how long are your nails?

[Scott_F]

who here has long nails and how long do you keep them? how often do you get them done?

[franfran]

I usually keep mine about 5mm long, but right now they're short, as I broke one about a week and a half ago and it looked odd having one finger with a short nail and the rest longer.

EDIT - looks like I don't know the difference between millimetres and centimetres

[Who?]

Various sizes. One for every occasion because you never know what you'll need to bang! Some are galvanised in case I have to hammer away at somewhere that's wet. I keep them in my tool box...

[Diane Smith]

I keep my nails between 5/8" and 3/4" past the fingertips (that's 16mm to 19mm for those in the more enlightened nations). They are my natural nails with pink and white acrylic overlays to keep them from breaking. I have fills every two weeks to fix any small problems and compensate for growth. Three or four times a year, my nail technician removes all the acrylic overlays and replaces them with all-new ones.

My nails always have a glossy clear gel coat on them so they look fine without polish. I wear colored polish maybe half the time. I wear dark red colors the most but also like pinks, blues and metallics depending on my mood and outfit. I just had them filled Saturday morning so they're currently in OPI's "Bastille My Heart" from their latest French collection.

- Diane

[uri]

well Diane, every time I discover another detail fo your apparel it thrils me more... You must look so impressive.

Just a question- are your nail tips rounded, pointy or square?

I keep my nails round and a bit long (I think they're 4mm past fingertip right now), but when they get real long I ten to chop then to avoid comments by parents, etc. When I dress up I paint them red (used to be dark red, and then I shifted to light purples). I love them.

[Diane Smith]

well Diane, every time I discover another detail fo your apparel it thrils me more... You must look so impressive.

Just a question- are your nail tips rounded, pointy or square?

I keep my nails round and a bit long (I think they're 4mm past fingertip right now), but when they get real long I ten to chop then to avoid comments by parents, etc. When I dress up I paint them red (used to be dark red, and then I shifted to light purples). I love them.

Thanks yet again, Uri!

My nails are in the shape they call "squoval" -- that is, in between "square" and "oval." It basically means they are square, but the ends are slightly rounded to soften the look a little and avoid any sharp edges.

Frankly, this is not my favorite shape -- I grew up looking at women's nails when the ideal was oval, much more rounded on the ends than mine are now, and I still think that's the most attractive (and clasically sexy) shape. But all my nail technicians have told me it's not strong enough when nails are as long as mine, because making the oval involves removing quite a lot of the lower outside corners of the nail, whose curve helps make them rigid. I may defy them someday and have them filed oval anyway, just to find out for myself, but so far I've gone along with their advice ever since I started seriously growing them out and getting acrylic overlays about 11 years ago.

- Diane

[uri]

Well, that sounds like serious business. I also can't understand that square fashion. My fingernails are just too wide to be square.

[Scott_F]

diane what other OPI colors do you wear? i love some of the blues and greens they have. btw thats a great length mine are about 5/8 now

[Diane Smith]

diane what other OPI colors do you wear? i love some of the blues and greens they have. btw thats a great length mine are about 5/8 now

I wear dark reds about 90% of the time -- Chick Flick Cherry, Edinburgundy, Kennebunk-port and of course I'm Not Really a Waitress are among my staples. Sometimes I venture toward a more pure red like OPI Red or An Affair in Red Square. I occasionally will wear something with more pink, or a metallic (gold / silver / bronze). But I've been wearing Bastille My Heart for about three weeks now on my fingers, and one week on my toes -- I think it's going to become a new favorite.

I've had my nails as long as 1-1/2" past the fingertips (once!) but even for a long nail fan like me, that turned out to be pretty impractical. Nowadays, I file them down to 5/8" and then let them grow out to around 3/4" before shortening them again. For me, it's about the best compromise between length and dexterity.

- Diane

[Scott_F]

when my wife first did mine they were under 1/4 so letting them get longer has made her happy. ill probably let them grow until they become a problem. my wifes are about 1 1/2 inches now

[Scott_F]

as a guy i like the revlon metallics as well as russian navy, blue my mind, yoga-ta get this blue, green-wich village, and call my cell-ery by opi. but my favorite is still the french

[uri]

what names! What's OPI? I don't remember the names.

I used to be fond of blood red (and dark red lipstick to match) and then prefered sort of Lylach purple. My partner had a particular bottle I used. Onl when it ran out I notices it's "sheer pink" becaused she mixed different colors.

I shifted to her bottle of medium red (light red) which is quite fashionable here from what I see.

[Diane Smith]

what names! What's OPI? I don't remember the names.

I used to be fond of blood red (and dark red lipstick to match) and then prefered sort of Lylach purple. My partner had a particular bottle I used. Onl when it ran out I notices it's "sheer pink" becaused she mixed different colors.

I shifted to her bottle of medium red (light red) which is quite fashionable here from what I see.

OPI is probably the leading brand (in terms of sales volume) of professional nail products in the U.S. I don't know how widely they sell overseas. You can generally only buy their products from licensed nail technicians in a legitimate salon -- they do not sell through any mass-market retailers. The names of their polish colors are usually amusing, often quite long, and typically consist of funny puns that wouldn't translate well into other languages, I'm afraid. They introduce two or three collections of new colors each year, usually named around a particular place or other theme -- the latest (fall 2008) is the "France" collection.

OPI certainly dominates the market here in this country, but as with industry leaders in other businesses (think Microsoft), they have their detractors. Their polishes are generally good but aren't necessarily the easiest to apply, best covering or longest lasting -- shelf life is particularly a problem. Many of the nail technicians I've spoken to sell a lot of OPI because their customers know and like the colors, but if you ask them what their actual favorites are, they will have another brand they prefer because of the performance, economy or color selection.

Still, I wind up wearing OPI about 95% of the time I have polish on. Such is the power of marketing, I guess!

You can probably enter any of the color names in a search engine along with "OPI" and will rather quickly get to one of their color charts showing what it looks like. The names rarely have anything much to do with the actual appearance. The one I've been favoring lately, Bastille My Heart, is a quite dark burgundy red, almost blood-red, with just a slight sheen of metallic sparkle to it.

- Diane

[mary huff]

Depends how close to the wick I get when biting them but it hurts like buggery when you bite too far.

[r1g0r]

well...

as of last night, my nails are now about 3/16" past my fingertips. i got acrylics again, after a couple months without them.

takes some getting used to the difference again, but they're a lot of fun.