Nails! This has to be the most girly thread I've ever started - but I need your help!

[DottyDot]

Right, so I'm inheriting a beautiful diamond ring in a few weeks time (it was my Mum's engagement ring) - it's currently being re-set and sized and should be ready soon.

It's a lovely present and I'm getting quite excited about it. But my fingers and nails are hideous and I'm wondering what I can do to make my hands look at least half presentable so that they match the lovely ring

I pick down the sides of my fingers and thumbs - have tried to stop doing it but it's a lifetime's habit - I'm putting cream on every time I remember and have got the picking down to a minimum so hopefully my fingers won't look so red and horrible.

My nails are very short - I clip them with a nail clipper - no varnish, no filing, no nothing.

I've never ever done anything with them - so where do I start? Is it worth getting a manicure and what would I ask for? I'm imagining that they just look nice and smart with maybe clear varnish on? How do you get them to be a nice shape - mine are bumpy as I clip them fairly randomly . I've never been to a nail bar or beauty salon-type place, so if I'm going to venture in one, I need to know what I should ask for...!

I've got about 4 weeks before the ring is ready - HELP!

Ive just looked on line and searched for it, but it didnt come up with anything. Ive never heard of it before either (though that means nothing as I dont often shop for nail products) Im going to a bigger boots tomorrow anyway so will have a look for a base coat, some pale varnishes and a good top coat. oh and a buffer thingy. Is that everything I need?

you really need a good nail file - I use the leighton denny one. It is £12 but worth every penny. I just buy cheap buffers from poundland - you get 4 in a pack and they work fine for me. Also - cuticle oil is a must have

As you're in Manchester, I'd say try shellac or similar at the place I go to: Indulgence hair & beauty in urmston. They are brilliant. You won't leave with horrid WAG like nails I promise, just beautiful, natural nails. Honest. My sis has thin, short nails which she nibbles and after I'd persuaded her to try gel nails she's never looked back.

OK, so I did my nails last night with a nice thick coat of SV, smudged two of them because it took longer to dry (duh!) but they looked OK. By 11 o'clock this morning there was a massive chip out of one of them, by 1 o'clock two were chipped. There is no sign of the tips wearing though which is good, especially as I have done quite a bit of housework today. Think that might be the answer actually, give up housework!

whoknows my best friend, many years ago was a beautician and she never did any housework without her marigolds on , she also had tubes of handcream dotted all over her house so she could reapply the handcream whenever she remembered.

My Mum swears by the Aldi Lacua handcream, she has always had a hard time growing her nails above the tips of her fingers , without them breaking but since she's been using this cream her nails are beautiful and strong.

Myself, I trim my nails once a week( they grow very fast) and file them, oil my cuticles and push back. I then buff my nails (another poundland nail buffer lover) and apply clear varnish. The buffers leave my nails lovely and smooth, the white tips really white and very strong too. I only use coloured varnishes very rarely.

Gel polish (like Shellac, Gelish etc.) is fab as it stays wet until you cure it, so you can do all the smoothing out and cleaning up you need to and your nails only go under the lamp when you are happy.

I love the fact it is rock hard and dry straight after too.

And soon there will be a version that you can do at home...

jackstini You can do it at home. Here

This method is even easier if you want the gel look...here

whoknows - I'm really suprised that you are still having problems - I honestly get a full week guaranteed (actually can probably get 2-3weeks but I have to take it off because of the nail envy). I hope you find a method that works for you though. (I'm no dollybird around the house either - I do all the housework and my job can be pretty manual with quite abit of heavy lifting and I am never precious about what I do with my hands).

Well, I do have handcream everywhere and use it a lot, rubber gloves for washing up but I don't wear them for anything else as I just can't feel what I'm doing properly and they make my hands itchy. Can't keep gardening gloves on for more than 5 minutes either. My nails grow very well, and look nice with clear polish as the whites are very white, but I have to be careful with buffing, too much weakens them.

I love dark coloured polish though, was hoping SV would be then answer but doesn't look like it will be. I'm not prepared to go down the gel/shellac route, so I think the answer might be clear polish at the start of the week when most of the housework gets done and dark polish later on. Might have to force myself to wear gloves a bit more too, I don't even wear them when I henna my hair

Has anyone ever used Blue Sky?
Some dodgy reviews on internet...

Well, I'm not giving up. I have just taken it all off again as another big bit peeled off and it was too far gone for patching (was a v.dark colour). I am actually wondering if it was the buffing, I haven't done it for a while, this polish has peeled off in sheets which makes me wonder if I am better leaving my surfaces a bit rougher. I'm going to just do Nail Envy for the rest of this week as my nails could probably do with a break from nail varnish remover (3x in the last week), so I will probably leave this thread now but I'm sure I will bump into some of you again on this topic!

Apologies to DottyDot for thread hijack and thanks to everyone who has made suggestions, especially MrsM who has been very patient!

notveryinventive here with a namechange.

I got some things the other day. I paid just under a fiver for some Sally Hansen Diamond Shine base and top coat in boots (there was no SV in the huge boots I was in - not that I could see anyway) and I can confirm after having nail varnish on for 24 hours its stayed with no peeling or flaking. I have washed the dishes too without rubber gloves as I dont like the feel of rubber so refuse to wear them

I also bought a 4 in 1 file and buffer thingy so did that, put a base coat on then 2 coats of lilac nail varnis and another top coat of the Sally Hansen stuff. Definately pleased so far.

Ooooooh - my ring is ready to be collected! I'm going on Saturday to get it, so don't have time (or money as it's not pay day until Friday...) for a manicure, but I'm going to re-do my nails at home tonight I think. Am hugely excited...

Will be expecting a pic then Dotty!

Tut. Well I'm gutted - not about the ring 'cos I haven't picked it up yet, but about my nails . I took my clear nail varnish off last night to re-apply and most of my nails have all split and look really crap around the edges. I ended up having to file them right down so now they look rubbish.

So, what am I doing wrong?! They seem much weaker than they were before I started trying to make them look nice...

On the plus side, I'm still not picking, so at least my fingers look fairly presentable

Well done for not picking, I'm finding that really hard. Have you been buffering your nails? I have overdone that in the past and weakened them, it's frustrating. Mine have split a bit at the moment, so I have had to file them right down, I think just get as nice a shape as you can for the moment, maybe try one of the strengthening base coats like the Nail Envy and nothing else?

my nails used to split and flake and I basically 'grew out' the damage on the nails....I used nail envy to protect and strengthen them and my nail file to keep them short. You apply another coat of nail envy every other day so would just file my nails before putting on the next coat, that way I could take the nail envy over the edge of my nail iykwim. I also use a non-acetone remover as it is kinder to nails (cutex - £1.60 from boots). Don't be disheartened, it took me a couple of weeks to grow out all of the chips and flakes and then another couple of weeks to get them to the length I wanted .

If you decide to get nail envy buy if from amazon/ebay - you will pay about half the price then. There is also something I've heard of called nail magic that sounds as though it does the same thing - I don't know if it is any cheaper but worth a google?

ooooh - I picked up my ring this morning and it's just so sparkly - I keep looking at it and am a bit obsessed with its sparkliness

I've put a couple of photos on my profile but will probably take them down soon 'cos they're a bit big and my hands aren't the prettiest - but I'm really proud that I have non-picked fingers and at least shiny nails so I don't feel as embarrassed by them as I usually do..!

will try and get some nail envy but not until after Easter - sadly, I've given up on-line shopping for myself for Lent . Hoping to save a fortune some money but no doubt I'll be back on e-bay in April

AHHHHH dotty your digits look great....very good inspiration for the legions that have joined this thread!! Clearly filed, polished and oiled . The ring is beautiful too but the nails are an achievement - keep it up!!!

You probably won't even need nail envy if you keep taking care of your nails like that....and very good for giving up shopping - I'm doing the same and hate it

The ring is just gorgeous, and your hands look lovely!

Aww - thanks! . Dp can't believe how my fingers are looking at the moment. Honestly, I usually have to hide them at work under tables in meetings cos they'll be bleeding and horrible. Has taken a lot of will power and buckets of various creams and my thumbs still have quite dry/scarred skin around them but they're so much better than before. Just hope I can keep it up now and not be tempted to pick next time I'm stressed/tired/bored..!

Dotty...maybe get a pad and paper and keep it with you...whenevery you feel the urge to nibble you could doodle instead

Dotty your nails look lovely and so does the ring, well done!

Just wanted to report back on the Seche Vite, after a week without any colour I couldn't hold off any longer, so I have filed them short to get rid of flaky bits and gone with a nice dusky pink. I let each coat dry for about 5 minutes this time and used the SV and the results have been much better, 48 hours and lots of housework later they are still glossy and unchipped, just a bit of wear on the edges (nails are too short to take the polish over the edges at the moment). So, glad I persevered!

Well done Dotty - your nails do the ring proud now!

led up lamp for nail
www.aosom.com/d-455/15W-LED-Nail-UV-Lamp-Pink.html