Taking care of yourself - nail edition.

And by that I mean your nails, not your horse's nails. 

This is a completely unpaid, non-affiliated, non-compensated, they-don't-even-know-I-exist, infopost about Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat (can a name sound any more posh/eye-roll inducing?)(I even found the lowest price on the interwebs for you).

Ladies. I love this stuff. 

Working with horses/gardening/minding my own business means my nails get obliterated fast (unless I have a gel manicure). I am also a absent-minded nervous nail biter so yeah....polishes don't last and neither do my nails. And I get a crap-ton of hangnails. (always the hangnails and nails splitting at the quick). 

I have tried nail strengthening treatments (like Sally Hansen, Essie, etc) and my nails are done in about a couple days. I don't want long nails, I just don't want them to split off at the quick. I am not a long-nail person at all - short and sweet is the name of the game. 

With the Gel Envy (I feel like such a diva/infomercial model saying that), I put it over any of my nail polishes (of which I use 2) and my nail color stays and my nails don't break off and they are rock-hard. For at least a week, if not two (my toe nails are going on two and still looking good)

See, I have very brittle nails (split-city) regardless of the pre-natal vitamins, mult-vitamins, coconut oil, biotin, salad, flax-seed, yada yada yada, in my life. The only "treatment" that stops my nails from breaking off at the quick is a gel manicure. And those suckers are expensive and murder to take off (even if I soak them in acetone wrapped in foil). Plus you have to choose a color. And I always go pink. And I have a bajillion pinks at home so why do I want to go to a nail salon to get my nails painted pink when I can do that at home? Oh right, the hard-as-steel gel top for $50. And the added bonus of the UV exposure (greaaaat....more chances for skin cancer...). AND the gels last at least three weeks and my nails get long but I don't want to cut them because, HELLO $50, so I end up with long nails and exposed new nail growth and more freckles on my hands. Actually, no freckles. No wait, yes, freckles. POINT IS. $50 is money I'd rather throw at horse stuff. That's at least one hunter pace and lunch afterwards. Or $10 shy of one of our mini-trials. OR a couple classes at a schooling show. 

So this Revlon stuff? I'm telling you, it's fantastic - at least for my nails. It's $8 at Ulta.com (so I'm assuming in-store too) and I'm sure you could find it on Amazon for cheaper. I think I got it at Kroger super-center/mega-grocery/whatever for about $9. I also think my nails stay protected longer when I use both the Gel Envy polish and topcoat but that could be all in my head because I can be totally gullible when it comes to marketing. 

Also - I'm going to go out on a limb and say you can probably just apply the fancy-schmancy topcoat and be done with it - no color layer required. Which reduces the chance that you will end up like me, coloring outside the lines, nails looking like when 14 years ago your 3yo sister did it for you (and she did that with red). Don't be like me or a 3 year old. 

There. Done. Had to share. Thought you should know. Mostly because I just applied a second topcoat layer and typing is the only thing I can do while it dries. You.are.welcome.