Harken, people who are interested in fingerpicking but without an interest in nail cultivation!
It is not strictly necessary to play fingerstyle with either your nails or fingerpicks- one can actually use the plain skin on your fingers to go at the strings. Just hover your right hand over the strings, as you normally would in fingerpicking... Now just pluck it with your fingertips and the side of your thumb. Wasn't too hard, was it?
Advantages:
1: You don't have to grow your nails long on one hand and short on the other, thus not looking like the coke-sniffing gimp mentioned earlier in the node.
2: You have a lot more control over the attack and tone you put into playing the strings, which was the main deciding point for myself. You can either gently pick the strings over the soundhole or even right at the neck to produce a more bassy, mellow sound, or really dig your fingers underneath the strings like a slap bass player would.
Disadvantages:
1: Volume is going to take a distinct hit. If you're playing with a friend and he's playing with his nails, you're going to have to dig into those strings with your raw, virgin finger-flesh extra hard.
2: Some say that the differing angles needed to dig your fingertips into the strings as opposed to your nails cause your right hand technique to suffer. I find this is most accurate for players of classical guitar, where excellent right-hand technique is more than necessary.
So all you fingerpickers out there, trying to learn the subtle arts of making your strings quiver in vibrating joy, do not worry if you have worse cuticle care standards than a guest on the Jerry Springer show. There is another way.