Rings On Her Fingers and Gels On Her Toes

Is a close-up photo of my crazy toes exactly what you were in the mood to see today? Oh good! I was worried.

I spent the last week of June on the beach, and in preparation for my trip, I did a DIY Gelish manicure AND pedicure. (Tiger Blossom, I totally dig it.)

The problem with regular nailpolish on the beach is that between the sun, the sand, the sea, and the sunscreen, it gets really soft and really dull. It also could yellow and/or peel. Once, my polish got so soft, I ended up with sand embedded in it! It was so gross.

While I always bring polish remover wipes in case of “emergency”, this time I decided to gel my toenails, along with my fingernails, to hopefully prevent any ickiness. It was actually easier than doing my fingernails, because I had both hands free to work on my feet, and I just put the UV lamp on the floor. They came out great.

On my second day at the shore, I stubbed my big toe on the way to the beach. It was pretty deep and bled a lot. I ended up having to bandage that toe with like 7 bandaids every day to keep the sand out. And while the bandaids did leave sticky, sandy, residue on my toenail, I cleaned it off with non-acetone remover and the polish was as good as new. (Pictured.)

My manicure only lasted the week, I think it was just because of all the water and activitity, or maybe I didn’t seal the edges well enough. The pedicure is just over two weeks old now, and still looks almost perfect. I just have two small chips that are barely noticeable and are probably due to me running into a piece of furniture.

Since toenails don’t grow as fast as fingernails, I don’t have that margin between the cuticle and the polish yet either. I’m guessing I could get a month out of this pedicure, but I’ll probably change it up next week because I have a wedding to go to. Unless it still looks pretty good and I’m too busy/lazy.

Since a regular pedicure in non-beach conditions lasts quite awhile, I probably wouldn’t spend the extra money for a gel pedicure unless I was going to the beach. For me, it was totally worth it to put Gelish on my toes, because it didn’t cost me anything, and because I was going on vacation. If you don’t DIY, I think you’d have to weigh the cost of a gel pedi versus how annoyed you get when your toenails get beach-yucky.