The nails that have come before...

I was a chronic nail biter in my younger years.  All through high school and well into my 20s, I chewed my poor little digits down to frayed nubs, and I hated myself for it.  Eventually I started wearing acrylics to try to stop myself from chewing.  This worked, of course, but only for as long as I could afford the upkeep on the nails.  I'd go through periods of pocket money where all was fine, and when they money ran out, so then did my pretty nails.  Of course, they were even worse then, because months of drilling and gluing and suffocation would leave the nailbeds thin and tender and unhappy.

Somewhere towards the end of my 20s, I finally quit biting my nails and they started growing out - never very long, mind you, but they were at least more than a tiny half-moon sliver nowhere near the end of my finger.  I had an on/off affair with doing acrylics once again, and every time I took them off I went back to the same old problem where once the natural nails grew out past the end of my finger, they would split, tear, and break.  I tried shellacs for a little while, but ultimately had the same problems.  In the last year, I finally decided to stop with the acrylics and finally start caring about my nails.  It was then that I started trying to do my own nail art - thanks a lot, Pinterest.  

tl;dr version:  I've had bad nails my whole life, but I'm reforming.

I thought since I'm going to start blogging my nail art experiments, it would be fun to show you guys a showcase of the nail art that came before.  It all started in April 2013, with this:

I had these sprinkles, see...

And I saw this thing on Pinterest...

Anyway... that's where it all started.  I had officially discovered that I could waste copious amounts of time by playing on my fingertips.  I bought some polishes with nail art brushes and set to work.  I didn't know then about cleaning up my cuticles, and had no ability to actually keep the polish ON MY NAILS.  Mostly it's been a big mess.

Precision is for pussies

Just glob it on, it's FINE!

After moving to the UK, my Pinterest addiction only grew.  Suddenly I thought I could recreate things I saw online.

I was quite proud of these.

Galaxy nails - done with a q-tip!

I went through some rookie mistakes...

Don't doze off until after they're dry.

 
I experimented with new techniques...

Totally original design, y'all

Ombre?  You keep using that word...

And then eventually I started seeing things that actually looked like nail art.

Until the stones fall off

Striping tape?  It's... fiddly.

I just wanted some candy corn, y'all

First haul from Born Pretty Store - holographs AND color changing polish?  I'm in!

Then I discovered flocking powder... 

I has a fuzzy finger

Eat All The Cookies!!!

Karaoke can be brutal

Thank goodness for dotting tools

And started taking suggestions from Facebook...

How hard can it be to draw an elephant?

That was the day George discovered LSD

A pig, a panda, a penguin, and a... oh hell.

The other animals didn't know that Lion was a vegetarian.

I miss the bluebonnets...

Here, let me mutilate some for you.

I found 3D paints and struggled with concepts...

Birds n bees... it will work!

Cuz I need to use this 3d paint somehow

Water marble fail?  Just use a dotting tool to cover it up.  And add pearls.

As noted on FB, they look like handbags...

Eventually I started finding my mojo.

Random craft supplies must be glued onto nails.

I call it - Unicorn Poop.

Little of this, little of that...

Reminds me, I should swatch all those new polishes at some point.

We'll just throw stuff together til I can freehand a Longhorn

Hey, that water marbling is getting better at least

And now I want some Christmas candy

So... that's it.  A history of the past 6 months of nail art evolution.  I cannot promise I'll ever be one of the greats, but I will continue to strive for something beyond mediocrity.  Since most of you reading this as I post it will be coming directly from my Facebook feed, thanks for coming along for the ride.