Genetics are so strange. My sister has long gorgeous nails but has had a heck of a time with dental issues throughout her life whereas I on the other hand have broken little thin nails, but have rarely had so much as a cavity. I suppose inheriting my Mom's genes in this instance was luckier than my sister inheriting my Dad's. However, I was still left with thin short fingernails that rarely looked good even with a manicure.

I decided last month I would search high and low for the best hand and nail products to give my aged, thin short nailed paws a much-needed makeover. Not only were my nails in bad shape, my hands looked dry, scaly and sprinkled with age spots.

After searching the net and getting fabulous feedback I found the crème de la crème in hand and nail care brands and products.  For my nails I chose Barielle 10 Piece Natural Nail Care System. Besides the fact that each product in the kit receives the highest ratings you can buy the whole kit for around 25 bucks as opposed to purchasing individual products totaling more than twice that. The sizes may be smaller in some of the packaged items, however, for me the kit did its job quite well with additional product left over.

For my dry scaly hands with the dreaded brown spots I chose an all in one product that nourishes, soothes, revitalizes and protects. The addition of Kojic acid in the cream fades the discolorations and the SPF of 15 protects against further damage. It's a product by Ole Henriksen called Ole Henriksen Hands Forward SPF 15. It worked extremely well and saved me a lot of money by buying a single cream with multiple duties as opposed to 3, 4 or even 5 different products to achieve the same thing.

My hands are now gorgeous and I'm actually proud of them for the first time in years. Interestingly enough I spent about as much as had I gone for one or two professional manicures. Yet it would have taken many more manicures than that to get the results I did in one month doing it myself with these products and ponying up about sixty bucks total.