Thanks so much for your advice! This forum is so great.. Much better than YouTube videos haha! I blame "thenailteacher" for my mistakes! If you watch her video on gelish she says to use the 100/180 grit buffer and she even says "use the coarse side of the block" !!!! Not much of a nail teacher haha but thanks again!!! I will definitely stay away from the buffing and stay patient... As long as I can have my nails nicely painted in happy, and it takes away the pain and sensitivity of the weak nails
Gelish, soak off gel polish
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Thanks so much for your advice! This forum is so great.. Much better than YouTube videos haha! I blame "thenailteacher" for my mistakes! If you watch her video on gelish she says to use the 100/180 grit buffer and she even says "use the coarse side of the block" !!!! Not much of a nail teacher haha but thanks again!!! I will definitely stay away from the buffing and stay patient... As long as I can have my nails nicely painted in happy, and it takes away the pain and sensitivity of the weak nails
Rather than a buffing issue, you may have a cuticle issue. Are you getting the dead cuticle off the nail? For some this requires more work than for others. If you don't use a cuticle remover, it can help. Just don't soak your nails and do a really quick wash of your hands or use a baby wipe to remove all the remover from the nail after. Then you need to really scrub around the cuticle and sidewalls of the nail with acetone and then alcohol. This removes any cuticle debris and oil. I do not ever remember reading that anyone had problems with application because they did not buff; only that they had poor wear without buffing. Buffing would remove any remaining cuticle but it also removes a bit of nail. If it is done for each mani and you are too aggressive or use too coarse a buffer, you will find your nails getting thin and possibly painful.
You are going through what each of us has already experienced. Everyone's nails are different and you need to try different things until you find what works for you. Gelish is a good product and most of us like it. There are brands that remove easier such as Shellac and the new OPI. When you have a problem such as difficulty in removal you need to try different solutions until you find the one that solves the problem without significantly reducing wear time. I am fortunate and SOG manis last on me with no lifting and chipping only after a trauma to the nail. But if I had to choose between easy of removal and the length of time my mani lasts, I would take easy removal and just do mani's more often. You have to find what works for you.
SOGAA ..... AND glitter addiction.Who'd have thought?????? Join the club.
Should I have called it SOGGAA? SOG and GLitter addicts anonymous? LOL
Yeah, i already ordered some more magnets. I wanted the star one and a straight one. I think a chevron one would be cool too. Not a fan of the wavy one though either.
I haven't seen it yet in my local stores either. I have to still hit the natural foods store, I might find it there. None of the grocery/drugstores had it though.
Interesting. I use that type of buffer block, but wouldn't ever use a 100/180 right on my nails. I either do 240 or 320, and I really prefer the 320.
I also don't get why in her video she is using the alcohol. I mean, yeah, it's more expensive then Ph Bond, but she HAS a bottle of pH bond, so why not use what she has left?! LOL. and then when it's empty why not just put alcohol in the empty bottle and save the paper cup? I think she applied her layers awful thick too, but that's just me. I go super thin.
Thanks guys for the sandwich and color tips! I caved and went to Sally today, couldn't stand the sandwich bubbles for even a day. Redid my nails in Good Gossip which, even after 3 coats, was a bit too bright (even orange?) for my taste (but really pretty!) so I came home from work and added a thin coat of Bella's Vamp and another TIO. Looks a LOT like Butter London's Chancer, would be FAB for a winter pedicure!
I also nabbed wiggle your fingers mini to use over black shadow. I had a coupon for $10 off a $20 purchase so two minis, more acetone, and various other items only ran me $20.
I also may have Little Princesses (fullsize) on the way from ebay.
I also nabbed wiggle your fingers mini to use over black shadow. I had a coupon for $10 off a $20 purchase so two minis, more acetone, and various other items only ran me $20.
I also may have Little Princesses (fullsize) on the way from ebay.
Here's the glitter update!! Gossip Girl with 2 coats of Vegas Nights!
It's pink and glittery - what more could a girl want?!! The funny thing is I love the polish, but I live in Vegas and I hate it lol
It's pink and glittery - what more could a girl want?!! The funny thing is I love the polish, but I live in Vegas and I hate it lol
I agree with AnnAnn99, it may not be the buffing...every once in a while I will have the base coat pull away from the cuticles, this is usually due to me not washing my nails thoroughly enough. I always use a nail brush now and really scrub at the cuticles to make sure there is no residual oil (natural or otherwise) left. I also use CND Scrub Fresh to wipe the nail before applying the base coat, this just helps clean and dehydrate the nail.
I also agree with AnnAnn that you will more than likely have to experiment with what works best for your nails. In my experience Gelish base is more difficult to remove from my nails so now I use Shellac base for easier removal. I get 2-3 weeks of wear with no chipping. I think it took about 2 months of experimenting to find what works best for me so don't get discouraged, we've all been there.
I have this one and it's a beautiful color and looks fantastic over black but unfortunately it's not a dupe. It's a flakie not a multi-chrome and does not have nearly the color shift that Fantasy Fire seems to have. It's still one of my fave regular polishes though.
tohillary said:I decided to do a Valentines mani today too
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That's gorgeous! I tried my first scrub-in yesterday but it didn't work well. I didn't have the proper brush so that was probably why. I have about 10 AFC glitters on the way and I can't wait till they get here!!!
Oh Wise Gel Experts:
I have two nail problems that I was bummed to discover last night as I was neurotically staring at my nails.
I was sad to discover that one nail has a low tear from the side wall, well below the free edge. It has torn about 1/3 of the way across the nail. I am travelling and not at home so right now I have a band-aid across that nail to support it until I can get home and fix it (Monday night). Should I put a tip on this or should I put nail glue and a wrap? Any suggestions to save this nail and allow the tear to grow out?
Then I noticed that on a pinky finger nail, if you look at the free edge down towards the anil bed, like you are looking at the thickness of the nail at the free edge, the center of the free edge looks REALLY thin. I don't buff my nails but I'm betting that this thin area was caused by damage to my nail as I was learning how to remove my manis or when my gel polish peeled off damaing my nail. Any suggestions on how to address this? Use gelish structure on all my nails or just this one? What will work to support this thin area so my nail doesn't split or break?
Must....save....nails....must ...save...nails...want pretty nails...Thanks you all!!
I have two nail problems that I was bummed to discover last night as I was neurotically staring at my nails.
I was sad to discover that one nail has a low tear from the side wall, well below the free edge. It has torn about 1/3 of the way across the nail. I am travelling and not at home so right now I have a band-aid across that nail to support it until I can get home and fix it (Monday night). Should I put a tip on this or should I put nail glue and a wrap? Any suggestions to save this nail and allow the tear to grow out?
Then I noticed that on a pinky finger nail, if you look at the free edge down towards the anil bed, like you are looking at the thickness of the nail at the free edge, the center of the free edge looks REALLY thin. I don't buff my nails but I'm betting that this thin area was caused by damage to my nail as I was learning how to remove my manis or when my gel polish peeled off damaing my nail. Any suggestions on how to address this? Use gelish structure on all my nails or just this one? What will work to support this thin area so my nail doesn't split or break?
Must....save....nails....must ...save...nails...want pretty nails...Thanks you all!!
IfPigsFly said:
I have a pretty in depth section on repairs in the beginners SOG sticky. Usually a silk wrap is the best fix for those low splits if it's not to far across.
The thin spot could be anything really, but it certainly could be a rough removal. I would just keep on with the gel and careful removal and it will grow out eventually.
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I think I'm going through what I went through with the crackle phase. It looked great in the fashion mags and I bought a bunch, but on me, it just looked like I jacked up my manicure! I think magnetic polish may be a no go with me. But keep posting those swatches, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise!
jcs226 said:
ferretkingdom said:
I found mine at Walmart and I checked yesterday and my grocery store Frys/Kroger had it. Both stores had the glycerin in the same place.... Right next to the rubbing alcohol and peroxide. However, both stores only had 1 small bottle, so it was really easy to miss. I had the pharmacist at Walmart show me where it was. HTH
JoyfulJourney said:Here's the glitter update!! Gossip Girl with 2 coats of Vegas Nights!
It's pink and glittery - what more could a girl want?!! The funny thing is I love the polish, but I live in Vegas and I hate it lol
Vegas Nights will quickly become your best friend. Your mani looks great!
gelnurse said:
Her glitters are the best, you will love them. What problems were you having with your glitter yesterday?
IfPigsFly said:
ferretkingdom said:
IfPigsFly I agree with Ferret on both counts here. A silk wrap should fix your spilt, as long as it hasn't gotten any bigger by the time you can repair it. Your thin spot will grow out, If you want added strength Structure will help. If you want to just try it out first, just do it on your pinky.
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I know that Ferret has a video on how to use silk wraps, you may want to take a look at that.
However, if you don't have silk wraps, I swear by the teabag method demonstrated in this video: http://youtu.be/G0y-R_1qq7M. you can use this method for both your split and thin nail. I am currently nursing a repair on my left pinkie for 2 months now, pic below. I was filing down my nails one day and was rubbing the tip on my jeans to get rid of a little snag and the entire tip ripped off. I was like you, "must save nail! " so I repaired with a teabag. I just superglued the tip back on, glued the teabag on, shaped and buffed and did my SOG mani as usual. It holds like a dream and makes my nail super strong. That's what I really like about this method, very strong but thin enough to be virtually unnoticeable on the nail. To me this is the second greatest thing ever, right under SOG's
.With this method you will need to re-do the repair every time you soak off as the teabag and glue will dissolve in acetone but that's a minor inconvenience compared to saving your beautiful long nails, IMHO
Oh, and one tip, for your split you can probably get a away with doing just a little patch on that side instead of covering the entire nail, just big enough to extend beyond the crack about an 1/8th of an inch. I was able to grow out two nails with cracks this way.
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