[Everyone's got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can't do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month Michelle gave up stress eating. This month, Charlotte's going to try to stop biting her nails. Can she do it!? Could you?]

Stuff I learned this week:

1. Shit happens. Nails break, and
2. Having nails is weird

First of all, yes, nails break. Sometimes they snag on something, or sometimes I’m chewing them BUT NOT BITING THEM, and I accidentally break an edge. And then I’m in a panic. WHERE IS MY NAIL FILE GODDAMNIT? However, this bit of advice, to always have a nail file on my person, has definitely helped. Now, instead of thinking “oh god, one nail gone,” I can file it up real nice and yeah, it won’t be quite as long, but it won’t be quite as short either. Breaking nails sucks though. One day my nails are all looking quite good, and then I break my “best” nail and they all look crappy again. But I am getting somewhere and I’m so proud. They’ve gotten to a point now where I don’t even want to bite them. Sure, I want to chew. But the idea of biting off that much nail is really weird. While I definitely haven’t completely kicked the habit, I’m definitely getting there, and that is something I never thought I’d be able to do.

Another thing I found out this week, the chili thing does work. I hadn’t tried it intentionally, but I made a curry last night and chopped a red chili. I absent-mindedly starting nibbling and what the heck is that in my mouth?! Chili. Yep. Genius. The nail biting stuff is working well (however, I am a little paranoid that whenever I prepare food you can taste it a little bit on everything I touch. I’m kinda immune to it now, but I think my mum’s salad a few days ago had a distinctively chemical aftertaste), but it’s definitely most repellent as soon as it’s applied. Then it’s so bad that it’s all I can taste for hours.

But having nails is weird. Scratching is much more painful than before, which is always a shock. But on the other side of the coin, they are so useful!! I can pick things off and pick things up with them. It’s awesome. I am so proud of the way they look too. Okay, too an untrained eye they look like gross little bitten down nails, but to me and people I know, they look amazing. A few days ago at dinner my Mum looked at my curiously and said “pass me your hand”, so I did. And then “pass me your other one.” Then she said, clearly impressed, “You’re started to get some sort of a nail there, aren’t you?”

The hardest thing at the moment is resisting nail polish. I love the stuff, I have probably over 30 different colours, but I know that right now I can’t wear it. Wearing nail varnish means I can’t see all my good work and it’s too easy to start by just biting the polish off the skin where it has spilled, and before I know it my (beautiful) nails are ruined. Working in food though means that even if I paint my nails I have to remove it before my next shift, so I’m sticking with clear for now. After the challenge is over, I might go another couple of weeks without polish to ensure I really have kicked the habit.

This has been an amazing experience and I don’t think I would have been able to do it without you all. I’m hoping to stick at it now and finally have the nails I’ve always wanted.

Check out the other One Month Challenges we’ve taken on. And if you’ve got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on – it’s good for you!

[Everyone's got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can't do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month Michelle gave up stress eating. This month, Charlotte's going to try to stop biting her nails. Can she do it!? Could you?]

Wow, are we really onto week 3? Well I am definitely noticing progress and I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. What doesn’t is painting my nails, weirdly enough. Not being able to see that glimmer of white means I can happily gnaw away at them long before realising the damage I’ve caused. What also doesn’t work is forgetting to apply my nasty-tasting solution every day. It’s always those in-between days when I find myself nibbling, and the day-old taste is never quite enough to deter me. However, as I mentioned last week, clear nail varnish is a winner. I’m using one that is supposed to make my nails stronger, which is definitely something they need. Even when I’m not biting them, I am constantly sucking on them and they easily get soft and I feel cheated when they are ruined without the satisfaction of biting them.

There were a few problems this week. One is that I definitely think the main culprit of my biting is boredom and distractedness. Any advice on how to break this cycle of “I’m bored, nom nom nom nails”? I also did not heed the advice to always carry a nail file with me, and realised this week why I should have one. I managed to break a little bit of nail, and instead of filing it down, I decided it was more human to rip the nail off. It was my best nail too, so now I’m very annoyed at myself.

But successes!! They are definitely growing and a couple of them look really good now. I actually have white on my thumb nail for the first time in, well, I think ever!! I also managed to successfully pick off a sticker today, which was definitely an achievement. While I know I haven’t been perfect, I’m really proud of the success I’ve had in this challenge and will definitely be keeping it up long after it’s over!!

Check out the other One  Month Challenges we’ve taken on. And if you’ve got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on – it’s good for you!

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month Michelle gave up stress eating. This month, Charlotte's going to try to stop biting her nails. Can she do it!? Could you?]

Back in January, I completed my first College Candy challenge without any slip-ups or failings. Admittedly, as a British girl and committed tea-drinker, a month without coffee was difficult at times, but not overwhelmingly so. I knew I could definitely complete the challenge without too much difficulty.

But coffee isn’t really my vice. This is different. My real vice doesn’t involve any money, and is completely inescapable — I am a chronic nail biter.

I don’t really remember biting my nails much as a child, and it was only in high school when I realised that everyone else had grown out of a habit I just couldn’t kick. I tried everything;  spending hours painting my nails, nasty tasting solution but none of it worked. I battled through every layer of pretty colours and bitter taste to get my fix.

When I think about it, yes, it really is a disgusting habit, but I’ve never been able to stop. I am orally fixated. I had a pacifier until I was five. I chew pens. I eat out of boredom and my boyfriend doesn’t have any complaints. Nail biting is my number one vice and this is really going to be tough.

The hardest thing is, I’m rarely aware that I’m even doing it. My boyfriend starting saying “stop” whenever he saw my hand at my mouth, and most of the time I wasn’t even conscious that I was nibbling. However, he soon got frustrated when we realised how frequently he had to tell me off and stopped. I pestered him to keep going, but even after he’d given me a stern look I’d be at it again in a couple of minutes. It helped for a while, but we’re now long-distance so he isn’t here to shout at me.

Painting my nails doesn’t help, in fact they are almost always painted. It always starts with freshly painted nails and I think “oh they really do look pretty, I really shouldn’t bite them”, but then I start nibbling at the varnish to neaten up the edges when the colour spills over onto the skin around my tiny nails. Then I chip them. Then I think “oh what they hell” and I end up with chewed, half-painted nails that just look ugly.

I really, really want to stop. I am hyper-aware of people’s hands because I am so insecure about mine. I can meet someone for two seconds and tell you their nail colour. And when I found out a lecturer of mine at University had bitten down stubs like mine, I quickly lost respect for her and felt an overwhelming sense of dread that people felt the same way about me.

I am envious of my friends with long, gorgeous nails. I have enough nail polishes to sink a battleship and I want to be able to show my nails off. I am hoping to become more aware of when I bite my nails and what causes it — boredom, frustration, mindlessness and while I don’t doubt that I will slip up during this challenge, I hope it will be the beginning of the end of my nail biting.

I would love any tips and advice from people who have kicked this habit. Every new year’s resolution and birthday goal has focused around stopping biting my nails for as long as I can remember and I’d really like to do it this time. I know that I am hopelessly addicted,  I bite them until they bleed and hurt for days. But I’m after any excuse to well and truly stop, and I hope this is it.

Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

I realized just how gross when I saw a not so charming boy taking part in the same not so charming habit during a lecture and my friends pointed out that:

a) Yes, I look like that too when I pick/bite

b) We are destined to be together because we share the same nasty habit.

Whether it is nail biting, throat clearing, being chronically late, talking too loud on your cell phone etc- we all have that one (or eight) habits we just wish we could break. But sometimes we really can’t help but take part in our bad habits. Kind of like when we couldn’t help but text that guy last Saturday night at 2am, even though we said we were sooo done with that.

Sometimes bad habits are just really hard to break.

So before you make that New Years Resolution to not oversleep or stop cracking your knuckles, here are three steps to actually help you achieve that goal.

3 Easy Steps to Breaking Bad Habits (From WebMD)

1) Make It Conscious. Many times, we do these things without thinking about it. Like when we are bored in class or stressed in the library etc. So figure out when and why you take part in your habit(s) of choice. If you realize when/why you are doing it and can attribute what you are feeling that is driving you to do it, you will have an easier time finding a way to stop.

2) Put It in Writing. Just like most dieticians will suggest you write down what you eat so that you are aware that you “accidentally” ate the large chocolate cheesecake because you were feeling lonely, same goes here. Put down the situation you are in along with the emotions surrounding the nail biting (or other habit). Take notice to what is going through your head when you do it. This will help make you more conscious of it and help you curb how often you do it.

Also, write out a pros/cons list of this behavior to make you more aware of why it’s such a bad habit in the first place!

3) Bait and Switch. After you figure out the root cause of why you are biting your nails/chronically coughing etc try to find a not-so- annoying temporary replacement for it. (Nail biter? Try gum! Knuckle cracker? Try sitting on your hands or doodling in class). Other experts suggest meditation. And if that doesn’t work?

Put a large rubber band around your wrist. Every time you are aware that you are taking part in your bad habit… snap that bad boy against your wrist.

Have any of your own tried and true tips for breaking a bad habit?

Leave them here!

We follow their daily mishaps online as if it were the nail-biting storyline of our favorite primetime soap. There is something so inherently beautiful about the celebrity trainwreck. You know you should, but you cannot look away.

So, in celebration of this morbid fascination, we thought we would give you the chance to choose your favorite celebrity’s next misfortune.

The following are 5 Top Tabloid Heavyweights. Click on a storyline to vote for the headline you would like to see happen next.

Britney Spears

Britney Spears’ next move?

Choose your own celebrity misfortune for Kate Moss, Ellen Degeneres, Paris Hilton and Heidi Montag after the jump.

Kate Moss

Kate Moss’ next move?

Ellen Degeneres

Ellen Degeneres’ next move?

Paris Hilton

Paris’ next move?

Heidi Montag

Heidi Montag’s next move?