22-year-old Brooklyn resident Rebecca Cruz has always loved the idea of keeping her baby teeth. Wanting to continue this time-honored tradition, but no longer possessing any remaining baby teeth to collect, Rebecca decided to keep her fallen acrylic nails so she could remember every set with the same love she had for her teeth.
“This nail is from my sister’s graduation,” she said, showing us her collection. “This nail is from a set I got before I went on a date last month. Bad date, cute nail!”
“My favorite nail I have saved are these nails with my cousin’s face on them,” Rebecca explained further. “They were for their baby shower! This fell off while I was slicing myself some cake and I had to clean the icing off the nail. Good times.”
Rebecca’s grandma still has her baby teeth, but Rebecca particularly wanted to keep mementos of her twenties.
“I started collecting my used vapes, but they aren’t as cute as the baby teeth” she said. “The nails are so much cuter. Each nail has a story, the baby teeth just have cavities.”
The collection of nails is almost like a gallery of the work of nail technicians across the city. “I love being able to keep all the nail art,” Rebecca said. “I could just take pictures but holding onto the physical acrylic nail just is so much better!”
This collection of fallen acrylic nails is so sweet and not gross at all! While there’s no acrylic fairy that leaves you money for your discarded filled tips, try out Rebecca’s method and keep your old acrylics to remember all the money you’ve spent on them!
