Nailed It!

Today I'm here to tell you about an amazing product if you wear any kind of nail polish at all. (Well, I guess not if you have gel nails or whatever, but anyway.)

This stuff. It. Is. Amazing.

I don't quite remember where I heard of Londontown nail products, though it may have been on a podcast somewhere, where the person showing her knitting mentioned she was wearing some of their polish (which is great, as are their Nail Veils, but those are other posts). Anyway, I had to go down the rabbit hole of finding out about the brand, etc., because a) I remember loving the color of the polish the person was wearing, and b) I'd never heard of the brand and was curious. So I tried a couple of their products, and liked them a lot (as I said, some later post, OK?). 

Now, I don't always wear nail polish, but I have noticed that when I make an effort, and have something on my nails - even clear nail polish - I tend to leave my cuticles alone. Which is a good thing, because my poor cuticles have suffered so many indignities in my life. When I am bored, or anxious, or tired, or who knows what, I tend to pick at my cuticles, which of course causes them to bleed, and makes my hands look like small battlefields. But if my nails have something on them, I'm more likely to not practice that habit.

The problem for me has always been getting the polish off without problems. Nail polish removers with acetone make me break out in a rash. So I was getting non-acetone removers, which were fine. But getting all of the polish off was the problem. I would use so many cotton balls, and so much of the product, and later in the day, still notice polish I'd missed. 

Anyway, one time when I was perusing the Ulta website, I noticed they carried some Londontown products, including the "Lacquer Remover" shown above. It was a whole lot more expensive than the others, but when I read the different reviews, they all said that very little of the product was necessary to get off all of your nail polish. So I was intrigued. And I realized that I spent a lot of money on cheaper polish removers, mostly because I used so much all at one time, so I was always running out. I bit the bullet and ordered some of this.

All I have to say is, if you have had the same problems getting nail polish off of your nails, buy this stuff. It's worth every penny! Usually I get a cotton ball and soak it, not drench, but get it wet, and then I place it on each fingernail for 10 seconds. (Some of the cotton ball comes off when you take it off your nail.) I do that for each nail, and then I go back and sweep the cotton ball over the nail using a bit of pressure. Voila - polish gone! Completely, and your nails don't feel dried out like sandpaper either. I couldn't believe how well it worked, and have tried it even with darker polish, and had the same good results.

And in the end - the bottle lasted me for a whole year, making it well worth the price! As a matter of fact, when I went to buy a new bottle, I happened to hit a sale (I don't remember if it was at Ulta or on the Londontown site itself), and got two bottles for only slightly more than the price of one. 

Needless to say, this product knocked it out of the park with the BMST, and now I don't go through a whole decision process of whether or not it's worth putting on nail polish due to the hassle of removing it.

This is my opinion only, of course - I'm not sponsored by anyone or any company, I just wanted to share something I really love and think others might appreciate as well.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know. I hope you if you do try it, you have the same kind of success.

So ...

Yeah, I know. I've abandoned this blog for about a year and a half. I've kept up with my knitting/crafting blog a lot better, but even there recently I had to take a break. Of course, the main difference is that I know some people read that blog, and this one is mainly for myself, and there have been a couple of people now and then who have commented, but who knows if they have given up.

Anyway, I've decided that since I have many beauty and fitness types of things to say/talk about, I needed to once again make friends with this blog. If nothing else, it helps me keep track of products or other things that I like or don't like, so that I don't re-do or re-buy the wrong things!

Things in life have changed for me. At the end of July 2022, I left my full-time job of 12+ years. I had loved my work, but in the last year and a half before I left, things had really deteriorated when we got a new CEO who thought he was a library and archives expert. (Spoiler alert: he isn't.) Let's just say that our department of five people had dwindled to myself and one other person (who he LOVED) by the time I left. I couldn't really afford to retire, but in order to maintain my mental and physical health, it was necessary. So now I get a monthly Social Security check, and I have a job three days a week at a local yarn store. We are struggling a bit, but we're OK and I'm doing a lot better than I had been, so I guess it's a win?

In September 2022, a friend and one of my nieces and myself started a little fitness group. We each take turns creating monthly goals for all of us, and check in daily via text messages. It's really been great, and all three of us are healthier and making progress, slowly but surely. We all agree that the accountability of checking in every day has made a huge difference in our attitudes towards living a healthier life. Which is not to say we don't lose sight of things now and then, but we are also very forgiving, which is fantastic. 

What else? Well, since I last spent time here, we adopted two more kitties! In May 2022, we adopted Alfie, a three-legged very fuzzy gray and white cat who was about a year old at the time. We call him our lovable weirdo, because he is very sweet and affectionate, but truly weirder than any cat we've ever had before. And then this past May, we adopted Esmeralda (aka Esme), a one-eyed gray tabby who is a little over a year old. For about the first four months she was with us, we seldom saw her, she was so afraid of us. But she got along perfectly with the other kitties, so that's what mattered most. And she and Alfie are definitely best buddies. in the past couple of months, she has gotten braver, and will occasionally even let us pet her - major progress, I tell you!

(Alfie on the left, Esme on the right)

And that's really about it for now. Like I mentioned, I have a lot of things I'd like to write about, so you will be hearing from me again sooner rather than much later. 

In the meantime, if anyone other than me is reading this, I hope you are well, and that you'll stop by again. 😊