Before I get started on this post, I just want to say a huge big THANK YOU for over 12k views on my blog. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my blog would ever grow to become as important to me as it has, so whether you're a long time lurker or a new viewer, it means a lot to me that you've taken time out of your day to read my guff, and for that I thank you. Now, back to the matter at hand.

All my life I've been someone who has had strong, healthy nails, without doing very much to take care of them. Since I've started working in an environment where my hands and nails are constantly dipping in and out of water and as a result, they've become extremely dry. Right at the beginning of my time working there, false nails have cropped up in conversation time and time again, but I've always been a bit anxious about paying quite a lot for such a luxury on a student budget, and the potential of wrecking my lovely nails. However, recently the idea of getting falsies has kind of grown on me, and some of you may remember that a few days ago I asked around for recommendations for "do it yourself" false nails. Primark have been stepping up their game recently and I've heard many good things about their collection of fake nails, so I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. Here's my experience of wearing, applying and learning to adjust to wearing false nails for the first time.

If you're a nail novice like me, then you might want to check out WikiHow and their very helpful posts about how to apply false nails for the first time. The most important thing to remember is to make sure your nails are nice and clean, and your cuticles are pushed back; you don't want the nails to stick to your skin! I decided for my first pair to go for these fabulous chromatic style nails in "Galactica." The best thing abut Primark is the variety of nail shapes, sizes and colours they provide, (and how cheap they are, I got these three pairs for a fiver!) so if you're not a huge fan of claws and prefer something a little daintier, they will definitely have a pair for you!



Every packet comes with 24 individual nails and an adhesive, however I bought spare glue just in case and I'm glad I did, because the one provided was so difficult to use! The most annoying thing I found was trying to match each nail to my natural nails that are a little on the small side, but I did manage to file them down to suit my nail shape and the exact length I wanted. But of course, me being me, I glued the wrong size to one of my nails and had to soak it in acetone for quite some time and have in fact stained my finger blue. A word of advice; please make sure you try every nail on each finger to find your exact match, and lay them out so you can easily access them!




After two long hours of struggling, I finally managed to put my nails on all by myself. I must say, I'm very impressed with the quality of them and the colour too. I've always dreamt of having big long claws and I'm a magpie for anything holographic and sparkly, so these are my idea of heaven. Although I'm quite used to my naturally long nails, I am finding it a little difficult to adapt to these abnormally long nails (you don't even want to know how long it has taken me to write this post!) With that being said, I would definitely recommend these nails to anyone who wants to give them a go, however I can't lie and tell you that it's an easy process! It's an absolute pain, you'll probably get glue all over your hands and they take a lot of getting used to, and obviously I haven't actually had the chance to wear them into work yet, however I'll keep you all in the loop! But I still absolutely adore them and how much better they make me feel, and I think this could be the start of a beautiful relationship between false nails and me.

What's your experience with false nails like? Do you prefer going to the salon or doing it yourself?
I hope you've all enjoyed this post, and maybe had a little giggle at my hapless expense.

Until then,
Rachel