Red Carpet Manicure

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

Got my two colors today, The Night Is Young and The Winner Is. Love both the colors. I think I'll be trying one of those out tomorrow since I am so curious about the possible shrinkage.
 
Did my first Red Carpet mani with The Night Is Young today using Gelish base and TIO;) I didn't have any shrinkage problems ( or any other problems at all.) Looks great, love the color.
 
I've read on here that it works well in other threads! LED lights are so much better than UV since they are quicker! I use the Harmony one.

ITA...I just got a used Harmony off Ebay and am so glad I got it. It was just taking me forever to do my nails with the UV. I like dark colors so it takes longer for that. I do three coats then I usually do a shimmer/glitter coat of some sort. The time was really adding up...
 
ITA...I just got a used Harmony off Ebay and am so glad I got it. It was just taking me forever to do my nails with the UV. I like dark colors so it takes longer for that. I do three coats then I usually do a shimmer/glitter coat of some sort. The time was really adding up...

I know isn't the time difference great!!! It's definitely worth the money that we spent on it!!! HAHA It's like a night and day difference!
 
Lint-free pad? I'm getting ready to do my first RCM! I've got everything I need, except I'm not sure what I should use to apply the finishing step. Will a regular tissue work? What about a micro-fiber washcloth I got from Dollar Tree? Your advice is greatly appreciated!!!
 
Lint-free pad? I'm getting ready to do my first RCM! I've got everything I need, except I'm not sure what I should use to apply the finishing step. Will a regular tissue work? What about a micro-fiber washcloth I got from Dollar Tree? Your advice is greatly appreciated!!!


Sally's (and other beauty supply stores) has lint-free wipes. They are little squares of fabric/paper that are the size of a cotton square. Tissues will NOT work, as they will stick to the sticky layer and leave pieces behind. I would not use a cloth either. A make-up sponge would be the next best thing if you can't find lint-free wipes.
 
I just use the flat cotton rounds (not cotton balls). Super cheap and they work just fine! :)

Lint-free pad? I'm getting ready to do my first RCM! I've got everything I need, except I'm not sure what I should use to apply the finishing step. Will a regular tissue work? What about a micro-fiber washcloth I got from Dollar Tree? Your advice is greatly appreciated!!!
 
Does anyone know how the UV lamp and LED lamp compare safety wise? I currently have a UV lamp and use sunscreen everytime I am doing my nails, but I was wondering if the LED light was any safer? Thanks for your help!!

If you do some research, they say the amount of exposure you get from the Fluorescent tunnel lamps is minimal. LED lights still emit UV light, but they cure faster, so the exposure time would be less. I don't know that they are any safer though, as there's still UV exposure.

I think it's something you just need to decide if the benefit of SOG outweighs the risks of UV exposure, and if an LED will really offer you significantly less exposure to justify the cost.

Lint-free pad? I'm getting ready to do my first RCM! I've got everything I need, except I'm not sure what I should use to apply the finishing step. Will a regular tissue work? What about a micro-fiber washcloth I got from Dollar Tree? Your advice is greatly appreciated!!!

I use cotton balls or a paper towel to do the alcohol wipe at the end.
 
I just did my first RCM and it looks pretty nice. It seemed like it took forever, though. I can tell this is not something I will be able to do at night while I drink a glass of wine.lol I'm glad I chose a neutral color to reduce my frustration and perhaps make any mistakes less noticeable. I chose Simply Stunning as my color. It reminds me of a light mushroom color with a slight sparkle. After I did finished, I noticed that the ends of my middle fingers didn't look as well covered as the rest of my fingers, so I went back and applied one more coat of color and cured then another coat of the top coat and cured. We'll see what happens. Oh, and you'll love this. After all that work, my husband said, "Looks nice. Is that the base coat?" (loud screaming!)

Questions to those of you who are more adept and coordinated than I am (which is everyone here lol). This is a long time for me to NOT bump my nails against anything. If I smudge, is there a technique I can use to fix the smudge without completely starting over? Also, I did seal the tips of my fingers as instructed, but like I said, it appeared that the polish was thinner of the top part of my nail. Any tips to make sure the coverage is better at the tip of the nail?

THANK YOU in advance!
 
Top