Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Revisiting An Old Friend

Today's post kinda sums up my entire experience as a part of the nail polish community.  I redid a very old mani it as a sort of progress report, but wound up reflecting on my life as a blogger and polish enthusiast.  Before I delve into all of that though, here's what inspired it...


Essie Shine of The Times over OPI William Tell Me About OPI

This story begins in June of '12 when I was still very new to beauty blogging and to the polish community.  I was in the throws of a stress shopping frenzy and I was scouring the region for polish.  On a whim, I stopped into a little store in my hometown.  It was the same store I'd browsed on meandering walks home from middle school almost twenty years before, so in a way it's incredibly fitting that it's where I found a polish that now feels so significant.  Digging through their clearance bins, I found something beautiful and instantly frustrating...a vampy red OPI without a label.  I debated even buying it, because I knew how nuts I'd go if I didn't know the shade name.  Yes, even then.  The tipping point was that it was marked down to $2.99 and I'm powerless to resist when a price is that great.  I bought it.  I wore it...


I winced then, and I wince now.  I still find a million faults in my photos, but I used to kinda dread posting them.  I was a lukewarm mess...not horrible, but I really didn't feel good about my photos at all.  For starters, my allergic skin condition still wasn't under control.  See that tiny crack on the knuckle of my middle finger?  It was a huge improvement over the the painful splitting and other problems I'd had before, but you can see I still wasn't the moisturizing devotee I am now.  I'd only just started pushing my cuticles again.  I soaked for cleanup...which...you really shouldn't do, for reasons I'll go into someday.  In short, water is BAD NEWS for nails, so soaking is just asking for problems.  Dunnnndoit!  My nails were shapeless and peel-prone.  I had no clue what I was doing, on so many levels...and I knew it.  When I asked Nail Board for help identifying the shade, I said my nails looked like a monkey had painted them.  Amazingly, I don't think I've ever tested this bottle against another bottle of William Tell Me About OPI to be completely sure.  I really should, but I have a nagging worry that it won't match up and I'll go nuts wondering what it really is.  I used to be amazed at the nailboarders who could just name shades almost right away.  I've gotten pretty good at it myself by now, but OPI's done so many deep reds!

I bought Essie Shine Of The Times *just* as the word got out that it was being discontinued.  I wore it over (what I'm still calling) William Tell Me About OPI about a month after the photo above.  I was already seeing improvement.


I'm not sure if I wasn't wrapping my tips yet or if I had rampant tipwear, but...yeah.  Still, look at how much better my skin was doing!  My soaking cleanup was better too.  I still didn't know enough to top coat Shine Of The Times, but I knew I was starting to improve.  My nails almost had a shape!

I revisited both polishes in September of the same year and as much as I knew I'd improved, I still felt like I could do so much better.


The obvious difference is that I was doing a "gap" cleanup.  The difference it makes is night and day and I have to thank Nichole yet again for bugging me to do it.  The best part though?  Look at my skin and cuticles!  I still had nail peelies, but my skin was ok for the first time in years.  My application had improved.  My bottle pose was starting to take shape.  I was starting to actually learn how to shape my nails.  The LED lighting was better than my previous "go outside and hope for the best" technique.


The progress felt massive, but I still didn't really like my photos.  I knew I could do better.

In the time since, I knew I'd been improving.  I do like some of my photos now, but I didn't realize just how much better I was doing until I did this...

...pretend that says Sept and not Oct, ok?

I'm still nowhere near perfect.  I see plenty that I could fix, but I'm kinda staggered by the difference.

So what's changed?  It's largely hundreds of swatches worth of practice.  Do something over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and you're bound to get better at it.  There's perspiration, but there's also inspiration.  That's where you guys come in.  I owe every bit of my improvement to everyone who's been so supportive!  Even when I painted like a monkey, the community was overwhelmingly friendly, helpful, and encouraging.  With endless help, I've sorted my cuticles out, found the right products, learned to shape my nails properly....so many things that I don't think I could ever list them all.  Every single bit of it comes from the community.  I'm amazed by all of you out there!

More than anyone else though, I have to thank Nichole.  Pairing up with someone who's always been so consistently better than me at this...it's really driven me to try to catch up.  I'm still not there, and let's face it, I probably never will be.  You're still my biggest nail crush, Nichole...and you know it!


If your today looks like my June '12, I know you can get to where I am today and I want to help you!  I already do a bit to pay the help and goodwill back to the community, but I've been hinting at tutorials for ages now.  Is there anything specific you'd like to see me explain step-by-step?

12 comments:

  1. d'awwww <3.

    Seriously though, its amazing how far we've both come in the last couple of years.

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    1. I still feel like your tag-along little sister a lot of the time, but you've never been mean about it. <3

      And yeah, you've improved a lot too...but you started out good and now you're great!

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  2. I think something I'd like to see (mainly because I'm still working on it!) is a tutorial or step-by-step guide to catching the light with your nails effectively. :)

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    1. I'd like to see that too! Or how to take good nail photos in general. I'd love to start blogging my nail adventures but I'm still a nail noob; I finally just grew out a lifetime's worth of horrible, compulsive biting. Huge success, feeling so proud, no idea what to do now, lol. My biggest problems are nail polish shrinking away from the tips when I use a fast-dry topcoat, the polish lifting off the tips after just a few days wear, my natural nails peeling, and also how to clean up around my nail after painting. It's a lot, lol. I'm pretty clueless still but I'm having fun learning. I love your blog, your progress is very inspirational!

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    2. I can do one on lighting without a studio setup...if you guys don't mind seeing the amusing spot where I take my photos. ;) I stand in the corner between my front door and coat closet, because the light's good there. lol

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    3. I'd love to see it! I look pretty silly myself when taking makeup pictures for my blog.. it sometimes involves standing in front of my giant living room window, in full view of everyone in the neighborhood and any cars that happen to drive by just as the flash accidentally goes off, or ducking to avoid the occasional dog-walker, mail-carrier, or senior out for their daily stroll, lol.

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  3. How did you go from the visible nail gap in the second picture to the invisible one in the third picture?

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  4. Dahling, life is about improvement, not perfection! Creative peeps often have a hard time calling something they've made 'good enough' & moving on. Most of the itty bitty flaws we perceive about ourselves aren't even noticed by those around us. So it's okay to work towards improving, but don't make yourself nuts by looking for perfect. There ain't no such beast. <3

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    1. Definitely! lol My mom's been saying that to me since I was a kid. We're our own biggest critics usually...but I think that's also what drives improvement. I know that's the case for me.

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  5. Thanks, Emily! I'm planning one on top coat and another on caring for delicate nails (mine are naturally soft and peel-prone too), and I can do a cleanup one sometime too. The learning process has a certain thrill to it, for sure. :)

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    1. Awesome, I'll look forward to it! I'm already incorporating some tips I learned from this blog for my horrible cuticles. I may or may not also attempt my first sponge gradient tonight... ;)

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  6. Practice had a lot to do with it. I'm also more careful about how close the polish gets to my cuticle, so there's less to clean out. A light touch with the brush helps a lot too. I used to try to get it all out as fast as I could, but taking a few gentle passes has a better result. I'll do a step-by-step sometime. You guys will get a kick out of my pre-cleanup mess! :D

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