February 9, 2014 – I lost another one. At approximately 11:40 a.m. on a Sunday at derby practice, another nail was sacrificed. Okay maybe it wasn’t all that dramatic, but it was to ME! My nails were about three months long and it broke below the top of the nail bed. Luckily it didn’t hurt and there was no blood. Here is what my nails looked like when I got back from practice that sad, sad Sunday (I was in the middle of painting my nails before I had left).
Damn, and I was just about to file them into stilettos, which was the whole point of growing them so long again. Bummer. Now I cannot really cut all the others to match, there is no nail there on top.
For fun I decided to go ahead and file the other nails into points, so that I could get some practice for next time. And I fell in love HARD and FAST. Here they are 11 days after the break on February 20, 2014.
For now I am giving full disclosure – I am going to be using a fake press on nail filed to match my other nails so that I can continue to have fun with this new nail shape. I have been applying the fake nail with a mix of clear nail polish and white glue so I don’t hurt my natural nail. It stays on for about 24-48 hours or until I take a shower, which is perfect for me. This will also give the nail underneath time to grow out to a reasonable length before I cut them all again. Which will be another sad day. But for now, I will just enjoy these awesome new nails.
This new nail shape is totally inspired by Craftynail, who has a different, but equally awesome new nail shape. She directed me to this helpful shaping tutorial which is mostly how I shaped my nails. I obviously skipped step 3 😉 I know they are not perfect, but I don’t think it’s bad at all for my first try.
The above is a swatch of the beautiful Wet n’ Wild nail polish, “I Need a Refresh-Mint” (Megalast). I used two thin coats here just so you can see that you really can’t tell my middle finger nail is fake! Sorry, but my new point and shoot camera will NOT photograph this color correctly, it looks more like this.
Since I have shaped my nails into points, I have noticed a few things:
- They are BAD ASS – first and foremost I just can’t get enough of how much I love the shape. I was never brave enough and/or had nails long enough to try it before. I will never shape them differently again I bet!
- They are sharp – This takes some adjustment. They point out hilariously in cotton gloves and want to gouge at things. However, it is a quick and easy adjustment.
- They have a slim profile – I know they are supposed to be weaker since I have thinned out the side wall of the nail, but I find that they catch on things SO much less often that they will probably break less often as well. Before when they were rounded or “squoval” the sides would always be catching on things, which was the cause of more tears and breaks than I can count. With this new shape that doesn’t happen anymore!
What do you think of the new nail shape? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
omg these look amazinggg on you!!!!!!
I definitely agree with pointies being easier to wear- they never snag or bend. They are so easy for me to maintain too! I feel like i was always shaping and filing them with squovals, but with pointies they are fine as is. A tip will crack off now and then… and then I just shorten them all a bit. But really, they’re easy to keep up. 🙂
Glad you took the plunge and that you are happy with them. They really do look great on you!
Thank you! And for that extra push to go for it. Yeah the really are SO much easier to wear, I never would have guessed.
This nail shape is gorgeous! I also shaped my nails like this recently because it looks so elegant and really bad ass at the same time 🙂 Plus I feel that swatches look amazing on this kind of nail shape! Too bad about the nail break though – when my nails break, they always break right at the top of my nail bed so they’re really short. Using a press on nail is a great solution!
Thank you so much Robin. I took a look at your new nail shape and it looks AWESOME! How ever do you maintain such long gorgeous nails? I really have no business with mine so long now that I actually scrimmage at roller derby, so I am enjoying these for this one last week or two. Shorty pointies next!
Thank you! I try to just be really careful with my nails. I always use the amazing Opi Nail Envy as a base coat, and I also don’t really do any sports (yes, lazy me) so that really helps haha – I can’t imagine having such long nails when I had to do any sports, they would just break in an instant! Though roller derby sounds mightily awesome to do 🙂
Oooooh poor nail! We all know that feeling of losing one! The stilettos you did is absolutely gorgeous!! I love stilettos more than any shape! They sure are bad ass! That fake nail doesn’t even look fake, good job!
Thanks Bella! I now love this nail shape the best as well, it just makes my heart and eye holes happy! The fake nail is good for now — it kinda melts and weakens a little every time I take polish off of it, so I have to keep making new ones. Which wouldn’t be bad except I have to file ALL the sides to make it look “natural”. But anything to keep my nails a little longer!
Owww! That was my tips sympathetically hurting for yours! Can’t believe that break didn’t hurt. Sorry for your loss but glad that you’re having fun with it! =)
Yeah, roller derby has taken them all now, lol. But I think maybe my breaks don’t hurt or bleed because my nails really are not that thick. I recently broke another one very, very far down and same thing. Can’t complain about it though!
Love your stilettos! I finally took the plunge and filed my squovals into stilettos a month ago and it was the best thing I’ve done regarding my nails. I don’t find they’re any weaker and get caught on a lot less as well. They also make your nails look slimmer and pretty much makes any nail polish colour look good
Thanks Alicia! I completely agree with you. It’s like shoes – I’m not a big fan of a pointed shoe put it does make you look taller and slimmer. I think the stiletto or almond shaped nails do the same for your fingers!
I love your idea of using clear polish and glue for your fake nail application. I recently cracked my thumbnail on the edge about in about the middle of my nail bed. I was wondering about your ratio. 50/50 or something else? Please let me know.
Hi! This was a bit ago but I remember I just dapped each onto the nail. I would imagine that it was probably about 50/50 or maybe 30% polish and 70% glue. I recently discovered brushable super-glue you can buy just about anywhere and it is cheaper than nail glue and nice to keep in your purse. Good luck!
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