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I think you should get your Groupon: 61% Off Mani-Pedi at The Nail Forum in Glendale…why you ask? Because I go to the Nail Forum in Porter Ranch and this treatment usually runs me around 80 smackers!! Enjoy!!!!

$29 for a Raspberry & Pomegranate Mani-Pedi with a Paraffin-Heel Treatment at The Nail Forum in Glendale ($75 Value) http://www.groupon.com/deals/the-nail-forum?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=ApiV2&utm_source=uu9185470

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Gel Manicure Saves the Day!

Boxing; check. Jiu Jitsu, check. Manicure??? Hmmmm…well ladies, I DO have the answer! I absolutely LOVE the gel manicure, available at most nail salons for approximately $30. Stay FIT ANDDDDD GLAM!!

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Sally Hanson Miracle Cure

Ok ladies and gents…I have some early feedback on my resorting to Sally Hanson’s Miracle Grow after having some good results with Qtica, but then having major nail peeling issues….and…drumroll please…I have actual Natural Nail Growth at this moment!!!!!!! I hope I don’t jinx this, but so far so good. I will post a full review in a few weeks to test the duration & wear.

So far, I am having to remove & reapply every 3 days or so, and still have not tried it under nail polish to test how it works with a full manicure. BUT growth is good!! And typically unheard of for me, so yay!

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Posted by SylG | 2 Comments

Peeling Nails

I have been almost 6 months now sans fake acrylic nails, and let me tell you, I miss them a WHOLE LOT. I have to constantly do my own nails, retouch the nail polish, file them, manicure them, yada yada…but I just don’t think that I would be able to manaeuver my blackberry storm with nails on…although I might have to give it a test run at some point. I just can’t keep up with nails that peel and chip and snag and everything else under the sun. Just in product purchases alone, I probably save money having acrylics on.

Just when I thought I had finally rendered my nails healthy, I had a major peelage incident the other day that had me in a panic.

I googled peeling nails, and found this super interesting site on what your nails tell you. I found that I was deficient in calcium and vitamin A. I since then have purchased some supplements, so I will let you know if my nails continue to peel or not, even with the added minerals. I suppose you could say that everything happens for a reason, and if I had acrylic nails, I would have never known that I was calcium deficient, which actually does happen to be a very necessary vitamin that women need.

Along with calcium deficiency, nail polish simply does not stay on natural nails like it stays on acrylic nails. Some nail polish is better than others, and with ALL the nail polishes that I have tried over the last 6 months, which is probably every label on the market, I found that Rimmel had the best color choices, and yet the absolute worst formula EVER. It continues to peel within 14 hours of application, and without even doing anything laborious, it just decides to peel off in whole peices. So not cool.

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JellyBath in Review

Hello 2009! I have streamlined all my reviews to get up and posted this week, so be sure to bookmark, this is going to be a heavy week!

Next up, we have JellyBath which I got as a gift over the holiday season as a small stuffing stuffer thingie. I decided to do a trial run with the package while watching the Laker game so I grabbed a bowl and followed the directions and began my soak. What I didn’t do, however, was log on to the website Jellybath.com so that I could at least know what was I in for, because to be perfectly honest, it totally creeped me out. As the seconds went by, the soak kept getting thicker and thicker, turning into a jello consistency…trapping my fingers into the goop.

I kept trying to squish the little granules and didn’t really know what to do, so I just let it soak until it got lukewarm and just started feeling gross, and then figured that I should toss the goop down the toilet, because where else could I get rid of it? I did happen to see a tiny pack of salt crystal things that said ‘dissolve when finished‘ but didn’t really get what I was supposed to do with them – so I figured that maybe once I tossed the goop down the toilet, I would run some more hot water and dissolve, then soak. So that’s what I did. I’m still not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do with the dissolve step. Afterwards, I’ve got to say that my hands felt amazing, and my nails looked great and moisturized!

I followed with a papaya enzyme peel by Elemis on the tops of my hands to rid of any old skin, and viola – instant high quality manicure! Thanks ladies, for the lovely home-kit, and I actually think I will be buying some JellyBath stuff for more of my manicures, and at least now I know what to expect! If anyone has any info on the actual dissolving method, that would be appreciated lol.

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Posted by SylG | 4 Comments

Milk & Honey Manicure @ PediSpa Northridge

This is my second time at PediSpa Northridge. Typically I go to Nail Forum in Porter Ranch, but I wanted something quick and easy with no waiting, plus I’ve been there for a pedicure before, so a manicure should be a shoe in too, que no?

So off to PediSpa. I selected the Milk and Honey manicure because they had a $5 off special. All together it was around $25 (including tip, the total ticket price came to $20). I’m not sure I will go back though. And here is why: My nails were not soaked. She quickly ran a scrub on my hands, not really massaging at all, just kind of slathering. After that, a rinse with a ceramic milk jug and pan was used to rinse off the scrub, which was a nice visual, but still, no nail soaking. Hot towels were put on my hands, and BOY were they HOT!

While my hands were wrapped in the burning towels, she cleaned up my cuticles by putting on some cuticle remover and nipping around. A quick buffing out was done to shape, and then she shoved a timer in my face saying ‘you get 5 minute massage starting now”. Hmm…ok. So she starts to mindlessless massage my hands with super cold lotion, and then wipe my nails off with rubbing alcohol, remove the towel, move to the other side (all while my timer is on) and put alcohol on my nails, do a quick mindless rub on my hands and then remove the towel and clean up. By this time, the timer goes off, and she grabs the towels and heads for the back. A quick polish later, and I am done – but the very next day, my polish is all chipped off! Major bummer. I guess next time, I will go back to my usual haunt, the Nail Forum.

And I’m still wondering where the whole ‘Milk and Honey’ description came in…at all? Or did I just pay for the copy on the brochure? THIS I would like an answer to…unless maybe it was simply a ‘Milk and Honey’ scented scrub that wasn’t really scrubbed on, or maybe the lotion was scented Milk and Honey? If you know, please, do tell!

On a positive note, the technician was very sweet and nice.

PediSpa Northridge
8980 Tampa Ave, Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 998-7826

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Faux No More

Well, I think it’s about that time…I’m taking my fake nails off. The last time I did that was somewhere around 2001. I’m kind of sad, but at the same time, I’m not 100% happy with my new nail place, the girl that I did have a nice relationship with and did my nails for around 6 months is out on maternity leave and since I’m still mad at my regular nail guy Victor from LANails.com, I just figure it’s probably going to be all around cheaper and maybe easier to wear the fall’s funky dark colors with short nails anyway.

I’m not sure that the whole economy is going down like a rock, but if it does, I don’t want to have to ply my nails off with the scissors anyway. Maybe I’ll go to Nordstrom Rack afterwards to see if I can buy some nail polish on the cheap afterwards to make the day more exciting.

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In the Buff

Although I personally prefer much more interesting colors, I do sometimes need a break & some calmness on my nails. According to all the fashion mags, the soft buff colors are what’s hot (unlike my favorite shocking pink) and classy.

Honest moment? Whenever I can’t make up  my mind on a color, I usually opt for the fake french manicure with the ghetto white tips, which btw is totally not french, and a tell tale sign of tacky American soccer mom chic, according to my international fashionista cronies. Like I said, total honest moment.

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Burts Bleach Bees

I’ve been a long time fan of the bee stuff from Burt’s Bees, and was wondering if the recent (fall of 07) buyout by the Chlorox company was going to hinder the organic ingredients at all, so I checked out some online articles like this one, this one and this one. Some sites like TreeHugger.com are asking it’s readers if they consider the sale a sell-out by big money corporations, while others seem to like the availability of the product.

In case you haven’t noticed, Burt’s Bees is readily available everywhere now…from your local grocery store in the aisle for strategic impulse purchasing to the super walmart, and including it’s original limited base availability like Whole Foods or other naturally-inclined destinations.

My favorite product in this line is the lip balm and cuticle cream. Not too crazy about the coconut foot creme because it kind of like smearing cold bacon grease on your heels, but the body lotion smells and feels heavenly.

I don’t consider Burt’s Bees a sell out, and am more than glad to have much more availability of the product, but I can’t help but hold a teeny tiny bit of reservation about the ingredient quality and hope that it only gets better with the big machine. In the meantime, I will continue to love the cuticle cream!

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Chanel Vamps

ok chanel vamps – I have a question for you that I am asking actually for my mom. We both love Chanel’s colors, but there are some colors that chip on my mom’s nails (i have acrylic overlays so don’t have that problem). anyway, it’s the strangest thing – the light shades always seem to peel and chip on her nails, while the darker colors don’t. Does anyone have a simple answer/solution? I suggested base coat but she says it still is a problem. then i was thinking that perhaps it was a chemical compound or something?

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