I picked my gels off and knackered my nails (again), but Chanel's rose-tinted treatment sorted them out in seconds
La Base Camélia strengthens and smooths with the most beautiful glowing sheen
In a spectacular display of 'do as I say and not as I do', I picked all my gel polish off and knackered my nails this week. And not the first time.
In my defence, they'd grown out beyond acceptable levels, and I didn't have another nail appointment booked. Like Sienna Miller, I've been having a bare-nail summer and had only broken it for a mid-September holiday, so unless I was going to visit a salon just for removal (ha), those rigid, lifted gel shells had to come off one way or another.
Also, to be probably a bit too honest, I'm just one of life's pickers. I struggle to resist the short-term satisfaction despite the long-term regret. Plus, I have such an effective nail-strengthening treatment on reserve that it somewhat enables my 'pick now, fix it later' mentality.
Not all superheroes wear capes - some come in iconic little cuboid bottles with double C logos. As well as being deliciously packaged and highly displayable, the saviour of my nails is such a hard worker. Its main ingredient, Camelia oil, is packed with omegas and antioxidants for nourishing, protective properties, while cellulose smooths over ridges and flaky bits, should you be a fellow picker and peeler. Cosmetically, the sheer, brightening tint puts a bit of pep in your bare nails' step and adds a pleasing shine to boot.
After my gel-picking transgression, I did what I always do after I've grown my nails a bit longer under gels, then realise I truly cannot bear having long nails. I clipped them right down, filed them right across and gave them a lick of La Base Camélia. The transformation, I think you'll agree, is pretty impressive, given these photos were taken hours apart.
Of course, like all nail treatments, the real idea with this isn't just an instant, cosmetic improvement - although it certainly delivers on that front - it's that you use it on an ongoing basis to nurse your nails to better health.
But as with all the best beauty treatments, the short and long-term plays here run in tandem. My nails look so nice with this on, I'm pretty happy to wear them bare, which makes me less likely to book gels, and so La Base Camelia can happily sit there doing its strengthening, conditioning thing for weeks or months on end.
Another selling point: the tint in this is so sheer it's 100% forgiving of a bad paint job. I don't even put the big light on to apply it, and the rosy wash still comes out looking neat. Like the sort of groomed, elegant nails that belong to people who book in for professional gel removal, not pick them off in a mildly frenzied state on a train. Sounds good? Great! Let's chat next Sunday.
