Acrylic nails: who's had them?

[Flaxbee]

I have always sworn off acrylic nails (the kind you get put on at a manicurist's, not the press-on kind) but for some reason I succumbed last week and said "what the heck, I'll try them, my nails have split anyway from this damn cold weather". Gotta say, I HATED how they looked, felt, everything. Yuk. Went straight to the beauty supply store, bought 100% acetone and soaked them off that night. They were HORRIBLE! I'm not adverse at all to other types of 'artifice', in fact, I love makeup, nail polish, etc. (so long as the brands don't engage in animal testing), but the nails made me almost claustrophobic. Strangely enough, my husband thought they were sexy. Oh well, poor soul won't ever see them on me again.

Anybody else here wear them / like acrylics? Do you have a weakness for any other beauty product (like, must have Lancome lipstick or Bliss body lotion or ... )?

[ploppy]

1. I had

acrylic nails and they made my fingers blow up like blow fish. Now I have my own plain nice nails.

[catzies]

2. They're one of my few concessions to traditional female vanity.

I have wash-and-go hair, shop at thrift shops and wear no designer labels, and get what little makeup I do wear at KMart.

But I love my acrylic nails. I have petite hands with short fingers and very small nail beds. It takes a month just for my nails to grow out and reach past the tip of my fingers. So I have acrylic overlays.

If I had a weakness for a beauty product it would be Home Shopping Network's Serious Skin Care glycolic cleanser.

[nini]

3. no... I just keep my natural ones painted and they grow just fine

I've seen too many friends get a fungus from those things.

I agree they can look pretty weird too.

[shanti]

4. like you

i tried them once and immediately wanted to rip them off! they felt so.....fake. i like my nails natural and to the end of my fingers cause i actually USE my hands. also, when they are longer, i usually end up scratching people with them accidentally.

i do like beauty products tho, and my favorite is queen helene mint julep facial scrub. soap is too drying and the mint smell is a waker-upper for sure! also, any product from the body shoppe. i used to really like their carrot moisturizer, but they discontinued it:-(

[Bunny]

5. I loved them when I had them.

I kept them fairly short and wore polish that was almost clear, so they weren't long, red, disgusting claws, or anything. I did get a fungal infection once, that was gross. But overall I liked the way they looked, and they had the added bonus of stopping me from picking at my cuticles (a disgusting habit).

But I gave up on them a little over a year ago, because I felt that there was too much upkeep involved. The cost, having to go to the salon every two weeks for a fill, etc. And I'm pretty clumsy, so I broke more than one of them off at times.

Letting my real nails grow back after I got the fake ones removed was a real treat (NOT). I miss them, but I probably wouldn't go back to them, except maybe if I had a special occasion, like I was about to get married or something! :)

[geniph]

6. My husband talked me into getting them for our wedding

(and he paid, so what the hell). I hated them. I was completely f***ing helpless. How do women with long nails scratch their eye, button their blouses, or hell, wipe their butts? After the wedding, I took nail clippers and cut them to a more reasonable length, but the second I went back to work, I started leaving pieces of them behind servers every time I worked on one. Finally, I had to remove them.

My nails don't grow. I have soft baby fingernails, so they've always been short. I have no idea how people function with those things in the way. Don't you poke your eye out every time you scratch your nose???

[Flaxbee]

11. Exactly!

I couldn't do anything with those things on my fingers; we went to dinner afterward and hubby had forgotten his wallet so I reached for my bag, then realized it was going to be hard to extract the credit card from the wallet slot, then I couldn't pick the damn card up off the table, then I had to be careful opening the car door, opening the cat food cans, blah blah blah. Hated it!

[populistmom]

7. Never had that urge

In fact, I probably wear nail polish on my fingers about once ever couple of years. I love to have my toes painted (makes me feel feminine to have girly, pedicured toes), and I keep my fingernails groomed and a short to medium length, but the maintenace for the heavy duty fingernail stuff just doesn't fit with my lifestyle. (Not to mention, they can get in the way of things too.)

[Fleshdancer]

8. I get them every now and then

but it's important to ask the manicurist to make them short and thin or else it really does feel like nasty hard plastic plopped on your fingertips.

My natural nails are very thin and split easily so I like to do acrylic from time to time.

[bubblesby2002]

9. I got them for Christmas

But once I found out that you have to get them done every couple of weeks, I decided I would get rid of them after my birthday - which is coming up shortly. But I liked them. I've had no trouble at all. The Admin Asst in my office does them in her home - and all the women in the office have them. Didn't want to be left out.

[Mobius]

10. I prefer gel nails

Thinner and stronger. Get them short at first, they will grow out as you get fills. This way you get used to them gradually and dont feel hanidcapped at first ;)