Polished vs. Faux Polish

Although I wore acrylic tips religiously during my high school days, it was never really my thing. The chemicals in the acrylic would dry the skin on my hands and would cause a lot of pain on my thumbs where my skin would peel back. The things we do for beauty and for men “sigh.”

Under “coercion” of my man, a few times last year I decided to try acrylic over my natural nails, with a promise from him of course, to maintain the up keep. No problem at first, but since my nail bed is a little curved the acrylic would always lift around the tip area and I would have all type of debris in between my nail and the acrylic. Boy did that drive me crazy. Eventually, I got frustrated and stopped getting them done even though I liked the look of my French manicured tips.

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always enjoyed a good manicure. I recall times when my mom would let me get a manicure when she would go, and I wouldn’t touch anything for hours but somehow I would always mess my nails up. Get this, I still do (giggles). Sometimes my grandmother would give me an at home manicure and polish in exchange for me polishing her toes; those were the good old days.

As of late, one of my pet peeves with manicures is that, I really don’t like bold nail colors on my hands. But I feel slighted if I opp for no color at the salon and still have to pay regular price. Often times I pick some sort of shear tone because after a few days it always starts to chip off anyway. Personally I would rather no pilish because I hate to see women with chipped nail polish on. After spending $10- $15 I expect longer wear out of my polish but to no avail, even with the best of top coats polish always wears off my hands really fast.

Now there’s a innovative nail remedy called Minx on the scene, an expensive one might I add. Minx nails are metallic or print nail stickers that are professionally applied to give your nails some serious wow factor. I love all of the design options like there metallic/mirror shades, animal prints, plaids, and other graphic prints that all come in a chip resistant shiny finish.

After doing some research, aside from the visual appeal, I discovered the true benefits of this pricey Minx manicure. Firstly, it's Chip free for up to 10 days (OMG enough for me), secondly there is zero drying time which for someone like me who always have a nail ding that is perfect, and lastly the procedure incorporates a full manicure as you would receive normally. Now for the bad news I called around to get some pricing and here is what I found: $45 for a manicure and $65 for a pedicure. Maybe for some of you that’s a drop in the bucket but for a gal like me that’s a tank of gas, some pull ups for my son, a few groceries and maybe a top from Forever 21.

So although I’m tempted, I’m on the fence at the same time. I’ll keep you posted if I decide to try them out. Here a few pictures of the very Popular Minx nail design that you will start to see more of and hear about.

If your in the Atlanta area I know they offer Minx at Shine Salon & Spa and The Glam Bar Salon both on Peters Street in the Castleberry Hill district and  Polished Beauty Lounge in Vinings. For more locations or info visit Minx Nails.

Photo credits: Minxnail.com, BeautyOrBust.net, Glamnetwork, Urbanhoopla and Nail Magazine