other products were used during this 7 day period.
Good Morning Lovelies! Welcome to the big day! I'm so excited to share this post with you all! it's a long one, so grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and buckle in. I'm a big meanie, so you'll have do a little reading before you get to the actual reveal! Oooooh, the suspense!
Before I get to the reveal, I just want to let you all know that the most dramatic change you will notice at first is that my Stilettos are gone. I had decided to take them down to squares again since I was catching my son with them a bit too often at this length, and so that both hands were fairly even in length again while I decided which shape to eventually keep on both hands. Immediately after deciding that this is what I wanted to do, I managed to whack my index nail with a large knife while cutting watermelon for my kids, essentially setting that decision in stone. I have thus concluded that Pure Nail Oil™ does not protect from random knife attacks. And that's okay. ;) Now, onto the good stuff!
As everyone already knows, I have spent the last 7 days using a new to me Nail & Cuticle Oil called Pure Nail Oil™. I follow the lovely and brilliant Ana from Simple Nail Art Tips on Facebook, and I kept seeing these amazing before and after shots from people that had tried out Pure Nail Oil™ and achieved incredible improvement in their nails and cuticles in just days, and of course, my interest was piqued.
Now what some of you *DON'T* know, or know but haven't acknowledged out loud, is that for the past few months, I've been hiding a dirty little secret. Today, the secret is out. Lovelies - I was a chronic cuticle nipper. That's right, I did the unthinkable. I nipped and nipped at any and every little speck of dry or dead skin until I had nothing but bloody, cracked, swollen nubs for cuticles. On top of that, I'm also accident prone and do silly things like slam my fingers in doors, thus exacerbating the problem. Cuticle Remover? Forget it! That only made my cuticles even more raw, dry, and swollen. I was in a vicious cycle.
It's been like this as long as I can remember. I've had times where I managed to heal my cuticles, yet they were still dry and I still had to nip at all sorts of dry spots to make them look okay. I poured over other blogs looking for some sort of cuticle miracle, which led me to buying all sorts of different products. I've tried Lemony Flutter, which so many people swear by, and had zero results. Sure, my cuticles *looked* moisturized while it was on, but as soon as I washed my hands? Back to flaky, dry, cracked mess. I've tried, Avoplex, Solar Oil, Pure Almond Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Vitamin E, Some stuff from Nailtiques, Burt's Bees, and every lotion you can think of. All with the same, or less in the way of results. The only way to get my cuticles to appear close to normal was to slather, slather, slather 24 hours a day and either nip away the really bad stuff, or just not touch my cuticles at all and try and tolerate the huge dry spots, uneven eponychiums, and calloused skin around my nails.
At some point this past winter, even the slathering and barely touching my cuticles was working, so the nippers went to work full time. Unfortunately, with each and every nip, another piece of dry/dead skin would pop up, and before I knew it I had nipped away pretty much everything down to the skin between my non-existant eponychiums and my first knuckle. Even the skin from underneath the eponychium was dry and cracked, so that was nipped away as well.
For a blogger, this is a nightmare situation. How could I show my hands like that? I started using creative lighting to wash out the damage - which worked great at first. I started slathering with Solar Oil again, and leaving my cuticles alone, yet they just would not heal. The skin would look like it was healing, and then wham! Big chunk of dead skin that would have to be nipped away, leaving just sore, bleeding skin in it's wake. As the problem became worse, I added a skin smoothing setting to my photography settings, and started blurring out my cuticles as much as possible. As you can imagine, this took forever to get right when I was photographing my nails, and it would take a good 90 minutes or so just to get the pictures right. Then it would take another 90-120 minutes to blur everything out. Not only was this time consuming, but it goes against everything I believe in as a blogger. I edit my photos as little as possible, which usually means cropping and watermarking only. I pride myself on learning how to actually photograph without relying on an editing program, yet here I was having to edit out those nasty cuticles. I felt like a traitor and a hypocrite.
All throughout this process, I kept going back to those reviews of Pure Nail Oil™. The results that I was seeing were so amazing! I really wanted to try it fo rmyself, but just couldn't convince myself to order since nothing had worked before.
So I did some research. I poured over Ana's website at NailCareHQ.com, reading and re-reading her articles and learning about what makes Pure™ so different. I read about jojoba oil, and how it is the only oil that is similar to our own sebum, and therefore the only oil that can truly penetrate the nail plate. Since Sebum is out own bodys moisture system, it made sense that it would nourish not only the nail plate, but my horrible, traumatized cuticles as well, right?
Finally, I decided that I was going to order. I was convinced that since others were achieving such awesome results, that Pure™ could at least help my cuticles to heal a bit - at least to the point where I wouldn't have to mess with editing again.
If you've been following me on Facebook, you already know that once I received my Pure Nail Oil™, I fell in love. I started seeing results the very first day, and it's just kept getting better. I was so excited that I emailed Ana to share my results. She was so open and helpful - she encouraged me and helped me learn so much about nail and cuticle care. Ana is just a wonderful woman, and incredibly brilliant.
I could talk about my results all day long, but I believe that a picture speaks a thousand words.
First, let's take a look at the tragedy that were my cuticles BEFORE Pure Nail Oil™. These photos were taken throughout this month, the most recent being the shimmery neutral color, which was taken the day before starting the Pure Nail Oil™ Initial Hydration Treatment (details in a moment!). Don't scroll past! Take a good look. If you take nothing else from this post, take this - DO NOT EVER CUT YOUR CUTICLES! EVER!
So, let's take a peek at my Left Hand before Pure Nail Oil™. This is by far the best looking hand, and it's not so happy.
Note the middle finger - no cuticle. Lots of dry, dead, flaky skin. My pinky is actually a combo of nipping a bit and Charlie managing to stick her talons into my cuticle (she's such a love!), but it just did not want to heal. There's also all that dry, flaky skin around all my "cuticles", as well as my fingertips. And check out how dry and wrinkly my fingers are. Sexy, right? NO! I can't say it enough, do not ever do this! The only reason to ever cut your cuticles is if some alien is popping out of your eponychiums and that's the only way you can survive. And even then, try to find an alternative.
Now, my right hand. Folks, this one is really bad. It's actually very hard for me to post these pictures. It's embarrassing to admit that I was so frustrated and annoyed at my horrible cuticles that I did this to them.
These are in progressive order, from earlier in the month to last Sunday.
Okay, I'll give you all a minute to stop cringing and screaming.........Okay, all good? Good. Be thankful these are with polish - they looked even worse without it. Actually, I forgot to take a naked pic in my excitement.
As you can see? My right hand was incredibly traumatized. The first pic is after about 2 months of my cuticles and skin looking that flaky and scary. The following photos are what happened after I gave up and just nipped everything off, and then kept nipping everything that popped up. I nipped and nipped until not only was there nothing left, but my cuticle line was essentially almost detached from the nail, causing damage to the delicate matrix. YIKES!
For awhile I was convinced that I had some type of weird fungal growth or something, and I even consulted my doctor. No fungus was present, but he did give me antibiotics to ward off infection and told me to cut it out (pun not intended!)! I took the antibiotics, but I still nipped away. I couldn't help it - I wasn't getting just teeny little bits of dry skin, I had huge chunks! And since no product in my arsenal was working, the nippers were the only option in my mind.
So there you have it, what my cuticles *really* looked like underneath all that bright lighting, filtering, and blurring. Not a flattering look, and let me tell you, very embarrassing. I cried over these. Honestly.
So, once I made the decision to order Pure Nail Oil™ from Ana, told myself that this was it- either this was going to work or I was going to spend my life with cuticles like this. My cuticles were so much worse than any of the other ladies that had shared their results with Pure™ that I feared it was a long shot, but what did I have to lose? I was already spending $11-12 per bottle for Solar Oil, and I was using that so much that I went through 3-4 bottles a month, so it's not like I would be losing money. The worst thing thing that could happen was that it wouldn't work on me, and I'd be stuck.
Monday arrived and my Pure Nail Oil™ was here! And boy, was I excited!
Pure Nail Oil differs from other oils in so many ways, but the first and most obvious is in the way that you start using it. For the first 3 days, you get to go naked! That's right! No polish!
The 3-Day Hydration Treatment was developed by Ana while she was first trying out her new oil mix (soon to become Pure Nail Oil™). Since Ana is allergic to Almonds, she wasn't able to try out most of the nail and cuticle oils on the market since most all of them contain Almond Oil as their base oil. She also wanted a nail and cuticle oil that wasn't packed with chemicals and unnecessary ingredients. Ana did a ton of research and found Jojoba Oil. Jojoba oil's molecular structure looks identical to that of Sebum, and since Sebum and Water are the only 2 molecules that are small enough to penetrate the nail plate, Jojoba was the natural choice for Ana's base oil.
The 3 Day Hydration Treatment starts with naked nails. All polish -fffffft! gone! Once your nails are naked, apply Pure Nail Oil™ to the cuticle line and the entire nail, including the undersides of the free edge. Massage the oil into the cuticles and nail plate for a few moments, until the oil is absorbed. Every 20 minutes or so, rub the oil into the nail plate until it no longer feels oily. Then, re-apply. Repeat, repeat, repeat for 3 days. Once you are able to go 4 hours before re-applying, then you can move onto 2-3 times daily.
Sounds simple right? And it is! However, the first day, your nails will suck in ALOT of oil. I was re-applying every 45 minutes for that first day (keep in mind that I am an extreme case and most people do not have to re-apply as often as I did)! The first time I applied Pure™, I had to go back over my nails one more time since my skin and nails absorbed the oil immediately!
But, what you really want to know is this....Does it work? Am I right? Well, let's see!
Here are my nails as of about 10 minutes ago. The biggest difference is that my stilettos are gone, but that has nothing to do with Pure™. That had to do with a large knife and a watermelon, and, as previously mentioned, Pure™ does not prevent against knife attacks.
You've already seen the before shots, but I wanted to add them again so that you can see the results closer together.
LEFT HAND BEFORE!
I used to think that my nails were healthy and my cuticles were my only problem. I thought that hard nails were strong, healthy nails! That's just not true! Healthy nails are both strong, and flexible. They should bend, but not break. Nail oil is the key to that combination of Strength and Flexibility. A week ago, if I whacked a nail, I would at minimum have a chip. I also had a lot of wear on my nails, to where I had to shape them every 4-5 days in order to keep them from rounding. This past week I have whacked the heck out of several nails, and looked down expecting a huge chip or tragic break, only to find that my nails were not only intact, but just fine! Well, save for the knife incident, but I'm relatively sure there's no product out there than can protect my nails from my extreme lack of coordination when it comes to cutting watermelon. ;)
My nails are also whiter, which is an added bonus. I never really worried about the yellow staining since I always wear polish, but I'm really loving having whiter tips! I've also noticed that the damage to my nails has become a little less noticeable, and some of those pesky ridges seem to have gone away. I could also swear they they are growing faster - and they probably are, since I'm not in there whacking away at my nail matrix with nippers and cuticle removers! And, one of the best parts, the curling that I always experience at the corners of my free edge is gone! I struggled with that curling forever! In fact, I cut my nails down to nubbins several times just to try to get rid of it! That curling was caused by extreme dryness, and now that my nails are hydrated, it's all but vanished!
My cuticles, obviously, are well on their way to healed. Since I did so much damage with those nippers, it will take a bit longer for them to be entirely healed. However, they went from bleeding, cracked, flaky and scabby to soft, healthy, almost healed cuticles in 7 days. My eponychiums are starting to grow back in, which took over a month the last time I managed to have any. The dry, flaky skin at my cuticle line and on the surrounding skin is gone. The huge calloused areas are now soft and disappearing more and more each day. Hangnails? Gone! Swelling? The only swelling left is due to the lack of eponychium - the rest is gone, gone, gone! The cuticles that I *did* manage to keep throughout my ordeal are smaller and tighter to the nail. All the damage that I managed to create? The damage that my own Dr. said would take *months* to heal? It's almost entirely gone! All that's left is for my skin to regenerate a bit.
And, as an added bonus? My fingers are looking less wrinkly! Woohoo! How can you not love that!
Let me say it again, folks. I have tried EVERYTHING and nothing has ever worked like Pure Nail oil™. Nothing. Not Lemony Flutter (all that did was make me greasy and smell like Lemon Pledge), Solar Oil (this worked the best, but still only masked the problem), Burt's Bees, Avoplex, you name it. Nothing did anything but mask the problem!
I want to share with you a break down of my progress, to further illustrate just how well and how quickly Pure Nail Oil™ works. What follows is a breakdown of my progress after 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days. I'll also be updating weekly for the first 4 weeks, and every 2 weeks after up to 120 days.
Day One:
Here is my left hand after 24 hours of using Pure Nail Oil™. Still battered, but there is already marked improvement.
Notice how alot of the redness and irritation is gone, and my cuticle lines are already less scabby (for lack of a nicer word). I do have oil on in this pic, so I'll mention that my cuticles and nails were still pretty dry at this point, although already feeling softer and smoother.
Day 2:
48 hours after Pure™. Even more improvement! Both hands are showing softer, smoother cuticle lines, and the cracked, bleeding, over-nipped areas are starting to return to normal. The layers of dead skin that had been hanging on actually sloughed off, showing healthier, pink skin underneath. It did leave some annoying little red spots on my pinky (right hand), but it's better than that giant sheet of hard, dead skin! Gross!
Left hand:
Again, my right hand has shown the most progress (which is awesome!). You can see the spots on my pinky where that huge, hard, sheet of dead skin was (from swelling), but the dead skin itself is now gone! Nails are starting to look much nicer as well! Excuse the bad lighting in the 2nd pic though!
Day 3:
More progress! Things are looking MUCH, MUCH Better here. Swelling has decreased significantly and some of the non-existant cuticles are showing signs of tiny eponychiums trying to grow back.
Left Hand:
Sorry about the blurry pic there - No tripod on the iPhone, which is what I used to take all these pics. However you can see the decrease in swelling, the increase in actual cuticle line, and the whiter nails. Nails, cuticle lines and fingers are looking must less dry and wrinkly!
Right Hand:
Again, less swelling around the cuticle line and healing up nicely. Cuticle Lines and Nails are much less dry, although they needed moist of the oil so my fingers look a touch dry here. I'll be honest, I had also NOT used any lotion in awhile. ;) However, the skin was actually ALOT less dry than the day before! The pinky and index fingers appear to have some eponychium there (and there is a tiny bit of actual eponychium), however that is actually dead skin that's been hanging on. You can't tell here, but it's getting ready to start sloughing off. Gross, but necessary, and a good thing.
Had I stopped here, at the 3 day mark, I would've been thrilled with the progress and called it a definite win. I mean, look what progress I had made in just 3 days? But, in all honesty, my nails and cuticles were a tough case, and since they really needed the extra care, I decided to go a full week to help them recover even more. I was still oiling every 2.5 hours at this point, and that meant that I still needed more moisture to help things heal and become healthy.
Day 5:
After 2 more days of frequent application and babying, my skin and cuticles on both hands improved greatly. Some more dead skin has sloughed away, revealing healthy cuticle lines ready to grow some healthy eponychiums! The swelling from abuse is almost entirely gone, leaving only what appears to be swollen since I have very little eponychium to blend the skin and nail plate.
Left Hand:
This hand has again shown the most improvement, although the pinky and ring finger still have that ring of hardened, dead skin where the eponychium should be. You can't see it here, but it's still lifting off and about to go bye bye! Nails are whiter and stronger, having become more flexible. I had even tested that theory by whacking a few of them several times on random objects that have been here for 12 years but that I still run into all the time, and managed to walk away with unscathed nails. Pesky wrinkles are still showing improvement too!
Of course, after these were taken? I whacked that index nail with a knife and bye bye stilettos. Thankfully I had already decided to take them down to squares to make them more even with my left hand, and avoid scratching my son. I do miss them, but hey, they'll grow back stronger and healthier!
After all of that progress I was wondering exactly how much further my nails and cuticles could go within my 7 day time frame. Would I have more improvement? Would that dead skin finally all slough off and reveal healthy skin? Let's take a look at the final results!
Day 7:
These photos were taken at 11:30 this morning, which is about 30 minutes ago as I write this. I am obviously overjoyed at my results!
Left Hand:
Okay, look at that progress!!! I don't know about you folks, but I am in awe of just how far my nails and cuticles have come. All that's really left for this hand is a couple of tiny little spots that have an itty tail of dead skin (I'm not nipping anything, so those just hang out until they go away) and the eponychium on my middle finger needs to finish growing in. It's starting to show, it's just being shy since there was so much damage done to that cuticle. Overall? I am so happy! I literally cried when I compared the before and after pics today. I NEVER thought anything would work for me at all, nonetheless being able to achieve the results that I've had with Pure™!
Right Hand:
Squee!!!! I'm literally doing the happy dance over here! If you can't see how much progress I've made on this hand, then...wow...I don't know what to tell you. As with my left hand, I only have a couple of spots that have a teeny tiny nit of skin that needs to go. Extreme cracking and bleeding? Gone! Scabby, dead skin? Gone! Severe damage from nipping down to nothing? Almost entirely gone! WOW!
On both hands Pure Nail Oil™ has created a small miracle. Without it, I would still be struggling to have normal cuticles and soft, hydrated skin and nails. Even without my stilettos, I am in love with my new look!
Obviously this is where I'm going to rave about Pure Nail Oil™!
Pros:
-Healing! My terribly abused and overly nipped cuticle lines are now healed and the eponychiums returning.
-Softer cuticles, softer skin around my nails. No more hard, calloused spots!
-Actual Eponychiums! They're starting to grow back after months of being nipped away. The eponychiums that I did have before are smaller, and tighter to the nail.
-Hydrated skin and nails. Even after bathing! No more dry, scaly, itchy cuticle lines.
-Shinier, healthier nails
-STRONGER NAILS! My names have become strong and flexible as opposed to the hard, brittle nails I had previously.
-No more giant hangnails! Before, I would find a good sized hangnail almost every time I painted my nails. Not one now!
-Whiter Nails. My yellowing has decrease signigicantly.
-Longer Nails. Not just from my natural growth rate, but my nails are wearing less and less, meaning less filing.
-Decreased "curling" of the free edge. Before Pure™ I struggled with heavily curling corners ar my free edge. If I didn't keep oil on my nails at all time, they would curl in and look like little tunnels. Not now!
-Decreased wrinkles! Since my skin is now hydrated and soft, those pesky deep wrinkles from incredibly dry skin and natural aging are less marked.
-Money! I'm spending less! I was spending $11-12 every 7-10 days on Solar Oil.
-Self Esteem. I am no longer ashamed to show my hands and nail IRL, or in photographs! No more creative spot lighting, filters, or blurry editing for this girl!
-Light feeling, not greasy or "heavy". Pure Nail Oil™ reminds me almost of a dry oil - it's very light, and I only need a small bit.
-Smells amazing! I use the "Crisp" scent at the moment, and it is truly wonderful! Light, refreshing, and addicting! My husband always comments on how much he loves the scent. Pure™ also comes in Spring, Summer, and Winter Limited Edition, Seasonal Scents, and you can grab scent samples with your order for a whopping 25 cents.
-Price! I ordered the Pure Nail Oil™ Starter Kit, which comes with a 2ml pre-filled and refillable pen and 15ml of Pure Nail Oil. The starter kit (as well as the refill kit) costs $22 and lasts for 8-12 weeks, depending on how much and how often you oil. Since you only need a small amount of Pure™, it really does last a long time. I've refilled my pen a few times, and filled up a small cuticle oil bottle to keep by my bedside, and still have 3/4 of my bottle left. $22 for 8 weeks? That's less than what I spent in 2 weeks previously!
-No more $17 "strengthening" base coats! Since my nails have that balance of strength and flexibility, and since nail hardeners are very drying to the nail, I won't be needing those anymore! In fact, I'll be trying out Ana's base coat, Simply Smooth™!
Cons:
-Does not come in "Vat" size, since Ana makes small batches to keep the oil fresh.
-Does not protect against knife wounds.
-Will not do my laundry or vacuum, no matter how nicely I ask.
-Works so well that my husband wants to steal it.
-Apparently tasted very lovely, according to the cat., who likes to try to lick my nails now.
So there you have it, lovelies. I know this post was very long, and I thank you for sticking with me.
I cannot stress how amazing Pure Nail Oil™ truly is. This is such a miracle product for me, and I have no idea why the entire nail community isn't using it yet! Even if you have good cuticles and nails, Pure™ is still an amazing product, and I guarantee that once you try it, you won't want to switch back. I'd bet this year's salary on it, if I was a betting woman! I know that so many of us struggle with dry cuticles, tearing and cracking skin, brittle, breaking nails, Weak nails, yellow nails - the list is endless. The bottom line is this: If you ever struggle with your nails and cuticles, you NEED Pure Nail Oil™ in your life.
You can find Pure Nail Oil by checking out my link at : http://www.nailcarehq.com/
I have to tell you, I am exhausted after writing all of this out! I'm sure I've missed something, so feel free to ask questions! I'm always available by email, or comment on this post and I promise to respond. At the moment, I'm off to start polishing again! It's been a full 7 days without polish and although it was beyond worth it, I am itching to polish!!!! I have a literal TON of awesome new Indies to share with you all! And ya know what? Thanks to Pure Nail Oil™, I'll be posting alot faster. ;)
I'll also have a review of Ana's Base and Top Coats, Simply Smooth™ and Simply Quick™ coming soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Nails and Cuticles!
-Kimber
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**
Nothing to Disclose
*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information*
**DISCLAIMER**
All photos shown are in their natural state. They have not been altered in any form other than to crop and add my watermark. Results are from use of Pure Nail Oil™ only - no other products were used during this 7 day period.
Good Morning Lovelies! Welcome to the big day! I'm so excited to share this post with you all! it's a long one, so grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and buckle in. I'm a big meanie, so you'll have do a little reading before you get to the actual reveal! Oooooh, the suspense!
Before I get to the reveal, I just want to let you all know that the most dramatic change you will notice at first is that my Stilettos are gone. I had decided to take them down to squares again since I was catching my son with them a bit too often at this length, and so that both hands were fairly even in length again while I decided which shape to eventually keep on both hands. Immediately after deciding that this is what I wanted to do, I managed to whack my index nail with a large knife while cutting watermelon for my kids, essentially setting that decision in stone. I have thus concluded that Pure Nail Oil™ does not protect from random knife attacks. And that's okay. ;) Now, onto the good stuff!
As everyone already knows, I have spent the last 7 days using a new to me Nail & Cuticle Oil called Pure Nail Oil™. I follow the lovely and brilliant Ana from Simple Nail Art Tips on Facebook, and I kept seeing these amazing before and after shots from people that had tried out Pure Nail Oil™ and achieved incredible improvement in their nails and cuticles in just days, and of course, my interest was piqued.
Now what some of you *DON'T* know, or know but haven't acknowledged out loud, is that for the past few months, I've been hiding a dirty little secret. Today, the secret is out. Lovelies - I was a chronic cuticle nipper. That's right, I did the unthinkable. I nipped and nipped at any and every little speck of dry or dead skin until I had nothing but bloody, cracked, swollen nubs for cuticles. On top of that, I'm also accident prone and do silly things like slam my fingers in doors, thus exacerbating the problem. Cuticle Remover? Forget it! That only made my cuticles even more raw, dry, and swollen. I was in a vicious cycle.
It's been like this as long as I can remember. I've had times where I managed to heal my cuticles, yet they were still dry and I still had to nip at all sorts of dry spots to make them look okay. I poured over other blogs looking for some sort of cuticle miracle, which led me to buying all sorts of different products. I've tried Lemony Flutter, which so many people swear by, and had zero results. Sure, my cuticles *looked* moisturized while it was on, but as soon as I washed my hands? Back to flaky, dry, cracked mess. I've tried, Avoplex, Solar Oil, Pure Almond Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Vitamin E, Some stuff from Nailtiques, Burt's Bees, and every lotion you can think of. All with the same, or less in the way of results. The only way to get my cuticles to appear close to normal was to slather, slather, slather 24 hours a day and either nip away the really bad stuff, or just not touch my cuticles at all and try and tolerate the huge dry spots, uneven eponychiums, and calloused skin around my nails.
At some point this past winter, even the slathering and barely touching my cuticles was working, so the nippers went to work full time. Unfortunately, with each and every nip, another piece of dry/dead skin would pop up, and before I knew it I had nipped away pretty much everything down to the skin between my non-existant eponychiums and my first knuckle. Even the skin from underneath the eponychium was dry and cracked, so that was nipped away as well.
For a blogger, this is a nightmare situation. How could I show my hands like that? I started using creative lighting to wash out the damage - which worked great at first. I started slathering with Solar Oil again, and leaving my cuticles alone, yet they just would not heal. The skin would look like it was healing, and then wham! Big chunk of dead skin that would have to be nipped away, leaving just sore, bleeding skin in it's wake. As the problem became worse, I added a skin smoothing setting to my photography settings, and started blurring out my cuticles as much as possible. As you can imagine, this took forever to get right when I was photographing my nails, and it would take a good 90 minutes or so just to get the pictures right. Then it would take another 90-120 minutes to blur everything out. Not only was this time consuming, but it goes against everything I believe in as a blogger. I edit my photos as little as possible, which usually means cropping and watermarking only. I pride myself on learning how to actually photograph without relying on an editing program, yet here I was having to edit out those nasty cuticles. I felt like a traitor and a hypocrite.
All throughout this process, I kept going back to those reviews of Pure Nail Oil™. The results that I was seeing were so amazing! I really wanted to try it fo rmyself, but just couldn't convince myself to order since nothing had worked before.
So I did some research. I poured over Ana's website at NailCareHQ.com, reading and re-reading her articles and learning about what makes Pure™ so different. I read about jojoba oil, and how it is the only oil that is similar to our own sebum, and therefore the only oil that can truly penetrate the nail plate. Since Sebum is out own bodys moisture system, it made sense that it would nourish not only the nail plate, but my horrible, traumatized cuticles as well, right?
Finally, I decided that I was going to order. I was convinced that since others were achieving such awesome results, that Pure™ could at least help my cuticles to heal a bit - at least to the point where I wouldn't have to mess with editing again.
If you've been following me on Facebook, you already know that once I received my Pure Nail Oil™, I fell in love. I started seeing results the very first day, and it's just kept getting better. I was so excited that I emailed Ana to share my results. She was so open and helpful - she encouraged me and helped me learn so much about nail and cuticle care. Ana is just a wonderful woman, and incredibly brilliant.
I could talk about my results all day long, but I believe that a picture speaks a thousand words.
First, let's take a look at the tragedy that were my cuticles BEFORE Pure Nail Oil™. These photos were taken throughout this month, the most recent being the shimmery neutral color, which was taken the day before starting the Pure Nail Oil™ Initial Hydration Treatment (details in a moment!). Don't scroll past! Take a good look. If you take nothing else from this post, take this - DO NOT EVER CUT YOUR CUTICLES! EVER!
So, let's take a peek at my Left Hand before Pure Nail Oil™. This is by far the best looking hand, and it's not so happy.
Note the middle finger - no cuticle. Lots of dry, dead, flaky skin. My pinky is actually a combo of nipping a bit and Charlie managing to stick her talons into my cuticle (she's such a love!), but it just did not want to heal. There's also all that dry, flaky skin around all my "cuticles", as well as my fingertips. And check out how dry and wrinkly my fingers are. Sexy, right? NO! I can't say it enough, do not ever do this! The only reason to ever cut your cuticles is if some alien is popping out of your eponychiums and that's the only way you can survive. And even then, try to find an alternative.
Now, my right hand. Folks, this one is really bad. It's actually very hard for me to post these pictures. It's embarrassing to admit that I was so frustrated and annoyed at my horrible cuticles that I did this to them.
These are in progressive order, from earlier in the month to last Sunday.
Okay, I'll give you all a minute to stop cringing and screaming.........Okay, all good? Good. Be thankful these are with polish - they looked even worse without it. Actually, I forgot to take a naked pic in my excitement.
As you can see? My right hand was incredibly traumatized. The first pic is after about 2 months of my cuticles and skin looking that flaky and scary. The following photos are what happened after I gave up and just nipped everything off, and then kept nipping everything that popped up. I nipped and nipped until not only was there nothing left, but my cuticle line was essentially almost detached from the nail, causing damage to the delicate matrix. YIKES!
For awhile I was convinced that I had some type of weird fungal growth or something, and I even consulted my doctor. No fungus was present, but he did give me antibiotics to ward off infection and told me to cut it out (pun not intended!)! I took the antibiotics, but I still nipped away. I couldn't help it - I wasn't getting just teeny little bits of dry skin, I had huge chunks! And since no product in my arsenal was working, the nippers were the only option in my mind.
So there you have it, what my cuticles *really* looked like underneath all that bright lighting, filtering, and blurring. Not a flattering look, and let me tell you, very embarrassing. I cried over these. Honestly.
So, once I made the decision to order Pure Nail Oil™ from Ana, told myself that this was it- either this was going to work or I was going to spend my life with cuticles like this. My cuticles were so much worse than any of the other ladies that had shared their results with Pure™ that I feared it was a long shot, but what did I have to lose? I was already spending $11-12 per bottle for Solar Oil, and I was using that so much that I went through 3-4 bottles a month, so it's not like I would be losing money. The worst thing thing that could happen was that it wouldn't work on me, and I'd be stuck.
Monday arrived and my Pure Nail Oil™ was here! And boy, was I excited!
Pure Nail Oil differs from other oils in so many ways, but the first and most obvious is in the way that you start using it. For the first 3 days, you get to go naked! That's right! No polish!
The 3-Day Hydration Treatment was developed by Ana while she was first trying out her new oil mix (soon to become Pure Nail Oil™). Since Ana is allergic to Almonds, she wasn't able to try out most of the nail and cuticle oils on the market since most all of them contain Almond Oil as their base oil. She also wanted a nail and cuticle oil that wasn't packed with chemicals and unnecessary ingredients. Ana did a ton of research and found Jojoba Oil. Jojoba oil's molecular structure looks identical to that of Sebum, and since Sebum and Water are the only 2 molecules that are small enough to penetrate the nail plate, Jojoba was the natural choice for Ana's base oil.
The 3 Day Hydration Treatment starts with naked nails. All polish -fffffft! gone! Once your nails are naked, apply Pure Nail Oil™ to the cuticle line and the entire nail, including the undersides of the free edge. Massage the oil into the cuticles and nail plate for a few moments, until the oil is absorbed. Every 20 minutes or so, rub the oil into the nail plate until it no longer feels oily. Then, re-apply. Repeat, repeat, repeat for 3 days. Once you are able to go 4 hours before re-applying, then you can move onto 2-3 times daily.
Sounds simple right? And it is! However, the first day, your nails will suck in ALOT of oil. I was re-applying every 45 minutes for that first day (keep in mind that I am an extreme case and most people do not have to re-apply as often as I did)! The first time I applied Pure™, I had to go back over my nails one more time since my skin and nails absorbed the oil immediately!
But, what you really want to know is this....Does it work? Am I right? Well, let's see!
Here are my nails as of about 10 minutes ago. The biggest difference is that my stilettos are gone, but that has nothing to do with Pure™. That had to do with a large knife and a watermelon, and, as previously mentioned, Pure™ does not prevent against knife attacks.
You've already seen the before shots, but I wanted to add them again so that you can see the results closer together.
LEFT HAND BEFORE!
LEFT HAND AFTER!
RIGHT HAND BEFORE:
RIGHT HAND AFTER!
What a huge difference, right (and I'm not talking about the lack of stiletto nails!)? You'll have to keep reading for day by day results pics and more shots of the Final 7 day results though! The day by day shots really help to see just how bad my cuticles were, and exactly bow far they've come.
So, what has Pure Nail Oil™ done for me?
I used to think that my nails were healthy and my cuticles were my only problem. I thought that hard nails were strong, healthy nails! That's just not true! Healthy nails are both strong, and flexible. They should bend, but not break. Nail oil is the key to that combination of Strength and Flexibility. A week ago, if I whacked a nail, I would at minimum have a chip. I also had a lot of wear on my nails, to where I had to shape them every 4-5 days in order to keep them from rounding. This past week I have whacked the heck out of several nails, and looked down expecting a huge chip or tragic break, only to find that my nails were not only intact, but just fine! Well, save for the knife incident, but I'm relatively sure there's no product out there than can protect my nails from my extreme lack of coordination when it comes to cutting watermelon. ;)
My nails are also whiter, which is an added bonus. I never really worried about the yellow staining since I always wear polish, but I'm really loving having whiter tips! I've also noticed that the damage to my nails has become a little less noticeable, and some of those pesky ridges seem to have gone away. I could also swear they they are growing faster - and they probably are, since I'm not in there whacking away at my nail matrix with nippers and cuticle removers! And, one of the best parts, the curling that I always experience at the corners of my free edge is gone! I struggled with that curling forever! In fact, I cut my nails down to nubbins several times just to try to get rid of it! That curling was caused by extreme dryness, and now that my nails are hydrated, it's all but vanished!
My cuticles, obviously, are well on their way to healed. Since I did so much damage with those nippers, it will take a bit longer for them to be entirely healed. However, they went from bleeding, cracked, flaky and scabby to soft, healthy, almost healed cuticles in 7 days. My eponychiums are starting to grow back in, which took over a month the last time I managed to have any. The dry, flaky skin at my cuticle line and on the surrounding skin is gone. The huge calloused areas are now soft and disappearing more and more each day. Hangnails? Gone! Swelling? The only swelling left is due to the lack of eponychium - the rest is gone, gone, gone! The cuticles that I *did* manage to keep throughout my ordeal are smaller and tighter to the nail. All the damage that I managed to create? The damage that my own Dr. said would take *months* to heal? It's almost entirely gone! All that's left is for my skin to regenerate a bit.
And, as an added bonus? My fingers are looking less wrinkly! Woohoo! How can you not love that!
Let me say it again, folks. I have tried EVERYTHING and nothing has ever worked like Pure Nail oil™. Nothing. Not Lemony Flutter (all that did was make me greasy and smell like Lemon Pledge), Solar Oil (this worked the best, but still only masked the problem), Burt's Bees, Avoplex, you name it. Nothing did anything but mask the problem!
I want to share with you a break down of my progress, to further illustrate just how well and how quickly Pure Nail Oil™ works. What follows is a breakdown of my progress after 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days. I'll also be updating weekly for the first 4 weeks, and every 2 weeks after up to 120 days.
Day One:
Here is my left hand after 24 hours of using Pure Nail Oil™. Still battered, but there is already marked improvement.
And now my right hand after 24 hours. This hand is obviously the most improved.
Day 2:
48 hours after Pure™. Even more improvement! Both hands are showing softer, smoother cuticle lines, and the cracked, bleeding, over-nipped areas are starting to return to normal. The layers of dead skin that had been hanging on actually sloughed off, showing healthier, pink skin underneath. It did leave some annoying little red spots on my pinky (right hand), but it's better than that giant sheet of hard, dead skin! Gross!
Left hand:
One of the things that made me happiest on Day 2 was seeing just how much those huge, raw spots were healing up. And, that the pesky curling free edge was going away!
Right Hand:
Again, my right hand has shown the most progress (which is awesome!). You can see the spots on my pinky where that huge, hard, sheet of dead skin was (from swelling), but the dead skin itself is now gone! Nails are starting to look much nicer as well! Excuse the bad lighting in the 2nd pic though!
Day 3:
More progress! Things are looking MUCH, MUCH Better here. Swelling has decreased significantly and some of the non-existant cuticles are showing signs of tiny eponychiums trying to grow back.
Left Hand:
Sorry about the blurry pic there - No tripod on the iPhone, which is what I used to take all these pics. However you can see the decrease in swelling, the increase in actual cuticle line, and the whiter nails. Nails, cuticle lines and fingers are looking must less dry and wrinkly!
Right Hand:
Again, less swelling around the cuticle line and healing up nicely. Cuticle Lines and Nails are much less dry, although they needed moist of the oil so my fingers look a touch dry here. I'll be honest, I had also NOT used any lotion in awhile. ;) However, the skin was actually ALOT less dry than the day before! The pinky and index fingers appear to have some eponychium there (and there is a tiny bit of actual eponychium), however that is actually dead skin that's been hanging on. You can't tell here, but it's getting ready to start sloughing off. Gross, but necessary, and a good thing.
Had I stopped here, at the 3 day mark, I would've been thrilled with the progress and called it a definite win. I mean, look what progress I had made in just 3 days? But, in all honesty, my nails and cuticles were a tough case, and since they really needed the extra care, I decided to go a full week to help them recover even more. I was still oiling every 2.5 hours at this point, and that meant that I still needed more moisture to help things heal and become healthy.
Day 5:
After 2 more days of frequent application and babying, my skin and cuticles on both hands improved greatly. Some more dead skin has sloughed away, revealing healthy cuticle lines ready to grow some healthy eponychiums! The swelling from abuse is almost entirely gone, leaving only what appears to be swollen since I have very little eponychium to blend the skin and nail plate.
Left Hand:
Looking much better, eh? Even those ultra deep wrinkles are looking better! Middle finger has yet to show it's incoming eponychium, but I've done a number on that one several times now and know that, for some reason, that one takes a little linger to come in. Scar tissue maybe? Possibly. Ugh. have I mentioned that you should NEVER EVER nip?
Right Hand:
This hand has again shown the most improvement, although the pinky and ring finger still have that ring of hardened, dead skin where the eponychium should be. You can't see it here, but it's still lifting off and about to go bye bye! Nails are whiter and stronger, having become more flexible. I had even tested that theory by whacking a few of them several times on random objects that have been here for 12 years but that I still run into all the time, and managed to walk away with unscathed nails. Pesky wrinkles are still showing improvement too!
Of course, after these were taken? I whacked that index nail with a knife and bye bye stilettos. Thankfully I had already decided to take them down to squares to make them more even with my left hand, and avoid scratching my son. I do miss them, but hey, they'll grow back stronger and healthier!
After all of that progress I was wondering exactly how much further my nails and cuticles could go within my 7 day time frame. Would I have more improvement? Would that dead skin finally all slough off and reveal healthy skin? Let's take a look at the final results!
Day 7:
These photos were taken at 11:30 this morning, which is about 30 minutes ago as I write this. I am obviously overjoyed at my results!
Left Hand:
Okay, look at that progress!!! I don't know about you folks, but I am in awe of just how far my nails and cuticles have come. All that's really left for this hand is a couple of tiny little spots that have an itty tail of dead skin (I'm not nipping anything, so those just hang out until they go away) and the eponychium on my middle finger needs to finish growing in. It's starting to show, it's just being shy since there was so much damage done to that cuticle. Overall? I am so happy! I literally cried when I compared the before and after pics today. I NEVER thought anything would work for me at all, nonetheless being able to achieve the results that I've had with Pure™!
Right Hand:
Squee!!!! I'm literally doing the happy dance over here! If you can't see how much progress I've made on this hand, then...wow...I don't know what to tell you. As with my left hand, I only have a couple of spots that have a teeny tiny nit of skin that needs to go. Extreme cracking and bleeding? Gone! Scabby, dead skin? Gone! Severe damage from nipping down to nothing? Almost entirely gone! WOW!
On both hands Pure Nail Oil™ has created a small miracle. Without it, I would still be struggling to have normal cuticles and soft, hydrated skin and nails. Even without my stilettos, I am in love with my new look!
Obviously this is where I'm going to rave about Pure Nail Oil™!
Pros:
-Healing! My terribly abused and overly nipped cuticle lines are now healed and the eponychiums returning.
-Softer cuticles, softer skin around my nails. No more hard, calloused spots!
-Actual Eponychiums! They're starting to grow back after months of being nipped away. The eponychiums that I did have before are smaller, and tighter to the nail.
-Hydrated skin and nails. Even after bathing! No more dry, scaly, itchy cuticle lines.
-Shinier, healthier nails
-STRONGER NAILS! My names have become strong and flexible as opposed to the hard, brittle nails I had previously.
-No more giant hangnails! Before, I would find a good sized hangnail almost every time I painted my nails. Not one now!
-Whiter Nails. My yellowing has decrease signigicantly.
-Longer Nails. Not just from my natural growth rate, but my nails are wearing less and less, meaning less filing.
-Decreased "curling" of the free edge. Before Pure™ I struggled with heavily curling corners ar my free edge. If I didn't keep oil on my nails at all time, they would curl in and look like little tunnels. Not now!
-Decreased wrinkles! Since my skin is now hydrated and soft, those pesky deep wrinkles from incredibly dry skin and natural aging are less marked.
-Money! I'm spending less! I was spending $11-12 every 7-10 days on Solar Oil.
-Self Esteem. I am no longer ashamed to show my hands and nail IRL, or in photographs! No more creative spot lighting, filters, or blurry editing for this girl!
-Light feeling, not greasy or "heavy". Pure Nail Oil™ reminds me almost of a dry oil - it's very light, and I only need a small bit.
-Smells amazing! I use the "Crisp" scent at the moment, and it is truly wonderful! Light, refreshing, and addicting! My husband always comments on how much he loves the scent. Pure™ also comes in Spring, Summer, and Winter Limited Edition, Seasonal Scents, and you can grab scent samples with your order for a whopping 25 cents.
-Price! I ordered the Pure Nail Oil™ Starter Kit, which comes with a 2ml pre-filled and refillable pen and 15ml of Pure Nail Oil. The starter kit (as well as the refill kit) costs $22 and lasts for 8-12 weeks, depending on how much and how often you oil. Since you only need a small amount of Pure™, it really does last a long time. I've refilled my pen a few times, and filled up a small cuticle oil bottle to keep by my bedside, and still have 3/4 of my bottle left. $22 for 8 weeks? That's less than what I spent in 2 weeks previously!
-No more $17 "strengthening" base coats! Since my nails have that balance of strength and flexibility, and since nail hardeners are very drying to the nail, I won't be needing those anymore! In fact, I'll be trying out Ana's base coat, Simply Smooth™!
Cons:
-Does not come in "Vat" size, since Ana makes small batches to keep the oil fresh.
-Does not protect against knife wounds.
-Will not do my laundry or vacuum, no matter how nicely I ask.
-Works so well that my husband wants to steal it.
-Apparently tasted very lovely, according to the cat., who likes to try to lick my nails now.
So there you have it, lovelies. I know this post was very long, and I thank you for sticking with me.
I cannot stress how amazing Pure Nail Oil™ truly is. This is such a miracle product for me, and I have no idea why the entire nail community isn't using it yet! Even if you have good cuticles and nails, Pure™ is still an amazing product, and I guarantee that once you try it, you won't want to switch back. I'd bet this year's salary on it, if I was a betting woman! I know that so many of us struggle with dry cuticles, tearing and cracking skin, brittle, breaking nails, Weak nails, yellow nails - the list is endless. The bottom line is this: If you ever struggle with your nails and cuticles, you NEED Pure Nail Oil™ in your life.
You can find Pure Nail Oil by checking out my link at : http://www.nailcarehq.com/
I have to tell you, I am exhausted after writing all of this out! I'm sure I've missed something, so feel free to ask questions! I'm always available by email, or comment on this post and I promise to respond. At the moment, I'm off to start polishing again! It's been a full 7 days without polish and although it was beyond worth it, I am itching to polish!!!! I have a literal TON of awesome new Indies to share with you all! And ya know what? Thanks to Pure Nail Oil™, I'll be posting alot faster. ;)
I'll also have a review of Ana's Base and Top Coats, Simply Smooth™ and Simply Quick™ coming soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Nails and Cuticles!
-Kimber
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