Finally...the rest of the story!

You got a sneak preview of the following with a previous post...here's the rest of the story:

I had planned to take one of my typical week-long-plus trips in August, while my wife visited her sister in Chicago.  After she left, I got a mani and pedi.  My pedi was unremarkable...just "more of the same" because I hadn't planned to wear sandals on my trip.  But I wondered when the tech began removing all the acrylic from my fingernails.   At one point, another female tech helped by working on the other hand.  That's always fun...two techs, one working on each hand.  Such luxury!

They both told me that my nails were very strong, and my regular tech said she was going to give me a full set of gel nails.  I asked if they could make the nails very short, and make them look longer by painting white at the tips.  She liked that idea and ran with it, so here is what they created for me:

I love these nails!   My white tips and hand-painted designs are both gel, instead of polish.  It was a  surprise to  watch my tech embed them under a clear gel blue-light-cured top coat.   Then the girls reminded me that they will make any changes when I go back for a fill.  I've worn nail art before, but they were always applied at a different salon, with polish on top of my acrylic.  Thus, I "could" remove the color by myself if necessary.   "It's not do-it-yourself anymore,"  they said.  So, I guessed that my pretty nails would be on display till my next fill...

Yes, it was quite a lot of fun to watch her make flowers appear on my nails.  Those girls are so steady and talented!   And they make it look easy...  I guess I can be glad they chose blue, which is much less noticeable than the orange or red flowers they originally considered. 

The major difference I can see in wearing my new nails is that they're much thinner and more natural-looking than acrylics.  I can pick things up, and type, more easily.  Sliding that penny across the floor in order to pick it up was necessary with acrylics.  (Wearing them, you soon learn not to drop things so you don't have to pick them up.)  And acrylics were rigid, didn't "give".

As info, here are the color and design applied to my acrylics for my previous big trip:

One thing I've noticed so far is that if you bump gel nails the wrong way, you can feel the nail bend slightly - the gel (so far at least) hasn't cracked.  It's a different sensation than I'm used to.  With acrylics, either you feel the pain when you accidentally bump your nail the wrong way, or you feel and hear the acrylic crack.    Neither is a pleasant experience, but if I keep them short, I can tolerate it...

By the time you read this, I'll have had my next fill, with the pretty French manicure replaced by something else, minus nail art.  My wife would not be happy with these nails, so I'll ask for less austentatious decoration, and maybe end up with plain translucent pink.  We'll find out when it happens!  They tell me their curing lights are LED instead of UV, and that is one big relief...UV radiation can cause skin cancer, just like too much sun.   (But I probably will use sunscreen on my skin "just in case.")   In any event, it looks like I may be a "gel nails girl" now...

Unfortunately that trip west which I had long anticipated, "fell completely apart" at the last minute, due to (among many other issues) "smoke."  You may recall that the western US has been experiencing grass/forest fires lately.  They produce lots of smoke.   (One of those fires was along a road I had been planning to travel.)  Guess where a lot of that smoke (and from other fires as well) had drifted?   If one is going west to sightsee in the mountains, a smoky sky simply does nothing to enhance the experience.   So I cancelled at the last minute, and was fortunate to be able to do so without significant cost.

I've saved my maps and to-do list....and that trip will hopefully resurface next year!   Meanwhile, I'm still sporting pretty nails...in my home town...with no problems.  The first few days, I was somewhat self-conscious, constantly looking at my fingers and keeping them as hidden as possible.  Now, I just go about my business, talk with my hands as usual,  and don't worry about my nails.  The neighbors haven't seen them, but I've gotten a few compliments in daily travels. 

I had to point them out to my mother, who formerly was getting her nails done at the nursing home.  But she recently quit, for some reason.  I suggested she start again, since "you don't want your kid to be wearing prettier nails than you!"  We'll see what happens, but I think I already know....

Mandy