Nail Envy and 'The Body' Elle

I used to have Cal-gel put on my nails every month so that I would have fab looking nails that I didn't have to maintain myself/worry about maintaining myself.

I'd resorted to the Calgel after I'd reached the end of my tether with doing a full manicure on a Sunday evening only to have chipped nail polish by the Tuesday, Wednesday if I was really really lucky. And yes, I'd experiemented with all brands of nail polish from the very cheap (Collection 2000) to the very expensive (Chanel) to the specialist (OPI) and none of them fared any better. My key learning here is it's ok to economise on nail polish.

Anyway Cal gel wasn't the epiphany I'd hoped it would be. It looked manky after about 2 weeks, required regular infills (approx 3 - 4 weeks) and you had to spend a good proportion of your life in rubber gloves to protect the darn stuff.

So about 3 weeks ago I had my Cal gel taken off and I've been in nail re-hab ever since. Contrary to the Cal gel manufactuerers claims about how good Cal gel is for your nails, and it's organic nature my nails are now as soft as tissue paper and prone to peeling - rubbish!

For the past 3 weeks I've been filing in one direction only and using cuticle oil twice daily. It's not really made that much difference if I'm honest and now I'm getting bored of having very short nails and having to rub oil into them.

Soooo Friday was bad day at work which left me hankering for a beauty product binge. Boots happened to be on my way home so I dived in to see if I could find a quick pick me up. I was focussing on trying to find some exciting bubble bath. I'm a big believer in the therapeutic powers of a bath, Heat Magazine and a glass/es of wine. I also believe that whilst a 'fat day' will stop you shopping for clothes you can never feel too fat to shop for bathing products!

As I meandered the bathing aisles I spied a product called Nail Envy by OPI. It was £15 which seemed like a lot to pay for a nail hardner so I resisted the tempation to purchase. However I do believe in strange coincidences, and in a magazine I read this weekend a reader had written in specfically to rave about this product. I'm viewing this as a sign that I should really buy this product and it will answer all my nail prayers! Will keep you posted on the results.

So back to Friday evening I bought a bottle of Dead Sea Source Destress with Ginger Bath Essence. It talks about nourishing the skin with dead sea salts and the relaxng aroma of ginger. It was ok but nothing special, so whilst I'm quite happy to use it up I don't think I'll be purchasing from that range again.

However I did see something else in Boots that caught my eye - a body care and bathing range from Elle Mcpherson, unorginally called 'The Body'. The product formulations all sounded quite interesting and quite unique and I was just about to buy one when the pack design stopped me in my tracks.

All the products have a picture of Elle Mcpherson in a bikini on them. OK it's not a glamour shot or anything but it's still a top model in her skimpies on my bottle of bubblebath. Lord knows I do not need that hanging around in my bathroom whilst I'm naked in the bath. Can you imagine anything worse? Yes have a range endorsed by Elle, yes inspire me that the products will help me have a body like hers, but NO, do not put her actual body on the packaging. And with that I'm going to soak in the bath with my safe, non demoralising Dead Sea Source bubble bath!