What are your fingernails like?

Usually with acrylic tips applied painted in a jazzy colour or with an American polish for holidays. Currently though, they are below the tip of my finger, filed to within an inch of their life, and painted in No7 Temptress. I hate having no nails but we are decorating soon and I don't want to waste money getting a new set.

Mine are bitten. I've done it for as long as I remember and just do it without even realising now. I love having acrylic nails on, they my hands look so much better but they're so expensive I only get them done a couple of times a year.

Natural, medium lenghth, not bitten, but one is chipped. Clear nail polish which i'm enjoying picking off. Apparently i have a 'generous nail bed' - according to my beautician.. whatever that means?

They are 2/3 mm long, no paint (can never keep it on) and no false nails (never appealed). Never biten them either. Its the cuticles that are a mess.

Short, filed and painted navy blue

Mine are still 'in recovery' after being bitten for my whole life. It's been about 2 years now and my nail beds are back to reaching the end of my finger - I'm very proud of how they look now as it's been a massive effort. It's such a bad habit in that you can do it anywhere, anytime, makes it SO hard to stop.

Also currently painted in Opi Nail Envy hardening stuff as I HATE breaking them after spending so much effort growing them.

ETA - Yes, I really really notice other people's nail now, but never really used to before.

My nails are horrible. Short, softish and very, very flat. I inherited them, along with my stubby, spatula fingers, from my dad, bless him. My brother got the long slender gingers and strong curved nails from my mum, the swine.

A few years back I had acrylic tips and the nail technician said she never seen anyone whose nail actually curved up and out at the corners IYSWIM ... until she met me! The nail tips always pinged off!

I would love to have nice nails ......

Similar story here - although I have to paint them with nail varnish or else I have a relapse. I find that if I chew the colour off then paint it back on again it helps to avoid chewing the actual nails. Hasten to add I do this in the comfort of my own home and usually whilst reading an exciting book!

I am a chewy-junkie though, always near to the edge of the wagon.

Used to be a biter but stopped about 5 years ago. Mine are lovely at the moment (as pregnant) - much stronger than normal and grow really quickly!

I rarely can be bothered to paint them though. Just shape in squovals

Mine are short, not painted nor bitten. They seem to be worn away by endless hours of typing (i'm a secretary) and only ever grow past the tips of my fingers if i'm on holiday for more than about a week.

Having pretty much given up on my finger nails I look after my toe nails instead, they are always filed, shaped and painted. I have a whole selection of nail varnishes to choose from so my feet are always pretty ?

Same here! I have to carry a nail file at all times...if I get a rough edge of the slightest snag on one of them I'll just have a little nibble...and before I know it 3 nails have gone and I'm furious with myself ?

Short. Look pretty decent without me having to do anything to them - usual routine is grow until they're far too long, bite off, file and start again. They're painted grey at the moment (and toenails are a vile, vile green).

I am a nail biter, currently trying to stop for the thousandth time. I also have to paint them a dark colour to avoid biting, but still manage to make my skin bleed by picking at that instead. On Wednesday, I scraped off dark plum varnish using teeth and newly acquired 1mm tip. I am gross. Oh, and I've had gel/acrylics before but hate them, they hurt like hell and grow out so fast that you always have white grown out bit by the cuticle.

You are me! Although after so many years of biting, I forget to take my file out with me more often than not and then face a race against time to see if my willpower can hold out until I get home! The stupid thing is that I know if I just take the snag out I will end up with one hand without nails. And then it's so easy to say to myself "Well now the other hand looks odd!" Before you know it.... stubby time. Boo!

Loving your profile picture by the way - what a cutie!

Short and picked at a bit. Rarely painted.

I can't deal with long nails - if there is more than a tiny bit of white showing I inevitably scratch myself, deliberately or accidentally, it's a hazard for anyone with eczema.

Short answer: grim

Longer answer: short, not bitten but messy and never ever painted. I could blame it on work (not allowed long nails or nail varnish) but mostly I fear I'm just not the glamorous type.

Mine are acrylic too. i tried and tried to grow them, but they're just too thin. i used to get a manicure every week and chip them 5 minutes later as they were so bendy.

currently they're dark purple

Usually nice but natural- mid-length and either buffed or with natural polish. I also have nice white nail ends that look a bit like French polish [smug]

I have a bad habit of biting them all down to the same length whenever I break one though.

Mine are a mess. They usually grow fairly fast but then I get a break at the bottom of the tip so that needs to be pulled. Just wish they wouldn't keep breaking!

Mine are natural and about 1/2 cm past the end of my finger (they are sometimes longer but I cut them all back a couple of months ago). they are filed into squared off ovals and are usually painted either black or blood red. I used to bite them when was younger but since I've stopped I've become quite obsessed with having LONG nails.

I definitely take a pride in my nails and even have a certificate in manicure and nail art. They are usually fairly long, painted and I file them frequently. I have a nail file where ever I go. I have a thing about fingers and nails and could never go out with a man with manky nails. I always cut and file my H's nails. Ok, I'm odd!

Mine are not too bad at the moment but they are on verge of being untidy and needing filed into shape again, They're just about recovered from having acrylics on them for the wedding (that was 4 months ago) but i take skin, nail and hair vits at the moment and it seems to help. can get a decent length on them but I usally knacker one and so have to trim/file it and then do the rest.

J

Oh and they are unpainted at the moment as I have been in food retail for so long it seems weird to paint them in a colour.

LOL I have have nice longish nails, they seem to be very strong. I bit them from a toddler until 8months ago. I can't cut them or file them very well, I also get the urge to bite them if I cut/file them. Mr R has the job of cutting my nails lol

Short, plain. Rarely wear nail varnish after years of bizarre toothpast type colours. I keep them short as I keep jabbing my kids somehow if they grow.

Sometime I wear nail varnish as son bought me some mad pink pink colour for christmas and insists on painting mine every so often. And my fingers needless to say.

Your nails sound lovely, I had nail art done on my toe nails last summer, it was amazing to watch the manicurist doing it and it lasted for absolutely ages. Looked pretty funky too as i live in sandals/flip flops all summer.

I never knew you could get acrylics for your toe nails either!

Well-timed topic, I was thinking about this today. Had a visiting colleague in a work today whose nails utterly freak me out. She has these really long, I think acrylic nails, but totally not an expert in these things. They are sooooooo long, they click off her keyboard in a way that really sets my teeth on edge ? two of them on her right hand are stained with nicotine - I swear I can taste vomit if I look at them for too long ? she scratches her nose with them and her hand is about a foot away from her face as she very *carefully* scratches. utterly grim - long nails are a pet peeve of mine, I can't help but wonder what lurks beneath...how do you change a tampon without spearing yourself? How would you get your contacts out? Ack - what if you stub your finger and the nail bends all the way back and breaks off ?? Ack! Ack! Eeeuuuuuuw!

Mine: short and unpainted. Girly nail loving types probably weep when they look at them ?

Mine are natural, short-ish and painted red.

I have a dodgy index finger nail though, and it doesn't really grow very well ?

A mess! Short and thin with ragged cuticles which I pick at. This thread has prompted me to give myself a mini-manicure so they now have very pale pink polish on and look marginally neater.

Mine are natural and short. I am an ex biter, so my nails have never looked anything approaching glamorous. I snagged one the other day and in a similar vein to previous posters had bitten off 4 before I knew it.

I have a dodgy thumb nail which is split in two as I had an eye-watering incident about 4 years ago when I drove a one inch splinter between my nail and the attached skin. I expect it will never recover.

I also have little white 'calcium spots' (is that what they are called?) over about half my nails.

Mine are very white and very strong and I often get asked if they're false. I've never understood how people bite their nails, but I think that's because my own are impossible to bite through. If I catch one and it has a snag I do usually peel it off, but I couldn't bite through one. I don't do much with them other than let them grow until they're hazardous, (they don't break when caught but tend to bend right back usually across the nail bed and it's excrutiating) then I cut them back and file off into a square. 4 weeks later I repeat the process.

I do have two strange nails, the ones on my index and middle fingers are ok to a point then after 5mm they start to curl inwards on one side so they get cut as soon as they get to that stage.

I've got a couple of nails that do this too. It's a bit annoying really.