Benefits of Using Nail Polish

Most females love to decorate their nails with nail polish in attempts to beautify their hands. What most females do not know is that there are actually benefits of using nail polish. Nail polish, along with other cosmetics, can make a woman feel beautiful and confident inside and out.

The Benefits of Getting a Manicure (Pedicures, Too!)

The obvious benefit of getting a manicure is that by the time you are finished your nails will look gorgeous and healthy. While going to the spa to get manicures and pedicures is pampering, it is simultaneously beneficial to treat yourself to a little self-grooming, and to have someone immerse you in luxury can go a long way for the mind, body and spirit.

While a manicure and pedicure are not a full body massage, they can be incredibly relaxing. Many good nail salons will offer a range of services including the very basic manicure and pedicures or a more expensive treatment including hand and foot massages, warm cloths, and aromatherapy. A simple hand and foot massage can perform wonders if you are having an extremely stressful day.

The Elements of Using Nail Polish – Cuticle Oil

Painting your nails can make them look enticingly beautiful. However, the elements involved are also beneficial to your hands and nails. Most of the nail polish remover that does not contain harsh chemicals has multiple vitamins and minerals that can actually help strengthen and condition your nails as you remove your polish. Painting your nails involves cleaning up the cuticles and giving your hands and nails plenty of moisture. The same goes for your feet and toenails as well. They need just as much attention!

One of the main elements of using nail polish, or getting a manicure, is the cuticle oil. Although it was once disregarded as being too awkward and messy to use, it is now a regular aspect of any nail treatment. Cuticle oil can be painted on, like nail polish, or applied with a stick or pen. Cuticle oil comes in a variety of formulas including but not limited to almond, tea tree, tangerine, jojoba, rice bran and plain vitamin E oil. While most cuticle oil is in traditional oil form, many now are offered as gels. It is important to know that not only do these cuticle oils and creams keep your nails and the surrounding skin soft and conditioned; they can also prevent the growth of fungus and bacteria. Fungus and bacteria can cause infection so severe that your nails could even fall off.

The Nail Massage

Part of any good manicure is the nail massage. This actually goes hand in hand with the use of cuticle oil, as it is often applied directly to the cuticles and nails. At most salons, instead of just allowing it to soak in, it is often gently massaged in for the full benefits. This nail massage is not only great for distributing the moisture of the cuticle oil, but also stimulates nail growth.

Any massage increases the blood flow to that particular region of the body, and the same is true for a hand and nail massage. Increased blood flow to the region allows toxins to be removed as well as the conditioning effects of the blood. Try it by giving yourself nail massages once a week, or even once a day, and you will see an increase in the strength and length of your nails.

Other Benefits of Nail Polish

Regularly maintained hands and nails give a great impression of the amount of care you treat your body to. Remember, while looks are not everything, the way you look is often part of any first impression that you give. Many people notice your face and hands first. Unkempt nails may allow people to think the rest of your life is just as messy.

There are other reasons to wear nail polish as well. If you have flawed or unattractive fingernails or toenails, nail polish can help disguise that. Obviously, you will always want to keep your nails clean for hygienic reasons, but nail polish can cover up unsightly flaws. Perhaps you have a calcium deficiency that causes your nails to be specked with white. A quick coat of nail polish can cover that up instantly.

Many nail polishes produced today, as well as some nail polish removers, are packed with vitamins and conditioners. The days when nail polish was thought to be “poison” for you are gone when people all over realized that it can actually help your hands in more ways than just aesthetically. Beautifully kept nails can be a real confidence booster and a great way to feel good!

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

Sometimes I walk past a window or a mirror, and I don't recognize the image I see.

For a long time I hated myself. Not just the reflection. The actual person staring back; I hated me.

It took me a lot of years and a lot of therapy to get to a place of self-love and acceptance. The journey there was long and painful and shrouded in hard, ugly things.

Read: 5 ways to deal with emotional earthquakes

Early on in my life, the seeds of self-hatred were planted. They grew and shaped not just the image of myself that I saw, but also the image I believed to be true in my mind. I didn't have to look in a mirror to know I hated myself. In fact, I preferred not to look at all.

There was a period of my life where I literally couldn't look at myself in the mirror. I would walk into a bathroom and turn my eyes from the glass because my own reflection was too painful.

I was filled with so much shame and personal disgust that I couldn't even face myself. But, it wasn't only the image that confirmed the filth I thought I saw. It was my thoughts. The things I believed about myself deep in my heart and mind.

I believed I was worthless. I was too much to be handled and not enough to be held. I was a failure and a disappointment. I was a disgrace to my family. I wasn't valuable. I was ugly, fat, and unlovable. I would forever be an inconvenience and not worth anyone else's time or effort.

I was endlessly disposable.

All these lies became my truth and they shaped everything I did.

So I destroyed myself from the inside out.

I presented an image of togetherness and strength; meanwhile, I was suffering a sick, slow suicide.

I continued behaviors and formed relationships with people who confirmed the lies I believed about myself; therefore, cementing me into those patterns of destruction.

I was trapped.

Trapped inside this body I hated, with a brain filled with lies and a heart constantly bleeding. The life was draining from my body before my eyes and though I could feel it, I couldn't face it.

After pouring out all I had into other people and trying to somehow patch up my holes by seeking their acceptance, I realized one thing; it was killing me. And slowly, I was killing myself.


Motherhood saved my life. It gave me the gift of life - both my babies and my own. When I gave birth to them, I was reborn as well.

I began to realize what I was doing to myself. I began to see truth. I began to recognize the lies I once believed and I stopped accepting them. I began to understand my purpose on this earth and why God didn't take me home many years before.

It was because of my babies and my unhealthy marriage that I finally learned who I was and what I deserved.

Since separating from my husband almost a year and half ago, I've traveled the road to rebuilding myself.

Not every day is awesome, but I am finally in a place of freedom, acceptance and self-love. I feel strong. I feel brave and confident. I feel worthy. I feel like I have a purpose and I'm living each day for that purpose. I feel like I have broken the chains of my past and am living truly free for the first time, ever.

Most of the time now, the image I see in the mirror is one that I admire.

Not because I don't still see my flaws or find things I'd like to change. Not because every day is a picnic underneath a sky full of rainbows and dancing unicorns. And definitely not because I've figured it all out.

I like what I see today because it's the real me. The me that got buried in lies. The me that was suffocated and choked out by self-destruction. The me that got lost living for everyone else. The me that God created and intended me to be. The me I want to be.

I still have "off" days and struggle like everyone else with insecurity and self-doubt and fear. But now it doesn't consume me and swallow me whole.


Today, when I walk past a window or mirror and see my reflection, I see all the things about myself that I now feel and believe to be true. I see strength and confidence. I see resilience and perseverance. I see a person of value and worth. I see a woman.

I see me.

It shocks me a little bit momentarily. Those old lies die hard, and some days for no reason at all, they come to life. They sit dormant for a while and then something, anything, will awaken them and I fight back to the truth again. It doesn't take long anymore, but some days there is a fight. With God's help, I have finally learned to win that fight.

Seeing my reflection - that image which matches exactly none of the lies I used to believe, is liberating. Lies are exactly that. Lies. Even the ones we tell ourselves.

It has been like stepping out into the sun after years of a dark winter or diving into a pool after hours in the hot sun.

These years have been painful. But they've helped me find myself. They've helped me love myself. Believe in myself. Value myself. Respect myself. Trust myself.

The reflection in the mirror and the image in my head finally match.

That's what freedom feels like.