Confessions of a Nail B-

Have you seen Confessions of a Shopaholic? It’s with Isla Fisher, such a babe, who plays a woman who’s addicted to shopping. At one point in the movie she freezes her credit cards. Literally. In her freezer. In attempts to get some self-control over her spending. Around three months ago I decided to get some self control over my bad habit. I decided I was going to break the habit of biting my nails, picking at my cuticles and general unkindness to my hands. Too bad it wasn’t as easy as putting it on ice.

If my mom called me right now for one of those motherly check-ins, aka she hasn’t heard from me in 1-2 weeks, and I was to tell her what I was writing up. My first post for my nail review/lifestyle blog she’d immediately demand who I was and what I did to her daughter. Why such shock and horror? I’ve been biting my nails since before I can remember and I’m in my early thirties. So, basically forever. It was something I had always done and figured I’d always be doing. Beautifully painted long nails would never be apart of my world, I assumed. Though, I always admired nail polish and Instagram pictures from afar. In another life, I told myself.

I don’t know what came over me, but all of a sudden I wanted healthy nails. Reaching out to others in r/calmhands gave me a community of people going or had gone through the same thing with tips, tricks and no judgement. One of the most common tips I received was to keep my nails painted. When a nail biter is growing back battered nails, the nail can be very weak and prone to breaking. Polish can act as a sort of shield for nails, keeping them harder/thicker.

Progress in not only my bad habit adventure, but my stumble into the world of nail care was showing. Keeping my nails healthy, clean and polished really helped. I was giving my nails and myself some much deserved self-care and I really enjoyed my time when doing a manicure. A week went by, two weeks flowed into a month and here at three months I’m officially in recovery.

With proper research led to proper care of my nails. Proper tools led to proper nail health. Do you see where this slippery slope is going? I’ll cut ahead. With my nails shaping up day by day I was excited to continue to paint them. I had a few bottles of budget friendly name brand polishes around the house, collected throughout the years and hardly used. I felt pretty fancy when I used my first OPI, but things really took a turn (for the awesome) when I found Indie polishes.

I had initially started this project as a way to journal about my adventures of breaking the habit of nail-biting, but I’m a little late to my own party it seems. My recovery and nail care/art go hand in hand. I’m evolving my side project into a place I can share and gush about the ever enchanting world of indie nail polish. Mixed in will be tips and tricks of breaking a nail habit, experimenting with different types of nail art, supporting indie creators and sharing my inspiration behind it all.

XOXO,

Confessions of a Nail Bitch