Post Valentine's Day Love is All Nails

After swatching Cinderella, I had to add some thing to these nails so I added some red sparkly kisses using Bundle Monster plate BM02 and the words "Love is all!" in free-handed script. The sparkle makes all the difference!

Review: Knock Out Nails UV Hardening System

I heard about the Knock Out Nails UV Hardening System via another nail art blogger, Phyrra.  I've been searching for something to help my nails grow that was not only effective against breakage and peeling, semi-permanent,  AND looks good,  but also I wanted a product that is reasonably priced and convenient.

My main concern with using this system was that as a nail art enthusiast, I wouldn't be able to do nail art very often but I read that regular nail polish would work on top of the treatment.

Next, I was worried that the process might be time consuming and require meticulous application but reading the directions included in the system, the process seemed very straight forward.

Below you can see a picture of my prepped, filed nails before I began the process.  I can tell you that naturally, my nails tend to peel and are flexible.  My nails never "break" but do tear.

The following pictures show my nails after the treatment and I was suitably impressed with both the ease of application as well as the short amount of time each hand took.  My nails feel stronger and less likely to break and they have a nice, healthy shine like I have on a top coat.

After the honeymoon period of about a couple of days, I had some very large chips off the tips of my nails.   I was pretty disappointed and ended up removing most of the hardener from my nails.  However, I went back and read the directions thoroughly.  I discovered I had read the directions incorrectly the first time around and put bonder on under each layer of hardener.  I have a feeling that this cause all the chipping!  I carefully redid my nails about a week and a half ago and followed the directions. Below are pictures of my nails after my 2nd (and accurate) application of the Knock Out Nails system.

In the above pic the arrows show where my nails have grown and a couple of large chips on the edge of the two middle nails.

The above picture shows a picture of the two minute UV lamp.

 

The two pictures above show the repair in different lights.  So after my reapplication and repair, I can say that this system exceeded my expectations in ease, nail protection, and appearance, especially after repair.


I do have some pros and cons and tips to share about this system.

PROS:

• The system is relatively inexpensive for a year's worth of treatments.
• My nails were stronger and from the pictures you can see that they grew longer with no tearing or peeling.  The treatment also made me less likely to bite my nails or use them in ways that could cause nail trauma.  Even when long, my finger nails are pliable but with the treatment they hold their shape even with pressure.
• The Treatment stands up to a LOT of work and stresses such as lots of typing, pulling heavy books and journals from shelves, copying and scanning various items, cleaning/dishes, acetone, and lots of polishes.
• You can do all parts of process at home.
• The Treatment hold up to all nail art I've done for the past couple of weeks and I don't feel that the treatment caused my polish to chip any faster than it would without the treatment.  A huge plus for nail artists---we must change our polish often!
• Without polish, nails can look like natural nails with a clear coat—I like this because I love the look of fake nails but don’t like the aftermath of removing them. 
• No fancy (read: difficult or troublesome to use) equipment or application process-the bonder and hardener come in polish like bottles with polish wands so if you can paint your nails, you can do this treatment.
• The refill is not obvious to the casual observer of your nails.  I asked a few people to see if they could tell where the nails had been repaired and they were unable to figure out where.  You might be able to pick out where the treatment was repaired under close scrutiny or if you don't follow the product's directions for repair. 
• Use of pure acetone (what I use exclusively) does not harm the treatment so you can paint your nails many times over one treatment.  
• The removal of the nails does not involve any soaking off.  If I have any complaints with Gelish and Shellac treatments, its the soaking process.  The two minute polishes can be removed with regular polish remover.  When I did remove the treatment the first week, I used the Remove file and filled down the treatment until I hit natural nail.  Keep in mind that Knock Out Nails recommends only buffing off the shiny layer and then reapplying bonder and more layers of hardener for repair.  Removal might be a bit time consuming for you if you end up with several layers of hardener.

CONS:

•  Polish can lightly stain the treatment, with or without applying a base coat—I was able to file most of the stains out when I did the reapplication the 2^nd week.
•  Application requires practice, no matter your expertise.   My first week with these nails I had a lot of chipping and cracking issues.  Most of it was user error but there is also a fine line between too much hardener and not enough.  (See tips)
•  Application requires ultra-clean nails.  Any stray cotton fibers, glitter, or lingering bits of polish will plague you so you have to be extra diligent on cleanliness beforehand.
•  The cost of this product up front is relatively high, especially if you don't know how the product is going to work with your nails, environment, and level of expertise.  I have absolutely no complaints with Knock Out Nails customer service and I would imagine that the company has policies and processes in place to help unsatisfied customers so please contact them if you have problems!

TIPS:

1. The product suggests 2-4 weeks between applications but once a week was a little more prudent for me.  I experienced some edge chipping after the 5^th day of my 2nd (and correct) application and by the 7^th the treatment had started to detach from the nail around the cuticle on several nails.  I think that the reason for this is not because the product is defective but because I do so much with my hands at home and work on a daily basis and I rarely protect my nails with gloves.  I will happily pay the $50 to get the refill kit for the system in less than a year if needed because the product is that good.
2. The product suggests three layers of hardener if you have thin nails.  I also recommend it because the 3rd layer makes all the difference!
3. I don't recommend using the two minute polishes for base colors in your nail art.  To me, the two minute polish is perfect for days where all you want is a color but when I tried to do nail art on top of the polish after using the UV light, the two minute polish sometimes still bled back into my other polishes being used for nail art, especially the white polishes. 
4. There is a fine line between hardener layers that are too thin and hardener layers that are too thick.  Too thin and the treatment seems to chip faster but too thick and the treatment can pool around your cuticles and distort the look of your nail.  Also, hardener that is too thick requires a lot more time to remove if you chose to do so.  So just like the instructions say, "don't try to save time by applying thick layers of hardener."  Ultimately, you won't save time.  I suggest you practice to find a happy medium between thin and thick layers so you get the benefits of both.
5. You might want to use toe nail clippers to trim down your nails each time you are ready to repair.  My regular nail clippers were not as efficient in breaking through the treatment and you really don't want jagged nail edges.   My toe nail clippers gave me a very crisp and straight nail edge that I refined and rounded with my glass nail file.
6. As with any nail treatment or nail art, make sure you have a lot of light in your workspace.  Bubbles naturally form in the hardener during your application and you have to be able to see them.  They are very easy to miss so also change the position of your nail in the light to catch them!  If and when you do miss them, they will be conspicuous after the UV light exposure and will probably annoy you if you don't immediately put polish over them!  I generally have one or two bubbles that I miss and I wear polish so my nails are rarely bare for any bubbles to bother me.  You could also probably buff out the bubble and follow directions for repair if needed.
7. In any treatment or polishing of my nails, I paint the free edge.  Jane from Julep says that painting the free edge makes a difference for the professional look and life of a manicure and I agree!  With this treatment its not only important for the edge to be treated for aesthetics sake but like polish, the free edge is probably where your treatment will first start to chip so application to the free edge will help to extend the life of the treatment on your nails.  I paint the free edge first and then apply the hardener to the rest of the nail.
8. As stated above, I messed up my first application by not following the directions accurately.  If you don't like your first application for any reason, contact customer service at Knock Out Nails and ask for help.  In the very least, give the treatment a couple of applications before you decide its not working for you.  I was so relieved that my 2nd application turned out excellent! 
9. Please do not try to remove the treatment by peeling it off.  Peeling treatment, polish, or fake nails off your natural nails can cause white spots, weak spots, or peeling of the natural nail and can take a long time to grow out.  It will be tempting with this treatment because you start to see the hardener separate from the nail.  In order to repair you remove any large pieces of hardener but leave the rest and apply more bonder and hardener over it.

Overall Opinion of the Knock Out Nails

I am a believer in this product.  As a polishaholic with flimsy nails that won't grow very long, I have been able to see some extra growth and stability in my nails due to the support of the Knock Out Nails treatment over the past few weeks.  I would recommend this product to anyone, especially those looking for help to keep their nails from breaking, tearing, or peeling or that do a lot of nail art because, the treatment works like a semi-permanent base coat that you can paint over and over again with regular polish.   I feel that I get the benefit of support and shiny appearance of acrylic nails without the damage that I've experienced from the buffing and removal.  Last, this treatment was fine under any nail art I applied...a major bonus.

Next, I will hand over this system to my good friends, Ruby (a busy professional and mother of two teenagers) and Jaime (a home daycare owner and mother of two small children), for their take on this product so be on the look out for their reviews on Knock Out Nails UV Hardening System.  Each lady has their own set of needs for nail care and have vowed to give their honest opinion.

How to get this system:

The Knock Out Nails UV Hardening System is available via the Knock Out Nails website.  Currently the price for the system which provides a year's worth of products is $119.97.  It even comes with three polishes, a topcoat, and cuticle oil as a free gift.  You can split it into three payments of $39.99 or a one-time payment of $119.97 with free shipping on either payment option.   But Wait!

I have GREAT news!  Through the end of February, I can offer you this exclusive promo code for $40 off the Knock Out Nails UV Hardening System!  The Promo code is KONNA.  After March 1st, you can use the same promo code to get $20 off.   Good luck and let me know how this product works for you!

Also, Knock Out Nails is giving away a UV Hardening System to one lucky Facebook fan.  You only need to "Like" their Facebook page to enter!
Disclosure:  I approached Knock Out Nails about information for this system with the intention to buy and mentioned I wanted to do a review for my blog.  After viewing my blog, they sent me a system at no charge.  Since this system was provided at not cost to me, I have already secured a couple of friends to do reviews of this product as well to spread the wealth so to speak & to see how others feel about the system.  Nails, Actually will get a lot of mileage out of the system sent!

Anna Sui Print Inspired Nails

I was cruising through Elle.com and saw pics from Anna Sui's 2012 Spring show.  I loved the pattern in the picture below.  Click on it and it takes you to Elle's Spring fashion pics including Anna Sui!

Sinful Colors Cinderella Swatch

Hey, ya'll!  I am so busy right now with my two grad classes but I am trying to keep up with steady blog posting.  I recently (in the last two weeks) bought this color without realizing it was new.  I bought it strictly because I'm a sucker for baby blues.  Now, I'm seeing swatches all over for it so I thought I'd share Cinderella on my short nails.

Hope you can find this polish because a great color.  I will say that for the best coverage you might want to do three coats.

Key to My Heart Nails

Pinterest how I love thee!  There I was pinning my brains out and I saw these flats that someone pinned!  I repinned them on my Nail Art board

All these nails require is two coats of Glennn, followed by a small nail art brush dipped into Gold Coin.  Freehand the heart lock and heart key and script out the word love and a free handed heart on your other set of nails.  Carefully ooutline the lock, key, and heart with black polish.  Draw a key hole on the lock in black polish and coat all nails with a protective top coat.

These nails are so darling!  Oooh, I bet these would work with some light or hot pink nails too!  Have fun with your nails, girls and guys!

Valentine's Day Chevron Heart Nails

One more set of Valentine's Day nails!

I started with Gone Grey and painted chevron tips on each nail.  Next I drew in heart shapes in the "V" of each chevron in Snow Me White.  I filled in the white hearts with Forget Now and outlined each heart with Trixie.  Last, I topped the design with a top coat.

These are cute and not as girly frou-frou as some V-day nails I've been seeing lately.  To make them Anti-V-day Nails, you could have broken hearts!  Enjoy!

Week 7 of the Year of Polish Challenge: Abstract Valentine Red & Gold French Tip Nails

Valentine's Day is almost upon us and I produced some sexy new heart nails!  To give credit, I did get a bit of inspiration from some Valentine's Day nails from Amy Blair's blog.

These nails start with a clear coat of Pro FX Complete 3.  I then painted a diagonal line in Golden-I from the middle side of one nail to the edge of the other side of the nail.  Next I drew a arch in Ruby Slippers and crossed the diagonal gold line filling in the red lines with more Ruby Slippers.  I completed the heart shape with several small dots in Ruby Slippers to the gold like.  I then painted the gold area with Oscar to add more gold color.  Last, I freehanded small, red hearts on the right side of each nail edge and glued gold confetti hearts to the left nail edge.

I love how these nails are abstract and sparkle and follow a heart theme.

Glittering Reverse Half Moon Mani

I did these nails last night!  Talk about in-your-face color!

 

These nails can be had by painting your base coated nails a bright orange.  I used Sunny Side Up.  Next place punched hole reinforcer on the edge of nails in you desired half-moon size.  Make sure your polish is very dry! I always prefer bigger otherwise its really a quarter moon!  Next I painted alternating fingers with Through the Grapevine and I need a Refresh-Mint.  I pulled off the reinforcement sticker immediately after painting each nail. Last, I carefully painted Magenta Magic glitter polish on top of I Need a Refresh-Mint and used Celestial glitter polish on top of Through the Grapevine.  

Not only am I diggin' this reverse half-moon motif but I love the way the reverse colors turned out as well!

Polish Haul and Nails Two Ways: Splatter Mint Nails and Mint Cirlces and Dots Nails

I really, really, really need to stop buying polish but these were such good deals that I couldn't pass them up.  Not to mention, oh my, pastels!  Also, I've been generating all sorts of ideas using studs so the Kiss Nail Art Metallic stickers were an especially cool find!

I couldn't wait to try I Need A Refresh-Mint so I painted my base coated nails with two coats of this mint-y polish.

Next, I decided to try Splatter Nails one more time with a smaller straw and had better results this time!  I call these Splatter Mint Nails.

On the other hand, I wanted to try something different so using the same small straw I created circles, half circles, and arches in four different pastel polishes.  Next I took my smallest dotting tool and applied random dots in the same color to each nail.

The Splatter Mint Nails look so cool and my Mint Circles and Dots Nails are extra cool!

Lines and Arches Nails

Just did these without a whole lot of planning.  I merely played around with lines and arches using one of my smallest nail art brushes.

I really like the greek pattern and the wavy lines pattern.  I kind of have a crush on Space Cadet right now if you haven't noticed!  I've used it in several sets of nails lately!  Wonder what my next polish crush will be?

TTYL, ya'll!