Yesterday I did something that I don’t recall ever having to do in my life: I cut my nails!!!! I know! It’s so exciting!

I’ve never had to cut my nails before because they are usually so weak and brittle and flaky and break of their own volition just as they grow to a reasonable length, on the eve of a holiday or big night out. This is a legacy of my nailbiting days I think, although they really weren’t that exciting. I bit my nails well into my 20s and I think this has weakened them ever since. And having manicures doesn’t help; I find that my nails start breaking a few days after a manicure.

Now, my lovely friend Jeannie is one of those perfectly groomed people who does her nails every morning. She has always had beautiful nails and says her secret is that she NEVER files them. She only ever uses nail clippers to shape them. Of course I have dismissed this fanciful notion for years. It works for her nails, I’ve thought, but it wouldn’t work for mine.

Since my last Artistic Gel manicure in October, from which it took my nails about a month to recover (pretty standard) I’ve used that Nailtiques green cuticle oil and shaped and trimmed them with nail clippers. And since I have done this, I kid you not, there has been nary a broken nail. Which meant that yesterday they were too long and I had to clip them. Hooray! The only thing I have to do now is decide which colour polish to use. What do you think? Neutral, purple or red?

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