Revisiting An Old Friend

Today's post kinda sums up my entire experience as a part of the nail polish community.  I redid a very old mani it as a sort of progress report, but wound up reflecting on my life as a blogger and polish enthusiast.  Before I delve into all of that though, here's what inspired it...

Essie Shine of The Times over OPI William Tell Me About OPI

This story begins in June of '12 when I was still very new to beauty blogging and to the polish community.  I was in the throws of a stress shopping frenzy and I was scouring the region for polish.  On a whim, I stopped into a little store in my hometown.  It was the same store I'd browsed on meandering walks home from middle school almost twenty years before, so in a way it's incredibly fitting that it's where I found a polish that now feels so significant.  Digging through their clearance bins, I found something beautiful and instantly frustrating...a vampy red OPI without a label.  I debated even buying it, because I knew how nuts I'd go if I didn't know the shade name.  Yes, even then.  The tipping point was that it was marked down to $2.99 and I'm powerless to resist when a price is that great.  I bought it.  I wore it...

I winced then, and I wince now.  I still find a million faults in my photos, but I used to kinda dread posting them.  I was a lukewarm mess...not horrible, but I really didn't feel good about my photos at all.  For starters, my allergic skin condition still wasn't under control.  See that tiny crack on the knuckle of my middle finger?  It was a huge improvement over the the painful splitting and other problems I'd had before, but you can see I still wasn't the moisturizing devotee I am now.  I'd only just started pushing my cuticles again.  I soaked for cleanup...which...you really shouldn't do, for reasons I'll go into someday.  In short, water is BAD NEWS for nails, so soaking is just asking for problems.  Dunnnndoit!  My nails were shapeless and peel-prone.  I had no clue what I was doing, on so many levels...and I knew it.  When I asked Nail Board for help identifying the shade, I said my nails looked like a monkey had painted them.  Amazingly, I don't think I've ever tested this bottle against another bottle of William Tell Me About OPI to be completely sure.  I really should, but I have a nagging worry that it won't match up and I'll go nuts wondering what it really is.  I used to be amazed at the nailboarders who could just name shades almost right away.  I've gotten pretty good at it myself by now, but OPI's done so many deep reds!

I bought Essie Shine Of The Times *just* as the word got out that it was being discontinued.  I wore it over (what I'm still calling) William Tell Me About OPI about a month after the photo above.  I was already seeing improvement.

I'm not sure if I wasn't wrapping my tips yet or if I had rampant tipwear, but...yeah.  Still, look at how much better my skin was doing!  My soaking cleanup was better too.  I still didn't know enough to top coat Shine Of The Times, but I knew I was starting to improve.  My nails almost had a shape!

I revisited both polishes in September of the same year and as much as I knew I'd improved, I still felt like I could do so much better.

The obvious difference is that I was doing a "gap" cleanup.  The difference it makes is night and day and I have to thank Nichole yet again for bugging me to do it.  The best part though?  Look at my skin and cuticles!  I still had nail peelies, but my skin was ok for the first time in years.  My application had improved.  My bottle pose was starting to take shape.  I was starting to actually learn how to shape my nails.  The LED lighting was better than my previous "go outside and hope for the best" technique.

The progress felt massive, but I still didn't really like my photos.  I knew I could do better.

In the time since, I knew I'd been improving.  I do like some of my photos now, but I didn't realize just how much better I was doing until I did this...

...pretend that says Sept and not Oct, ok?

I'm still nowhere near perfect.  I see plenty that I could fix, but I'm kinda staggered by the difference.

So what's changed?  It's largely hundreds of swatches worth of practice.  Do something over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and you're bound to get better at it.  There's perspiration, but there's also inspiration.  That's where you guys come in.  I owe every bit of my improvement to everyone who's been so supportive!  Even when I painted like a monkey, the community was overwhelmingly friendly, helpful, and encouraging.  With endless help, I've sorted my cuticles out, found the right products, learned to shape my nails properly....so many things that I don't think I could ever list them all.  Every single bit of it comes from the community.  I'm amazed by all of you out there!

More than anyone else though, I have to thank Nichole.  Pairing up with someone who's always been so consistently better than me at this...it's really driven me to try to catch up.  I'm still not there, and let's face it, I probably never will be.  You're still my biggest nail crush, Nichole...and you know it!


If your today looks like my June '12, I know you can get to where I am today and I want to help you!  I already do a bit to pay the help and goodwill back to the community, but I've been hinting at tutorials for ages now.  Is there anything specific you'd like to see me explain step-by-step?