Once upon a time, apropos of nothing, a man told me I had beautiful feet. That was during a time, it must be said, when I was much younger, before my feet began to bear witness to the ravages of time. Actually, there is nothing terribly wrong with my feet: I don’t have bunions or corns or other disfiguring knobs and twists of the bone. It’s mostly cosmetic that I complain of (isn’t it always in everything?) After decades of not resolving a fungal situation on my right foot, my toe nails have come to resemble something more akin to horses hooves. My left foot, I hasten to add, is fine.
It is now sandal season. This means that I must once again find a way to camoflage my errant toe nails. I’ve never been much of a manicure girl; I like my fingernails short and I suffer from an irrespressible urge to peel off nail polish. My collection of polishes, then, are all assigned duty to my toes, and over the years, I’ve attacked them with a spirit of adventure that was, I must say, ahead of my time. It was, after all, two years ago well before the current trend that I started painting my toenails with two colors of polish. Last year I did freehand op art stripes and checkerboards on my toes. Having jazzy feet allowed me to tread with pride in the strappiest of sandals.
Knowing as you do my love for all things new and improved, you can imagine how curious I have been about gel polish. The issues with my right foot toenails seem to cry out for the rock-hard, patent leather shine that the gel polishes are all promising. Except–I didn’t love the cost of the ultraviolet light that was needed to cure the job.
Then I saw NutraNail’s Gel Perfect in my local drugstore. “Sets rock solid in 5 minutes to a patent leather shine…no UV light needed, quick and easy to apply.”
Dear reader, I bought it in Passion Red and set about that very evening to give myself a pedicure. Much to my dismay, however, when I opened the box, I found a sheet of instructions that were detailed and daunting. There were three bottles–activator, cleaner and gel color–and no less than five stages involved in successfully using the stuff. The Application Process alone (stage three) consisted of four steps:
- apply sufficient activator to all five nails
- immediately apply gel color using enough pressure to blend with activator
- clean brush by wiping thoroughly on a paper towel and putting it in cleaner
- take brush from cleaner and put back in gel color to apply a required second coat
This is not what I call quick and easy. I was totally intimidated, so I decided to just do one toe nail. I chose the big toe on the right foot, which is my problem child. I followed all the instructions, and the result was not bad. But to get not bad, I could just slap on a couple of coats of regular polish the way I always have. For not bad, I didn’t have to suffer through the detailed and daunting four step Application Process.
For several weeks I walked around with polish only on that one toe (it was still winter, so no one knew my secret). But then the balmy days of spring arrived and it was time to remove the trial Gel Perfect and give myself a ten toes pedicure. That was easier said than done. I don’t know what is in the stuff, but 100% acetone polish remover does not do the job, as Nutra Nail promises. I ended up having to chip away at the raggletaggle remnants of Passion, and finally used an emery board to get rid of the last of it.
The lesson learned: a base coat is required on my toe nails, one the seals the cracks and lumps and fissures that the ravages of time have wrought. In the meantime, I have my eye on that new magnetic polish that’s out this season. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you tried the new gel polishes yourself? What’s your experience with them?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
The only purpose of painted toenails is to hide dirt. No other reason. Any female who paints her toenails with acrylics or petroleum-based products is too lazy to look after her feet.
In the long term, she will end up with walking difficulties and will be begging disability benefits from taxpayers.
I also have a fungus nail problem. My doctor told me the Rx stuff is not worth the risk – can cause liver damage and fungus often returns when you stop the Rx. She recommended scrubbing the nails with a nail brush and soft scrub comet with bleach. I have been doing this for awhile (not often enough) and while fungus has not completly disappeared, it has improved significantly.
Sorry – penlac is a topical treatment not the Oral Rx that is know to have liver implications.
If the teatree oil doesn’t work, try Penlac. You will need a Rx from a doctor. It works when the fungus has been a long term problem.
That sounds like an awful lot of work. I don’t wear polish at all, but I use a buffing block to get them super shiny. Coconut oil is my moisturizer of choice, and I always make sure to massage plenty of it onto the toes and feet. I get a professional pedicure every six to eight weeks and do it myself in between. Some people don’t like unpainted toes, but I think my feet look well-groomed and sandal-ready.
So here’s what you do for the toenails with nail fungus. It takes 30 seconds twice a day for as long as it takes for your toenail to grow out completely, but it works. Buy a bottle of 100% tea tree oil. Twice a day, soak a cotton swab in the oil, and use it to dribble oil under your nail and around the edges of the nail bed. (Just take the wet swab and press the tip against the end of your nail, it’ll dispense the oil right under the toenail.) Let dry. Morning and night, daily. It will kill the fungus, and as your nail grows, you’ll start to see healthier nail growing in at the bottom. I’ve used it on both of my big toes and my pinky toes. They look great!
Paula,
Tea tree oil? Really? I’ll get some today and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the huge tip!
I’ve never been a manicure person, either, but have always focused on my toes just like you. But I still don’t spend a lot of time on them. I just like the quick-dry stuff. Grateful for the tea tree oil tip!
Ahhhhh pedicures… I had my first one at 40 and now it’s my gift of choice when asked. Once those tootsies are pampered I feel like a new woman.
Great post.
Lucie,
I love parts of the pedicures….the soaking, the massage. The scraping of callouses and cutting of cuticles–not so much.
I’m still trying to figure out why my toenails are strong as steel. A pedicure lasts 3 weeks. But my fingernails? Another story. They peel like onion skin. I get a manicure and by the end of the day, the nail has already peeled off. I would love any secrets – gelatin doesn’t do it.
Anyone have an answer for Lisa? Somewhere in the back of my mind is a fragment of a thought that I read somewhere about peeling nails. When I can pull it out, I’ll let you know.
A good, long-lasting pedicure requires four coats: base coat (ideally of the ridge-filling variety), two coats of polish, and a top coat.
I’ve found this to last a month or so (unless I get careless and drag the tops of my feet in the pool).
If I’m being really persnickety, I use one of those smoothing, buffing files on the nail surfaces first. Helps to get a nice, smooth polish application, regardless of type of base coat or opacity of polish.
I’ve sprung for the gel stuff on my fingers, where I’m lucky to last a day without chipping regular polish, but it’s never seemed necessary for feet.
You can also get just a topcoat that sets with UV (my salon of choice charges an extra buck for this). That might be worth a try. And it comes off much more readily than the gel, which needs lots of soaking, and then some pushing or scraping, which does a number on your nails after a while.
Terrific analysis, Shani. Thanks for taking the time!