My Nails - Then and Now

Back when I was in high school and college, and even when I started this blog, I NEVER thought that my nails would grow. I can't believe that I now have nails that grow and are on their way to being back to healthy.  I remember previously if one of my nails broke it was the WORST thing EVER and I would always keep going back to acrylics. Now if one of my nails breaks, I am upset, but I think, OK, in one or two weeks it'll be back to a good nail.

So for all you ladies who may just be starting out in nail blogging, or getting into nails/nail art and are upset with your nails, have no fear. Here is what my nails looked like in my FIRST blog post, in January 2012.

Look at those sad little nubbins, and back cleanup, and bad camera. LOL. 

Here are my nails in April 2012; as you can see, back in April, I provided my comments on these naked nails.

Getting a little better with the pictures and nail shaping but you can see that my nails are really bad with ridges. 

And here are my nails in October 2012. 

I only have one a clear coat in this picture, but you can see that my nails look a lot healthier. They still aren't perfect but they are getting there. I just need to work on getting them stronger.

So what did I do?

• I use Non-acetone nail polish remover, in the "strengthening" variety. I don't buy any special name brand, just the target/walgreens/etc brand
• I switch between a combo of Nailtiquies Formula 2 Plus and OPI Nail Envy; NF2 really seems to help when my nails are super weak to give them strength and when my nails are stronger, I just use the  Nail Envy

What do you use to keep your nails strong and healthy?

Hope you liked this post, and if you have short brittle nails, there is hope!

P.S. I am currently out of the office on a business trip so posts may be a little sparse this week.