Thinking about my routine for doing my nails..again..I had 2 coats of GLITTER GAL BLACK over 1 coat of Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator (I SWEAR BY THIS PRODUCT..and that will be another posting on my search for nail hardening/increased growth products), 1 coat of CULT NAILS "GET IT ON" base coat. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it, and I'm going to work on posting pics of my nails with my Kodak digital camera, but I haven't quite gotten the knack of getting the holo colors to flash quite yet!

One product I thought I could NOT live without was my ZOYA 3 IN 1 Nail polish remover! Yes, on Zoya's last promotion of their GALLON O GOODNESS, I forked over the 90.00 for the Gallon of Zoya 3 in 1 and didn't regret it..I guess I still don't as since I'm the only one who uses it in this household, well, I'll have lots of it for a long time! However I found Loodie's (loodieloodieloodie.blogspot.com) blog who gave me the "special formula" and I almost died when I found out the "secret" formula was nothing but ACETONE, GLYCERIN AND grrr...H20!!!

Of course I had to run out and buy the ingredients:
 8 oz of pure acetone (sally's for 1.59 per 8 oz..I guess you can't buy it in a larger container at Sally's because you risk being labeled a TERRORIST as terrorists have been known to go to beauty supply shops..I think it was some Sally's store some where..and buy GALLONS to make a bomb..which is not a good thing..besides..if I'm making my own nail polish remover to save money..I don't think I need GALLONS OF PURE ACETONE! ).
Glycerin (found at Walgreens after not knowing where to find it..but the pharmacist led me to it...and it was so hard to find and so easy to overlook but it was 5.71 for 4 oz..but I found it much cheaper online..which I'll do the next time).
Water? Well..I guess I could have used distilled water but eh..on this batch I thought what the hell..just use tap water..and that worked fine Lo and behold! POOF! ZOYA 3 IN 1
Ok..so it didn't have the pretty lavender color and the (well..for my nose and my cats) light scent that doesn't drive my cats upstairs for the next 3 hours in horror. But it does work! Wow! I'm thinking of maybe using some water-based food coloring in the water just to lightly color the solution because I don't want to stain my nails with food coloring, but when I do this..I'll be sure to post it if the water-based food coloring in the water in small amounts works in my homemade nail polish (pseudo Zoya PLUS) remover!

For removing my polish from my nails, as I use a lot of glitters and holo polishes, I always use FELT! Another little thing I picked up reading online as opposed to using cottonballs, beauty squares, cotton rounds (ahh! 3.99 for #50!! SERIOUSLY!!???) AND I always get the stray cotton fiber here and there in my freshly polished nails which drives me CRAZY (as bad as "sheet marks"!!)! Alas! On my LAST trip to MICHAEL'S where I bought 3 sheets (which yields roughly 50 squares per felt sheet) for .19 a piece. I went last week and now the price is .29 cents a piece..but still much less expensive than buying COTTON ROUNDS OR BEAUTY SQUARES! But 3 felt sheets last me around 4 months. Felt pieces don't "shred" when removing the tough glitter polish (hello DEBORAH LIPPMANN!)!

Explanation

As everyone who knows me, knows I write like I talk so forgive the "Utahishness" of the accent that flies through my fingers! I wanted to think of something clever as a title to this blog, and since my LATEST well..ok..ONGOING passion is STILL nail polish, makeup and jewelry..I had to think back when Clint used to yell at me in rehearsals.."THE NAILS, MAILE! THE NAILS!"..Perfect, in that obviously in the oh...couple decades since I've been in school..obviously my vanity for my nails hasn't diminished any. Well..the QUALITY of nail polish I use has gone up but the care and vanity has NOT!

Soooo..in my own little twisted way..I AM going to dedicate my little nail polish/makeup blog to you Clint! I know you'll understand the irony that goes behind it!