Did I grow these delights myself?

No.

I had some help.

52NEW is about getting the nails that look good ~ all the time. I have attempted to grow “my own” nails and that has always been an exercise in disappointment. They break, they chip, nail polish never lasts and it just ends up being a mess.

My nails scream “TOMBOY!”

I am the first to talk up the virtues of having nails, hair and shoes that always look good. If those 3 things are in line generally speaking you can pull off a bad everything else day!

I won’t comment on shoes, due to a foot injury I have been living in running shoes that are not flattering in the slightest, I can hear Stacy from “What Not To Wear” screaming all the way from New Year.  I tend to always have good hair thanks to the crew at Roxy’s but nails have been the bane of my existence.

I am determined that this will change.

So here’s the problem:

chipping nail polish
ugly nails
chipping nails
ugly nails
not enough time to take care of my nails
ugly nails
I don’t like the smell when getting fake nails
ugly nails
I don’t want to sit around forever while they get done
ugly nails
I want them to be able to handle all the stuff I do without breaking!
Did I mention: ugly nails.

Solution:

I did some research. At first I was pretty sure that I was S.O.L. I know a lot of awesome people that do nails. They do an AWESOME job, but they couldn’t put check marks next to everything I was looking for.

Voila: En Vogue Nail Systems.

I agree the name needs some work, but all the spa’y stuff seems to have strange names. Here’s what made me happy.

Odor Free

As for the sitting forever while they get done, that all comes down to the person doing my nails so I just had to find someone that knew what they were doing and was speedy!

Enter: Absolutely Gorgeous Nails.

AGN is at the corner of Lanfranco and Lakeshore in Kelowna and they have the En Vogue system. What hit me first when I arrived was… NOTHING. No smell! It really is much more relaxing when your brain isn’t sending you warning signals that whatever smells that bad should not be being applied to your body!

Turns out that this system is non-toxic and uses a product that dentists use! No harsh chemicals = no nasty smell! Plus they are strong and don’t harm the nail underneath at all!

While normally I would just just get a straightforward colour I decided to do something a little fancy in celebration of my new found nails: Stars!!