Healthy-looking nails

One of the seven deadly sins for models is nail neglect. (Our version of sloth? I gotta step away from the metaphors.) It's also the most common faux pas I see and a surefire way to spot an amateur.

I could leave it simple and give the advice most people give, which is to be sure to get a manicure and pedicure every week (or every two weeks if you must.) But lately I've found myself walking a few miles in the shoes of a model, and it's been more complicated than I expected.

As a makeup artist, I am constantly washing my hands and slathering hand sanitizer on them, and my nails pay the price for it. Since my hands are in people's faces constantly, I religiously manicured once a week, sporting whatever OPI summarized the trend du jour. A few weeks ago though I needed something more neutral and decided that nail maintenance comes with some tricky decisions to make.

In my case, I decided that my naked nails were too homely to look good with just a clear polish, so I did something I haven't done in about a year. I asked for a full set, and I've been mad at myself ever since.

The problem with getting acrylics is that every girl knows that she has to keep up with them or face the horror of her God-given nails when they come out from hibernation. To top it off they're plain bad for you.

I wish I could embed this clip I'd like you all to check out, but it's not available on YouTube. I'd like you all to check out segment from Dr. Oz on acrylic nails. (Pay attention to the other topic discussed because it's relevant to our discussion of hand and feet aesthetics. Follow this link to view the video:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/treating-hammer-toes-and-dangers-acrylic-nails

I did some thinking, and I realized that this expectation for models kind of sucks. We're not all born with great nails, and while we can take care of our health to help them out, models don't live in a bubble just because they're models. And life can take a toll on your fingers and toes.

Below you'll find a video that offers a compromise, and I never thought this would be something I'd advise women to do. But if your nails are looking a little gnarly and you don't want to make them worse with acrylics, there is another option available. It's also a great idea if you're hating the way your nails look now that you've removed your acrylics.



I have been seeing these a lot lately and seriously couldn't tell they were press-ons. Since I hadn't worn press-ons since I was--literally--ten years old, it never would've occurred to me to try them. The girls I've seen wearing these bad boys looked like they'd spent some cash getting their nails professionally done. Impressive.

Even if you don't care about whether or not your nails are healthy, this is undeniably budget-friendly. Beauty upkeep can get really expensive. Where I live, a full-set at a licensed, sanitary, reputable salon runs $45. A fill-in costs $35, which you'll probably need every two weeks. To put this in perspective, imagine that you got a full-set put on New Year's Day and kept up with this maintenance for a year. That's $850 out of your yearly paycheck on nails--pedicures not included. And that's assuming you never break them or need a new set during that time.

We'll discuss pedicures soon, but hopefully this has helped some of you who think beautiful nails are out of arms reach. They're right at your fingertips, and that's not just a cheesy pun.