Hey there! My name is Michelle and I am 29 years old, and up until a month ago I almost never painted my nails. In high school and college I often painted my toenails, but only a solid color that would stay on for a month or more. My fingernails were another story, but one I’m sure you’ve heard (and experienced) before: I would do okay with my dominant hand, but once my other hand picked up the brush it was Mess City. When I tried to clean up my nails, it somehow made everything worse. Instead of thinking practice makes perfect, I gave up.

I would look at other girls with painted nails and be so jealous. I didn’t have time to go to a salon for manicures, and I was horrible at doing them myself. So I usually just went without polish most of the time, and I went to a salon for special occasions — “My nails are so ugly, I just want to feel good about myself” is definitely a special occasion! Sometimes I did my own nails, but just solid colors and never any glitter or nail art. It was a sad state of affairs.

Oh wait, I found one! Looking in my photo albums on Facebook I found a few photos of my nails. Here’s a crappy cell phone pic of the only creative nail art I had ever done, a pedi that was not completely horrible:

That photo was taken July 24, 2010. The dots were done with the nail polish brush. The pink is Zoya Barbie. I’m not sure which colors I used for the flower but they were a Zoya purple and white… it’s probably Zoya Gaia, because that may be the only white I had at the time.

A month ago yesterday, I was complimenting my friend on a photo of her nails she posted online. I was amazed at the perfection of the dots and the tips. She replied that the dots were stamped, and I replied that I had never heard of that, and… well, we kept talking about nails and within a few days I had joined Polish-aholics Anonymous on Facebook. But to be fair, I felt like a fraud. Who was I to call myself a polish-aholic when I rarely painted my nails? But I decided that with these girls and the many nail blogs there are, I could learn. I added a ton of blogs to my Feedreader and read everything on the blogs and in the group. And boy, am I learning!

I have started off with a lot of momentum. I’ve bought polish from blog sales. I change my polish at least twice a week. I have purchased a lot of new polish, plus nail art supplies. I have tried my hand at a sponged gradient and a taped French manicure and stamping and dotting, and I have learned to have a love-hate relationship with wearing-removing glitter, and a love-love relationship with Seche Vite top coat. I have a spreadsheet in Google docs that lists my polishes, and another sheet that is my “Lust List” – polishes I want to get. I participate in a Monday Nail Art Challenge in PAA. Yesterday I bought a piece of furniture whose sole purpose is to hold my “nail stuff” … and it’s almost completely full (photos to come in a future post). And now here I am starting my own blog. I guess you could say I am officially a polish-aholic.

And have my nails improved? I’m still learning and practicing, but here’s the mani I did today. You be the judge. (Click for larger images.)