From Stubby to Stilleto

From a very young age I had social anxieties and my way to deal with it was biting my nails. As a young girl who was on the tomboy side, it didn't phase me I had stubby little bitten nails. Once I got to high school though that feeling changed.

 

I was the girl who wore all black in the early 2000s listening to Linkin Park, Evanescence, and DJ Santana...I think you get the vibe. Even though I wasn't part of the "girly girl" clique from the early high school 2000s, it did start to bother me not having long pretty nails I could paint cold black like my heart back then and as sharp as my teenage "I know it all" mouth.

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I tried things like just painting my nails since I was 12. I would get bored and read my mom's beauty magazines and learn make-up tricks & nail care. I read about trying different liquids like vinegar or something bitter near the cuticles to people from biting. But none of that worked. I felt like I was doomed to always go at them like a hungry wolf on a fresh kill.

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At 15 I started to work at Winn Dixie as a bagger, minimum wage back then was a whole $5.15 an hour in my state. After the first paycheck, I walked to the local Wal-Greens and purchased a KISS at home acrylic system. This was literally 2000, there was no TikTok let alone Youtube (yes for those younger readers, there was a time we had no internet to tell us how to do things).

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 That first set I made...total train wreck. Every nail was crocked, they were so thick and in less than 2 days almost half them popped off. I noticed one thing though, for that 1.5 days I had almost all 10 nails on, I didn't try to bite them at all. I just wanted to look at them and was in awe I was even able to pull it off.

 

So instead of making set #2, I walked back to that Wal-Greens and found some press-on nails. I followed the prep instructions to a tee, read all the beauty magazines I could get my hands on to get extra little tips. They were just simple glue on drugstore press on nails, but they lasted almost a full week before one of them started to pop off. And that whole week I had them on, not once did I try to bite them and the amount of compliments from the "girly girl" clique was very empowering.

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Now 23 years later, I still proudly rock some type of enhancement on my nails like gel, builder, acrylic, polygel, press-on, even fiberglass during a period of time.

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My goal with this blog is to share my experiences with getting salon quality nails at home. I'll cover all topics from nail care, trends, product reviews. And because healthy nails are a must for wearing enhancements like Gel-X or acrylics, we even cover natural nail care.

 

So let's embark on a journey to discover the best beauty products and advice at The Nailed By Rocky blog. From having strong natural nails to extreme length acrylics, we got something to cover anyone's nail journey. It's time to embrace nail care & art at home and start saving those pennies from salon trips. Ready to explore our collection? Start now!