terregles
Active Member
I came across this site last night after doing a Yahoo search, and i would just like to say what an amazing site it is. I've read through 30 pages on the forum (I am a bit of an anorak) already, and have squirreled away so much useful information.
I've come into nails almost by accident - and have gone about it in all the wrong ways......I was a company director in the electronics industry until sudden illness forced me to retire 4 years ago at the age of 35. I made a recovery, but without the income to pay for a groom, my horrid nails have suffered terribly at the evil hooves of my horses, so 18 months ago I went to a Calgel nail tech and asked for a set of short, natural nails to give me some armour plating. I ended up with the most disgusting set of bright pink talons with the sort of furrows that look as if a John Deere had created which began lifting after 2 days. I didn't complain as the tech had a really intimidating manner but I'm a bit of a picker, well to be honest, a big picker, so within a week the pink talons were gone, and so was quite a lot of real nail.
I experimented with the products available in Boots, and while I could get a reasonably natural effect, I couldn't get the things to stay on. My husband bought me the dreaded Rio kit from Argos a few months ago - what a joy that wasn't! I decided to ask for advice in my local Salon Services and they referred me to the Star Nails rep. She couldn't believe how thin and bendy my nails are (I hadn't been doing anything horrid to them for a few weeks by this time) and gave me a manicure there and then. She also let me road test a nail to see if my lifestyle would cause it grief. 6 weeks later, I removed the intact trial nail, and have signed up for the Star Nails course. From this site, i gather that Star Nails may not be the best products on the market, but at the moment, I only want to learn how to do my own nails properly. I've played around a bit with the products I will be using (VF21 Lyte) and I'm happy about the durability. The biggest problem I have had is lifting at the sides and cuticle, but having read your excellent tutorials, I think I know where I have been going wrong. My course starts on October 5th. I don't expect to make a career out of the course, but stranger things have happened, and even if all do is recover my outlay from "doing" friends and family, then I'll be really happy.
I've come into nails almost by accident - and have gone about it in all the wrong ways......I was a company director in the electronics industry until sudden illness forced me to retire 4 years ago at the age of 35. I made a recovery, but without the income to pay for a groom, my horrid nails have suffered terribly at the evil hooves of my horses, so 18 months ago I went to a Calgel nail tech and asked for a set of short, natural nails to give me some armour plating. I ended up with the most disgusting set of bright pink talons with the sort of furrows that look as if a John Deere had created which began lifting after 2 days. I didn't complain as the tech had a really intimidating manner but I'm a bit of a picker, well to be honest, a big picker, so within a week the pink talons were gone, and so was quite a lot of real nail.
I experimented with the products available in Boots, and while I could get a reasonably natural effect, I couldn't get the things to stay on. My husband bought me the dreaded Rio kit from Argos a few months ago - what a joy that wasn't! I decided to ask for advice in my local Salon Services and they referred me to the Star Nails rep. She couldn't believe how thin and bendy my nails are (I hadn't been doing anything horrid to them for a few weeks by this time) and gave me a manicure there and then. She also let me road test a nail to see if my lifestyle would cause it grief. 6 weeks later, I removed the intact trial nail, and have signed up for the Star Nails course. From this site, i gather that Star Nails may not be the best products on the market, but at the moment, I only want to learn how to do my own nails properly. I've played around a bit with the products I will be using (VF21 Lyte) and I'm happy about the durability. The biggest problem I have had is lifting at the sides and cuticle, but having read your excellent tutorials, I think I know where I have been going wrong. My course starts on October 5th. I don't expect to make a career out of the course, but stranger things have happened, and even if all do is recover my outlay from "doing" friends and family, then I'll be really happy.
