Recidivism

Mani later. But first:

Watched a movie last night, and suddenly in the midst of things exploding and developing intrigue I realized I was --

ARGH --

nibbling my cuticles.

What an awful habit, and awfully hard to stop. I hate to lose ground after working pretty gorram hard to get them in better shape. It's not horrible, yet -- no blood, ugh -- but my right thumb and index finger are rough and unpleasant. I've done my best this morning with trimming, and will be moisturizing like crazy.

But I wonder if I need to do some kind of MAJOR trimming. The trouble is that my cuticles are never soft. Even at their best they are hard and callus-y, and they crack if you look at them funny, no matter how much goop I smear all over them.

What do you do with the Intransigent Cuticle? The brick-hard long-term repeat offender? I'm not even sure this part of the fingertip IS the cuticle. The cuticle at the base of my nails is perfectly fine. It's the sides of my fingers, esp. at the tips. For all I know this could be pure callus and scar tissue. Ew, that doesn't sound good, but really -- it ISN'T good. It's frustrating and exasperating. But if I trim off too much I wind up with a bit of a cavern there, and I really run the risk of taking too much and wounding it.

Maybe this is something I just have to shrug off. The actual cuticles are decent. I need to go consult Loodie's chart and see what this part of the fingertip is actually called. Uh, it may just be called "skin." Abused, calloused skin.

EDIT: Okay, according to Loodie's chart, this portion of the nail is called the lateral nail fold. And HOLY ORANGE STICKS BATMAN are there some gross pictures if you Google that term.

MY EYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Hokay. My lateral nail folds are not as bad as all that, it appears. And I refuse to consult Google again. There be dragons.

(However, after making my eyes bleed just now, I deduce that I'm pretty damn lucky not to have given myself some sort of far worse problem, as much abuse as my cuticles and skin have endured over the years. HOOOOOLY dooly.)

Does anyone else have trouble with the lateral nail fold area? Keeping it soft and supple? We talk a lot about trimming the cuticle, but what about this lateral area? Is it safe to trim? Are there any therapies that can soften it up when it's hardened to nearly as resilient as the nail itself?

Wow, my pictures suck.

Sorry for the exceptionally poor quality of the shots tonight. Missed my daylight shots -- was busy mainlining most of the entire season of Game of Thrones (holy crap) -- so it's flash city with my little camera.

I was inspired by Loodie Loodie Loodie's paean to milky white polish and remembered I had a new polish picked up during the Ativan-enhanced trip the other day. Her pictures are, I'm sure I do not need to add, so vastly superior to my own as to make me, uh. Really plan on getting a new camera one of these days. And less shaky hands.

Essie Mademoiselle. Not white, but such a milky pale pink that the difference is negligible.

I flooded my cuticles a bit there, sorry, but what a pretty, pretty pale polish. I wonder why milky is so attractive, but I do find it so.

I also noticed I... ::scratches head:: ...need to work on the shaping a bit. But! Tra la, live to fight another day.

Y'all have a good night now. And be safe this weekend. No fireworks for Looooobock TX this year.

Gray or blue? You decide.

Tonight's mani is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 350 Gray By Gray. It teeters between slate blue and slate gray, depending on the light, but to my eye it's closer to slate blue.

My photos are especially blurry tonight, sorry about that. But what a fascinating color. I strongly prefer slatey blues, by and large, and this one leapt out at me while I was waiting for prescriptions after my dental visit yesterday. Admittedly I was on Ativan, so not entirely of sound mind OR body, but anyway! I was all GIMME when I saw it.

I didn't manage any particularly good sunlight photos, but here's one sans much of a reflective bit.

And blur city --

And one up against faded blue jeans, to bring out the blue.

Fab color, I think. The brush shape was sorta weird, oval-ish, but the application was nice. Two coats, topped with Poshe.

Was asked by three different people today if my nails were real. Good grief. They don't even have any length on them yet!

Laters!

My first real Pink Wednesday!

You would snicker if you knew how long it took me to figure out how to add the photo+link to my layout. OY!

Off work today to go have a root canal done (well, possibly, but probably). Not the most fun reason to be off, but hey. It is what it is.

Adjustment to new nail shape still -- adjusting. But overall pretty interesting. I was told by a colleague at work yesterday that this shape makes my fingers look "stubby." I'm not entirely sure I agree, but also not sure I entirely disagree, either. Let's see.

Today's polish: OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y, because it's my only jelly and I LOOOOOVE jellies, I've decided, and also I AM a Texan, so!

For some reason I am shaking like a leaf this morning. Had breakfast, so not hungry, but very shaky nonetheless. Maybe impending dental visit? No idea. But I had a rough time doing this mani, and I fear it shows. Whatevs, right?

My left thumb is my favorite squoval nail.

Oh man, here's the right hand, but I did such a bad job both polishing AND photographing. I am NOT ambidextrous, and it shows. Sorry about that.

In any case, I AM interested to see how I like this nail shape once it grows out a bit. I think... I will like it better then. But variety is the spice, as they say, and this is DEFINITELY different for me. *g*

Now if the weather would cool off and my Kirk Hand would slim down a bit.

Have a wonderful Pink Wednesday!

Deep breath.

OK, I've been told by friends on livejournal that I probably just need to get used to them. That they look fine.

::breathes into paper bag::

Maybe a fresh mani. This one is yesteday's, trimmed. Yes, I think so. Pink. Or possibly purple.

Nail freakout!

OK. I'm trying not to hyperventilate here. This is really ridiculous, but.

I squared my eternally-oval nails.

And they look HORRIBLE.

I hate the right hand more than the left -- ugh, the right looks SO BAD. I think it's because I was pretty oval, and I don't have square corners. It's rounded and then flat on top, like I BROKE them or something.

Oh good grief.

OMG, what do I DO?? I bet if they grow a little they'll look better; I can clip down to where there's no oval shaping left, and then it'll look less -- CRAPPY OMG.

I want to hide and cry. And they feel weird when I type. My right index finger looks AWFUL. How can I fix this??

New polish, blah blah.

Honestly? It is too darn hot to care much about anything. 111 today. I am listless. *shrug* Bleh.

Pretty polish, though. OPI Senorita Rosealita. My love of pink strikes again! I didn't do a particular good job on my mani, but the color is lovely -- a warm pink, lots of gold glimmer.

I did play with the stamping a tiny bit today, but I had trouble with too-fast drying again. I think I better hold off until I 1) get easier tools, and 2) have a little more humidity. I even had trouble getting a top coat on tonight; it dried in seconds.

I wish you all cool weather and comfort.