Finally got rid of my disastrous gel nails after more than a month.

The feeling is akin to, say, running a full marathon with 10kg sandbags attached to your legs, and then finally taking them off.

The sense of relief is incredible. My fingers are useful again!

The process was very tedious, at times painful, and took 90 minutes. I swear, people think up the most dastardly procedures to torture women (and vain men)!

For example, waxing, IPL, nail extensions, leg extensions (!!! x 1 million), veneers, tattoos, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, back to my nails.

Because the gel is too thick, it’s not possible to cut off the tips right away so a nail drill is used to file the nail down a bit.

Also called electric nail file.

When the nails are thin enough, the tips are snipped off at the point where my natural nails have grown to.

The nail clipper looks like a cross between a cigar cutter and a bottle cap opener. LOL.

Another kind pf clipper (which looks like pliers) is used to pry and clip off the other end of the nail where it might have come loose from my natural nail.

After drilling, clipping and prying as much as possible:

It got to a point when drilling started to hurt (from the heat caused by friction). Susan, my nail therapist, said that it’s because that China therapist had filed my nail too thin.

So she turned off the drill and started to manually file the gel off. She went through three brand new nail files to get everything off!

Even manual nail filing hurt at some point (same thing, heat/friction), so she had to keep moving from nail to nail and file slower to avoid heat buildup.

While one hand is being worked on, the other hand is soaked in acetone to soften the nails, after which Susan would keep trying to pry/clip the other end off. Sometimes bits would come off, something nothing.

In this way, we kept switching hands and slowly wearing the gel down.

Susan was a model of patience, and fearful of hurting me so tried her best to be gentle.

She was very motherly, haha. She would cluck in sympathy when I yelled in pain and would keep reminding me to alert her immediately the moment I felt like it was going to hurt so she could stop and move to another nail.

Finally, an hour and a half later, it was done!

Another 30 minutes were spent masking and manicuring my natural nails.

ALL DONE!!

Unfortunately, my nails are now so thin and soft it’s scary. I can bend them almost 90 degrees!

The photo was taken on Saturday. By Monday, some tips started chipping and cracking so I just trimmed off everything right to my fingertips.

Now my nails are more like nubs! I’ll have to wait for a few more months and hopefully the regrowth will be back to original thickness.

In the meantime, no more gel nails for me! Grrr.

But they’re so pretty, so I might still get them in the future. Susan said getting gels isn’t supposed to hurt. To prevent pain when baking the gel, she said you should leave your hand just outside the “oven” for two seconds before putting it inside.

Maybe I’ll get the nerve to try again cos I don’t want to do nail art on natural nails and have it wear off in two days.

If you’re looking for an experienced gel nail artist, Susan is a freelance nail therapist who operates from home. Her shop is called Precious Nail Services. I found her through Google! =P

One of her works which I like very much, among many.

This is not an ad. I’m plugging her cos I think she’s really nice, plus she’s talented and creative and she charges very reasonable rates.

In fact, I felt that she undercharged me cos my nails were so tough to remove, so I tried to tip her but she refused to accept, lol. My removal and manicure only cost $24 total!

Now that I’ve gotten the use of my hands back, I shall try to blog more. =P It was really hard to type with those chunky gels before!

I didn’t buy as much as I wanted to in China because we actually spent a lot of time travelling. In six days, we went from Macau to Zhuhai to Humen to Shenzhen to Tangxia to Zhangmutou back to Zhuhai then to Macau again.

Plus retailers were still selling winter stuff.

So, here’s what I got (besides shoes and clothes cos I haven’t photographed them yet):

I know these aren’t very practical in Singapore but I needed them to save my life in China since it was winter.

Plus they are super cute, which is the true reason I got them.

I didn’t actually need them after the first day because it started getting warmer and warmer and warmer.

Okay so I went a little crazy with the watches. But they are SOOOOO CHEAP.

After bargaining hard, each watch costs S$3 to S$4.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT.

There was one I really really liked but it cost like S$7 after bargaining which is still super dirt cheap but on principle I would have been conned if I had bought it, so I didn’t.

(Cos it was like RMB15 vs. RMB35 which, in RMB, is a huge difference.)

Being in China for a while makes you cynical and penny-pinching because everyone is out to con you. Most of the time, they will quote you anywhere from 2 to 5 times the reasonable selling price, so you really need to spend time bargaining.

Then, after a while, you suddenly realise that you’re beginning to spend 10 minutes just to bargain off 50 Singapore cents, and then you start to feel a bit silly.

Did I go overboard with the headbands, too?

I’ve always liked headbands and even bought a few in the distant past but never wore them out because they just didn’t look nice on my straight, limp, slippery hair.

Now that I have curly, damaged hair, the headbands actually look nice, so I am overcompensating for all those missed years!!!

Okay plus headbands are so sweet nowadays (love the ribbon types; I have so many now!) and they are cheap in China, all under S$10.

Don’t puzzle too hard. It’s a hairclip.

I wonder if anyone recognises any of the above jewellery.

S$20 each.

The exact same bag in two different colours (using a different strap for each).

I know they both look almost the same colour but it’s just the photo. One is black and the other brown!

I like buying similar things in different colours when I can’t decide which to get. Cos I always regret not buying the other colour of something when I need it to match an outfit!

Bags = S$10 each.

The one on top with the bear tag is, like, S$7.

Wanted to buy more bags but couldn’t find many nice ones.

LOL. One of every colour I like. Can’t remember how much but cheap enough for me to just grab without having to consider too much.

A little pouch I bought for Wang Wang. They actually had about five colours and I kinda wanted to buy a couple for myself, too, but I ended not. I can’t imagine why. I think there were times when I tried very hard to be sensible and thrifty. Duh.

Cute danglies!

Okay, that’s the lot!

I might share photos of my clothes and shoes in the form of fashion shoots (with me in the picture lah) but I’ll have to try and figure a way to manage that.

Very hard for me to self-camwhore my outfits nowadays cos there’s no suitable place at home to do it. (That’s why my Fashion Diary entries suddenly stopped.)

Okay Happy Chinese New Year! Need to rush out for last minute CNY preps now!

And a ice creem!

And a noo bag!

And a sweets!

Yumz!

It’s tough having to look good all the time. People criticise us when we go out looking imperfect, as if it offends them.

“Your hair looks wrong today.”

Then they stare at you expectantly, as if they need an answer from you to explain the offense.

I’m not joking. That happens.

Then, an awkward moment happens when you stare back at them helplessly, wondering what the heck they expect you to say.

“I’m sorry my hair isn’t perfect today. Would your highness kindly wait while I zip into the salon for a complete makeover?”

So, you spend a lot of time making sure you look perfect enough to avoid stupid statements that are delivered in the form of accusations.

If you look good enough, you might even earn a compliment.

“Your hair looks great today.”

Which is always nice. Never mind whether you’re vain or not, receiving a compliment is always nicer (and easier) than receiving a perplexing accusation.

Which is why I tend to spend quite a bit of time dressing up to avoid awkward moments.

At other times, I just avoid social situations totally.

So, on the night of the Singapore Blog Awards, it was with a bit of apprehension that I made my second attempt to curl my newly-dyed hair.

If you remember, my first attempt was an astounding disaster. I had to hide the failure in a ponytail.

I did a little better the second time, after learning from my mistakes. The front parts of my hair curled beautifully. I was heartened.

And then I did the back.

And I became Medusa.

So, then, I had half a head of beautiful curls (front) and half a head of angry, hissing curls (back). I could feel all the accusations sitting on the sidelines waiting to be born.

I didn’t want to do the ponytail thing again because ponytails are too unglam for the prestigious Singapore Blog Awards, and there was no time to straighten out the hair to do it all over.

So I brooded and considered calling in dead.

As I sat there brooding, a flash of inspiration struck me. I will hide the disaster in braids!

It was a perfect solution. I carefully forced the hissy curls into two side braids while leaving the nice curls alone… and it looked messy nice!

I felt like a genius!

I was ready to face the world!

Well, the rest you know already. I went on to receive the Best Lifestyle Blog Award, which was an awesome cap to a great night.

I had a bit of trouble lugging my prizes home. The Goonfather and I looked really bulked up with all the stuff while walking to the carpark. I wanted to take a picture of us then, but I had no more hands free to do it.

Most of the bulk came from the Koka noodles.

The noodles in the two cartons and the hamper are my prize. The loose ones are from the goodie bags the Goonfather and I received combined. Scary!

A lot of it has been given away to relatives, though. I also invited my friends to come over to take their pick but they never did. I think they were scared off when I showed them the photo above. I have weird friends.

Full list of prizes I got:

• Trophy designed by Tan Swie Hian, a renowned artist. (He did the floor calligraphy at Chinatown MRT Station.)
• Award certificate.
• 3D2N stay at Sugar Palm Grand, Hillside, Phuket worth $800.
• $500 voucher from Play Smart (a gadgets shop).
• 52 packets/bowls of Koka noodles.
• Tons of Transformers premiums (3 posters, notebook, lanyard, cube, dog tag, soundtrack CD).
• Star Trek mouse and mousepad that also serves as a USB hub.
• Supperclub CD.
• Fast & Furious 4 cap.
• Monsters Vs Aliens notebook.
• Laptop bag by Fabrix.

It was fun going through the bag to see what they gave me. Like unwrapping presents!

But that’s beside the point.

The point of this blog is that, no matter how nice your hair, makeup and clothes look during the day, it all disappears when the night’s over, although not as dramatic as Cinderella.

And then you have to do it all over again the next day (or the next time you step out of the house, anyway).

What a waste of time!

If only people would stop harping on the way we look all the time.

I normally take about 1.5 hours to make myself public-ready. This includes showering and washing my hair, blow-drying my hair, lotioning and sunblocking my whole body, putting on makeup, making my hair presentable, and putting on an outfit.

Yesterday, though, I took 3.5 hours to get ready for a Microsoft press event.

And I wasn’t even fully ready after 3.5 hours. I had to do the last touches of my makeup in the cab because I was seriously late.

Tonging the hair

As you all know, I just did my hair at the salon. At home, after washing my hair, my temp curls disappeared and I realised that my new brown hair looks awful being straight. Which means I will have to curl it myself every time now.

Yesterday was the very first time I attempted to use a curling tong.

It was a disaster!

With the first tonging, my hair looked like this.

I tried different techniques on different segments of hair. Most of them turned out really bad. After 45 minutes, I looked like I had been electrocuted.

I tried straightening and recurling spoilt segments but it seemed like it didn’t work that way. The funny kinks refused to go away.

In the end, I gave up and tied my hair into a ponytail.

Blackening the eye

Besides having to make my hair look human, I had to blacken my eye.

The Microsoft event was held at Hard Rock Cafe with a rock theme and I was told to dress like a rocker. Supposedly, everyone in the Microsoft team and PR team would be dressing up. (Not the guests.)

So, I Googled “rocker makeup” and learnt that rock means black eyes, so I proceeded to give myself some.

This was another first attempt. I have never done rock makeup on myself before.

I have learnt over the years that good makeup isn’t just dabbing on the colour. It’s about blending. So I slowly and painstakingly blended the black onto my eyelids together with some white shimmer.

Half an hour later, I turned into a zombie.

Then I spent another half an hour trying to unzombify myself.

So, to hell with blending. In the end, it was just dabbing on the black.

The final touch

Rocker is not my look of choice, but I have a number of black things in my wardrobe, so I dug out the most outrageous pieces I had.

This was at a time when the event was just about to start, and I was still at home fretting about my wardrobe.

Frantically putting stuff together, I concocted this outfit.

It probably looks more goth than rocker, but I don’t have any rock stuff, really.

I took this punk-emo photo in the toilet, which I like quite a lot:

A picture after the event, practising drums at the studio:

It feels fun playing drums in an outrageous outfit!

A picture at the event, where I took a photo of me being captured by the new Microsoft LifeCam Cinema webcam. It’s a good cam, possibly the best out there now, if you’re shopping for a webcam.

Although I love playing dress-up with all kinds of looks, sometimes I wish I were a guy. Life would be so much simpler without having to tong hair and put on funny makeup.

I could have completed an entire video game in 3.5 hours!