Tip: Glue On Nails

I used to love getting acrylic nails. I always would wait for special occasions like Prom because its so expensive. Not to mention that acrylics completely destroy your real nails. However, now that I am out of college those occasions don’t come up and I have other things to spend money on besides getting acrylics… So I started using glue ons! If you get a good brand they can look very nice and natural. So here are some tips for making them look the best and last the longest.

TIPS

1.  Pick a nail brand that looks like it will mimic your nail bed shape. Really concentrate on the space of your nail (excluding the white tip) and compare it to the clear part of the fake nails. My nails beds are pretty long so I usually like elegantTouch or Kiss everlasting French.

Good Brand for Glue On nails



Brand I used for this post

 

2.  Size all 10 nails and lay them down a steady surface in the order of your nails.

3.  Cut all your nails as short as you can. This way you wont be able to see your real nail on the other side of the fake nail.

4.  Use a wooden cuticle stick to push down your cuticles as much as you can. Most glue on nail kits come with a cuticle stick, but if not you can get them at Target/Walgreens/etc.

5.  The most important thing to do to make fake nails stay on the longest is to use LOTS of glue. The below picture is how much I usually apply, a very thick line of glue, straight down the middle. In the pic on the right, you can see that applying glue this thick usually causes it to bubble out. So quickly swipe a paper towel straight down so the access glue goes on your finger and not the nail (it’s easy to peel of the skin and doesn’t come off the nail)

6.  After quickly swiping away access glue, hold down firmly in the center of the nail for 10 seconds. This avoids any bubbles forming under the nail in the glue.

7. After all the nails have been on for at least a minute, you can file them to get the shape and length you want. I have an iPhone that makes it impossible to text on with long nails so I usually use a clippers to cut down the thumb nails a little.

So there you go! Simple, cute, and usually lasts for about 2 weeks. Try not to pry them off to much before they're time if you can because that can tend to ruin your nail with all that glue you used!



Tip: Alternating 3 Colors

This tip is simple and maybe obvious to some, but I just did my nails this way so I thought I’d blog it. It is about alternating 3 colors on your nails. First thing to mention I guess would be color. In my opinion, the best color combos are either all warm colors (reds, pinks, oranges, yellows) or all cool colors (greens, blues, indigos, purples). Another good way to do alternating colors is shades of the same color (like lavender, purple, dark purple). For this one I used some happy spring citrus colors, i.e. grapefruit, orange, and lemon. The polishes I used from left to right in the below photo: Essie in Mod Square, China Glaze in Peachy Keen, Sinful Colors in Pull Over.

Okay, so in terms of which colors to paint which nails. The obvious way to do it would be ABCAB CABCA. However, if you do it this way your pinky and pointer finger are polish A on both hands. In my opinion that pattern looks too symmetrical and a little funny looking. I would rather have none of my left side nails matching my right. So the is the pattern I decided on is: ABCAB CBACB. My painted nails are below. I think it looks more random which is what I wanted!

Have fun and happy polishing! <3 La

Tip: Spring 2012 Colors

I know not everyone loves spending time on nail designs so I thought I’d do a Tip on colors. What better day to post about spring colors than the first day of spring! Above are the spring 2012 colors (according to Pantone) and all their fancy names. In terms of nail polish, I researched different sites and spring collections and I found these to be the most popular nail polish colors this season: Purple, Green, Hot Pink, Orange, Blue, and Nude.

Below I showed my fav nail polishes in these spring colors in three different types: Pastel, Shimmer, and Bold… have a look!

Purple

ESSIE in To Buy or Not to Buy (PASTEL)

NARS in Diamond Life (SHIMMER)

China Glaze in Gothic Lolita (BOLD)

Green

RBG in Dew (PASTEL)

ESSIE in Navigate Her (PASTEL)

China Glaze in Agro (SHIMMER)

Sephora by OPI in Totally Karma (BOLD)

Hot Pink

Nicole by OPI in Great Minds Think Alike (PASTEL)

Essie in Tour de France (SHIMMER)

Sephora by OPI in What Aura Gonna Wear (BOLD)

Orange

Essie in A Crewed Interest (PASTEL)

China Glaze in Riveting (SHIMMER)

Essie in Orange, It’s Obvious! (BOLD)

Blue

China Glaze in Kinetic Candy (PASTEL)

Sephora by OPI in Bright as a Feather (SHIMMER)

China Glaze in Shower Together (BOLD)

Nude

RGB in Vellum (PASTEL)

China Glaze in Fast Track (SHIMMER)
Sephora by OPI in Neutral Beauty (BOLD)

Tip: Pearlescent nails

I gotta say, this is the coolest top coat I have ever come across. This sparkly clear polish makes any pastel polish look like a pearl! The polish is called Diamond Strength No Chip Color in “Diamonds” by Sally Hansen. And the best part is, you don’t need a topcoat when you use it because it’s basically clear and it’s a No Chip polish.

Here I tried it out on 5 different pastel colors. I just picked some of the pastels I had in my collection. Here we’ve got an ivory, a light grey, pale pink, mint green, and lavender. Colors 1, 3, and 5 needed a coat of French white underneath to get the color I was goin’ for (otherwise they were too shear).

I really wish that I could have photographed this in the daylight because this photo really doesn’t do it justice! I mean you can’t even see how awesome the ivory looks... so much like a pearl! This topcoat really does make a polish look pearlescent, not just sparkly. But this is the best I could photograph at night J didn’t want to go all day at work with multicolored nails haha.

I decided to go for the light grey color for all my nails. The color is “Cocktail Ring” by Essie. I really loved all the colors, but I thought this one looked really unique with the Diamonds topcoat. Not quite like a silver/chrome, but still with a metallic sparkle. I couldn’t help looking at my pearly nails all day!

Tip: White makes it BRIGHT

This is the most simple and cheap tip ever. In this post, I used 3 colors from a cheapo nail polish set I got from Claire’s. The point of the tip is to make any shear polish really pop. The above photo was taken on a verrrry cloudy day and look how bright pink the polish looks!

To make bright shear polishes even brighter, all you have to do is start with one even coat of bright white nail polish. On top of that you will only need one even and light coat of your color nail polish. To the left are 2 photos of examples I did. In each photo, the left finger has 2 coats of the nail polish alone, and the right finger has 1 coat of white and 1 coat of the color.

The difference is clear (and not shear haha). The left finger in each photo you can even see the whites of my nail, which means if you get dirt under your nails you’ll still be able to see it... gross. Below is just another picture of the difference in color. 

Another pro of this tip, it doesn’t just look neon in the daytime... Because you are putting a white underneath a shear, your nails will also glow under a black light. Looks awesome at a night club ;) 

Tip: The French Tip

For my first “Tip” post I thought it would be fitting to write about everyone’s favorite nail tip- the French of course!

My secret is the Sally Hansen French Manicure pen. SIDENOTE: I feel like I have been writing a lot about SH, but they really do have so many great nail accessories ;). This pen can be great if you know how to use it!

The first tip for these perfect tips: make sure the pen is very saturated. This is important because you don’t want to have to do a second coat- that can get super messy and ruin your first coat (cue enormous frustration). To make sure the pen is saturated, press the pen down firmly on a paper towel for about 2-3 seconds. If it looks too saturated (polish is dripping off the tip) then just lightly dab (don’t wipe) the pen tip on a paper towel.

Second French tip tip: start at the corners of the nail and work towards the middle. When I do this I don’t worry about getting some polish on my skin. It comes off pretty easily and it is only on the top. My main concern is always getting a straight line that looks the closest to what my real nail underneath looks like. I usually don’t like filling in more white polish than the white of the nail. However, if I have one stubborn nail that is a little shorter, I tend to go a little lower with the polish so it looks even with the others.

Third tip: Use a nail care stick to fix your mistakes. First, the pointed end can be used for straightening your French lines like in the pic to the left. I usually do this step immediately after each nail. If you wait to long, the polish dries and then smudges or drags the polish when you try to fix your mistake. Secondly, the beveled/angled end of the stick is perfect for getting smudges on your skin, like the pic below. I usually do this after I complete one hand. If the polish is dry you can always use a Q-tip dipped in polish remover.

Finally I usually finish my French tip with a light pink. Only with one coat though because I don’t what the color to interfere with the bright white French tip. Here I used Step Right Up! by OPI. This pink actually looks less pink and more like natural nail.

Yay for less frustrating French Tips!!!