The 3-Day Naked Nail-a-thon

I am ten kinds of excited right now.  I received my Starter Kit from Anamarie of Simple Nail Art Tips.  This is Pure Nail Oil, created by Ana as an alternative to the almond-based cuticle oils out on the market, because she is allergic to almonds.  This is an excellent idea, because for my clients who are allergic to nuts, this will be an alternative.  She's got some awesome tutorials and tips, as well as terrific advice on nail care and also goes into some nail disorders and how you can take care of your nails.  I totally recommend her site, she's a sweetheart and really knows her stuff!

www.simplenailarttips.com

I've seen at least one review on this cuticle oil by Erica of Erica's Nails and More blog, and it received a rave review.  I admit that my nails may look great, but the skin around them...not so much.  I spend so much time working on making others' nails look good that I neglect my own.  On top of that, I'm really picky about what I use on myself and my clients.  I wanted a stellar cuticle oil that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg from some big name company.  I put in an order for the 3-day starter kit from Ana, it shipped out Friday, and came in today!  I'm also entering her Get Naked Challenge and crossing my fingers to win, and I'm about to tell you why.

As a public service announcement, I want to give you a little info about the cuticle.  The skin that you push back is not the cuticle, it's the eponychium.  The cuticle is the colorless dead tissue UNDER the eponychium.  It's dangerous to cut the eponychium, because it and the cuticle are seals against bacteria.  It's totally okay to push the eponychium back and GENTLY scrape the cuticle off, as long as the eponychium stays intact.  I recommend a plastic or even rubber cuticle pusher, because the metal ones can damage the nail plate if too much pressure is applied, and the wooden ones, well, those can have sharp points and I just don't want to poke my clients!  So this is your public service announcement for the day :)

On with the photos!  I cringe every time I see my pointer and middle fingers on my right hand.  They nail folds are so dry because of the acetone sapping the oils out of my skin. 

The "Before" of my left hand:

The "Before" of my right hand (YIKES look at how dry those fingers are!)

Here's a shot of the bottle of oil:

 And a closer shot of the horrible right hand:

Shot of the Nail Oil pen:

She also included a sample bag of up and coming scents!  Pure Summer has me in love:

I've already applied the cuticle oil to my nails.  It smells DIVINE!  It's not overpowering, unlike the pineapple-scented cuticle oil used at school.  I am really sensitive to scents, and this is absolutely perfect.  My nose just loves it, I'm constantly sniffing my nails and getting strange looks from my husband.  I'll be posting daily as this progresses, because I believe that will be helpful in case any of you readers want to order this.  I always prefer to see photos of something that's being tested as it goes along, rather than just a "before" and "after".  I always think that the "after" photo may be touched up to look better, and the "before" photo is of course made to look as terrible as possible.  All my photos are 100% NOT Photoshopped or retouched in any way at all. 

That's it for now, I'll see you tomorrow with the update for Day Two!