Not As Great As I Thought

I'm going to talk about something girlie today.  Not embarrassingly girlie or anything, but if you're a guy you probably can safely skip this entry.

I'm not a girlie girl for the most part.  I don't wear make-up except for special occasions, and if I could, I would probably live in sweatpants and a t-shirt and no bra.

But one girlie thing I do like to do occasionally is to have my nails done.  It's really pedicures that I love.  It's so relaxing and indulgent feeling.  I only get one every 3 months or so, so when I do, I usually spring for a manicure as well while I'm there.

Day to day, I generally just keep clear polish on my fingernails.  I find it impossible to keep from using my hands long enough for anything else to dry, so I always end up messing them up.  I love the look of the "French" manicure, with the white tips, so I often get that when I pay for a manicure.  I almost always end up screwing up at least one nail before they're completely dry though, no matter how careful I try to be.

So a couple of weeks ago when I got a mani/pedi, they gave me the option of the gel polish on my fingernails.  She said it would last longer, so I decided what the hell.  Even though it was more expensive, it's not like I get manicures every week. 

Until yesterday I was a convert.  I walked out of the nail salon with my nails COMPLETELY dry and they looked great for over 2 weeks.  I raved about them to everyone and had decided it was well worth the extra money.

But yesterday I realized a couple of them had noticeably chipped and decided it was time to remove the polish and go back to clear for a while.  So I broke out the nail polish remover, a tissue and......nothing.  It didn't even begin to start taking it off. 

That's when Google informed me that gel "polish" is not really polish at all, but rather the acrylic they use to put over the fake nails, and that you either have to grind the shit off or spend 15 minutes with cotton balls soaked in pure acetone sitting on your nails and your fingers wrapped in tin foil and then hope that loosens it enough to scrape it off. 

So now I'm disappointed.  It was great while it lasted, but it's not worth the hassle of removing it to me, so there will be no more gel "polish" for me. Back to plain boring clear polish or messed up nails I guess.  Such is life.