I found myself thinking about a significant question as I settled in for a celebratory birthday manicure, fully prepared to treat myself to an elaborate gel manicure. As someone constantly using my hands, I routinely choose a gel manicure to ensure longevity. However, as my hands went under the UV lamp, a worrying thought crossed my mind, sparked by a flurry of social media posts and a recent study making rounds.

Could my cherished manicure sessions be raising my risk of cancer?

With Christmas right around the corner, Parlon is here to level up your gift giving skills because now, you can easily give your beauty besties and loved ones the gift of self-care with a Parlon Gifting!

It goes without saying that 2020 was a challenging period of adjustment for everyone. For the first half of last year, I was so completely resigned to staying in that I pretty much dropped most of my beauty habits, save for my nightly skincare routine. But as the months went by, I slowly began to miss my old self-care rituals. So much so that I’ve started them back up even whilst I remain stuck indoors.

If makeup is a form of wearable art, nail polish is the longer lasting option. You (should!) take off your makeup at the end of the day but the right products and proper care can make your painted tips last for 3 weeks. I love being able to enjoy my vanity project for a little longer, and contrary to what some people think, short nails can rock nail art designs, too!

Do you like painted nails but find manicures to be a chore? Or have you ever wanted to try having long nails, but couldn’t commit to growing them out? You should check out press-on nails!

Nine and I were supposed to try press-on nails with Den before, but chickened out at the last minute. So when Girlstuff’s Press-On Gel Nails arrived at the PV HQ, we volunteered to test them for the special events we were attending that weekend!

If you’ve been a long-time reader of Project Vanity, you might still recall when Liz used to do #ManiMondays. As a nail polish fan, I used to look forward to those posts because I didn’t know much about other brands besides local ones like Caronia, Bobbie, and Chic. Nowadays though, it’s rare to see Liz wearing any kind of nail color, and I get it. Manicures take time to do and need to be properly cared for - sporting chipped nail polish is the equivalent of having smudged mascara or eyeliner and not fixing it.

Before I got into makeup and skincare, my first foray into beauty was actually nail polish. I grew up accompanying my mom to her weekly manicure appointments, and one of my first beauty purchases was an iridescent blue-purple polish. These days, I don’t wear polish as much as I’d like because it seems impractical with all the household chores I do, but when Thai brand Tenten sent over their limited edition holiday collection, I just could not resist playing around and giving myself an extra special mani!

You’ve said “yes” to the dress, blinged out your shoes, scheduled your facials, and decided on whether to book a makeup artist or do your own makeup for the big day. A must-add to your wedding prep list: get your nails did! Aside from being a great way to relax from all the stress of wedding planning (and I KNOW that there are many!), your digits are actually going to be photographed to show off your new bling so you want to make sure that they look every inch as polished as the rest of you!

While I love all kinds of cosmetics, I confess that one item in particular still intimidates me: nail polish. I can wing my liner and draw on a sharp red lip with practiced precision but having to paint on polish reveals my lack of left-hand coordination (odd for a guitarist). Having someone else do it helps, but only so much: I inevitably get into an accident with my still-wet nails and end up either having to redo the whole thing or just giving up. And if my manicure manages to last all the way until the “dry” stage, my lifestyle (which includes handbag-digging, keyboard-smashing, and guitar string-plucking, among other things) means that they often chip and crack within a day, if not - and this is no exaggeration - within a few hours.