The Ecrinal Project II - Detailed Before Pictures

*Warning.  This is not attractive. 

Since I've decided to commit myself to this system some detailed images of the "Before" is in order.

We'll start off with the thumbs.



 Left

 

Right

The left thumb does not look so bad.  But, if you look hard at my right thumb, you will notice that it's peeling farther down the nail.  It drives me nuts because I'll have a great manicure on and it will peel and that's it for the manicure.  

 Now, for the rest of the fingers.

 Left

Right

The first thing noticeable is how dried out and ratty the tips are.  The nails are dried out, the cuticles are dried out.  It's frustrating so I'm fixing it. 

I feel that it was a combination of things that got my nails into this condition in the first place. 

First, I'm an x-ray tech.  My hands are being doused in hand sanitizer and/or germicidal soap all day long.  I try to keep them moisturized but I need a better plan.

Second, frequency of manicures.  I had been changing my polish almost every day.  That's not good

Third, glitter nailpolish.  Actually, it's more the removal of these polishes than anything else.  It scratches the nails. 

Fourth, acetone nailpolish remover.  It's extremely drying.  Creme nailpolishes pretty much glide off quickly and is not a problem  But with glitter and shimmer polishes, longer exposure time to the acetone is required.  Oh, and glitter laughs in the face of non-acetone remover. 

This leads me to the other actions I will be taking during this endeavor.

I will pull all the chunky glitter-bombs into a newly created swap box.  This will not be a huge sacrifice on my part since I prefer creme finishes anyway. 

More frequent moisturizing of the hands and cuticles.

Wear a treatment on my nails all of the time.  In this case, it will be Nail Magic since I have had good results with it. 

That's it for now.

Be consistent with the Ecrinal.  If this doesn't work, I'll try another system

On My Mind - From Those Who Are Given Much...

...much is expected. 

Yesterday Lauren Luke, aka Panacea81, posted a YouTube video that kind of stayed with me for the remainder of the day. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XHPHRlWZk&feature=plcp

Warning: The video is somewhat graphic in nature.  In a violent, not a sexual way.

There are two reasons why this video in particular got my attention.  One is the subject matter of domestic abuse.  The other reason had to do with YouTube makeup tutorials and the creators of said videos. 

About two weeks ago, there were some heated exchanges between some of these so-called "gurus" because one thought that his/her intellectual or creative property was being copied by other makeup artists etc... 
Drama ensued, accusations flew, it was dumb.  Really 

Lauren Luke is essentially, the very first YouTube make-up guru.  She made the original videos to demontrate for her customers how to use the makeup she was selling online as a side business.   It took off from there. 

From what I see on her videos, she seems to be a normal, grounded person. 

Okay, so where am I going with this? 

There are many things you can do with the kind of publicity you get from making YouTube videos.  The fact that she chooses to lend her channel and image, not to mention pushing the envelope to make the point, to aid the victims of domestic abuse says much for her character and all of it is good.

That is all.  Thanks for reading.

The Ecrinal Project I - The System

This is not a review because they came in the mail today.

I've been extremely unhappy with the condition of my fingernails for a few years.  It has become worse over the past two.  I've tried products from Sally Hansen, Zoya, Qtica.  Had some success with Nail Magic from Sally's beauty supply but I still have some peeling issues. 

It turns out that I'm not alone.  Someone else had similar complaints about her own nails and a friend of hers came to the rescue with this system by Ecrinal.  She documented her progress on YouTube and I was impressed enough to buy these for myself. 

Ecrinal is a product line from Aesepta which is based in Monaco.  These items do not come as a kit, but it would be nice if they did.  They also cost $18 a piece so now you know how desparate I had become in regards to fixing my nails. 

They have a couple of ingredients that are exclusive to their line. 
ANP -  a concentrate of some essential fatty acids.  It's supposed to stimulate keratin production.  It's also known as horse's mane extract.

 Silk Lipesters - based on a combination of fatty acids and esterfied amino acids.
According to the literature accompanying the product, it is supposed to repair and fortify nails as well as stimulate growth.

Methiosil Microsperes - contribute to the natural strength and resiliency of the nail.  Also accelerates the synthesis of keratin

Pro-vitamin B5 - aka Panthenol.  Moisturizes the nail and promotes growth

First step is the Vitamin Nail Strengthener with Silk Lipesters.

It is applied to bare nails for 7-10 days, the three times per week to maintain. 
It dries quickly and is invisible on the nail

Next is the Fortifying Cream with ANP.  This is massaged onto nails daily for 2-3 months if you're doing a course of treatment.  The literature states to put on clean bare nails. 
For everyone else, 2-3 times per day for 7-10 days, then once or twice a week to maintain

Last one up is the Nail Repair Serum with 10 Precious Oils.  This is massaged into nails twice daily and can be applied over polish

Since I plan on documenting my progress with this system, I'm going to put a picture of my freshly nubbinized nails as a beginning reference. 

I'll update soon.  There will probably be another nubbinizing after some more of the peely damage grows out. 

Stay tuned...

My New Blog

I had a previous blog that had no followers and no readers.  But I needed a fresh start so here I am on "Blog v2.0." 
I will transfer the best posts of my previous blog to this one and add new stuff. 

Stay tuned