What color polish are you rocking right now?

[strawrose]

My nail tech had a new SNS color.

 

[Wewechew]

My nail tech had a new SNS color.

Oh I like that! Especially with that ring

 

[strawrose]

@Wewechew thank you very much!

 

[ecf8503]

 

[Wewechew]

OPI Big Apple Red

 

[baby monster]

OPI Dreams Need Clara-fication. Lovely color with streaky and uneven formula. Last polish from the mini OPI spring 2019 set I bought couple of months ago. I've been looking forward to trying it but struggled to get it to level on the nails.

 

[KaeKae]

 

[ecf8503]

 

[doberman]

Scraped off all my gel manicure. What a pain. Revlon Coy.

 

[KaeKae]

Scraped off all my gel manicure. What a pain. Revlon Coy.

Very pretty color and nails!

The one time I removed a gel manicure myself I ruined my nails. Were you able to do it without damage?

 

[doberman]

They're a bit softer and marked up but I have no doubt they will return to normal in a reasonable amount of time. I have strong nails and take a lot of biotin. I may just decide to go back to gels. It's so nice not to have to worry about chipping and smudging. Which do you prefer, natural or gel?

 

[baby monster]

Ethereal Lacquer Midnight Machete

 

[KaeKae]

They're a bit softer and marked up but I have no doubt they will return to normal in a reasonable amount of time. I have strong nails and take a lot of biotin. I may just decide to go back to gels. It's so nice not to have to worry about chipping and smudging. Which do you prefer, natural or gel?

I prefer gel for sure. My nails peel on their own. No amount of biotin, no amount of oil or treatment fully helps anymore. Besides that, regular polish lasts a day or two. SH's Miracle Gel may last 5j-6 days, but my previous (French mani) gel manicure lasted three weeks, and except for the growth, still looked new.

 

[Dee*Jay]

So I just had something crazy happen... I haven't done my nails for weeks because of moving and there were just too many other more important things that needed to get done. This morning I was like Today's The Day! (Yes, I know, I need more excitement in my life... ) Anyway, I got all ready, whipped myself up a fresh cup of iced coffee and set out with my gel and light and all other other accoutrement that go along with my gel manis. As I was coming down the stairs I noticed that there was some awesome light coming in from the skylight -- what a perfect spot to do it; I'd be able to see really well! I set up in a lovely patch of sunshine and put on the base coat. It seemed a little weird... but I hadn't done my nails in a while so maybe it was fine and I was misremembering. Then I did the color. It was going on kind of streaky so I ended up with three coats to get good coverage. And finally, the top coat. I did the first hand and by the time I got to the second hand the brush was HARD AS A ROCK. All I could think of was that the lid must not have been on tight and the top coat was ruined. Fortunately I had another bottle because I never threw out the first bottle when this new one had come in, so I went upstairs and got that. By the time I got to the third finger, same thing -- brush was HARD AS A ROCK. WTF?!? I googled it and apparently the UV from the sunlight was curing the polish!!! I tried to use acetone to just take if off but I ended up with a weird, streaky, half-cured half gummy mess. Ugh. I didn't have it in me to start completely over (i.e., soaking, etc.) so I then tried to do a light buff with the sanding block and just slap on another coat of color and top coat (I also have the top coat from when I tried the CDN 60 minute soak-off version). That resulted in an ever bigger weird, streaky, half-cured half gummy mess. Now I'm about two hours and half a dozen coats into what was supposed to be a quick do-it-yourself mani. Through the magic of acetone and buffing I finally got to a point that I could just slap some of that textured sparkly (regular, non-gel) polish on and hope for the best. Taking all this off is going to be a BEAST. Results of my stupidity pictured above...

 

[baby monster]

Yup, sunlight cures gel polish. It depends on UV index but a very sunny day will work its magic. I also heard that even not a true UV gel top coat like SH Miracle Gel sets better in full sun.

FWIW, it looks good in the pic so you might as well get some wear out of this.

 

[Dee*Jay]

BM, I felt like SUCH a dummy when I figured out what was going on! Now it makes perfect sense, but at the time I was like. UHhhhhhh... ???!???

 

[KaeKae]

@Dee*Jay
That would have taken me by surprise, too!
But, I agree with baby monster that the mani does look good.
Maybe go to a salon and ask them to remove it for you? As I said above, trying to remove a salon gel mani myself really damaged my nails. With all those coats, I would think removal will be very difficult.

 

[Dee*Jay]

KaeKae, I've been doing my own gel manis for years and years and taking it off is not a problem for me because I will do the removal carefully and not rush it -- unlike the salons where they sometimes scrape at it. With all these layers though I think I could submerge my fingertips in some warm acetone now and it would be ready to come off some time around Memorial Day!

 

[Austina]

The little pouches that you place over your nails to remove gel polish do work well. Leave for as long as possible (after buffing nails to break the seal) then use a hoof stick to help ease the polish off. I used to get mine done professionally, but I really didn’t like all the filing to help get the polish off, now I do my own, and my nails are a lot better.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Do you mean the foil squares that have a little cotton pad that you put the acetone on? Those are what I use, but maybe you mean something else? If there's something better I'm happy to try it!

 

[doberman]

BM, I felt like SUCH a dummy when I figured out what was going on! Now it makes perfect sense, but at the time I was like. UHhhhhhh... ???!???

I wouldn't have thought of this either!

 

[ecf8503]

 

[baby monster]

Dreamland Lacquer - Tanner Than Tom Jones

 

[Maisie]

I’m learning how to do gel extensions from watching YouTube videos. It takes me ages but they look ok in the end!

 

[junebug17]

I’m learning how to do gel extensions from watching YouTube videos. It takes me ages but they look ok in the end!

Oh wow @Maisie, they look great!

 

[Wewechew]

I’m learning how to do gel extensions from watching YouTube videos. It takes me ages but they look ok in the end!

Those look amazing!!

 

[ringbling17]

I’m wearing pure white dip powder by Kiara Sky. I had my manicurist do a coffin shape this time.

 

[Maisie]

Thank you so much @junebug17 and @Wewechew

I hope I get faster. I get a numb behind sitting for that long lol!

 

[Maisie]

I’m wearing pure white dip powder by Kiara Sky. I had my manicurist do a coffin shape this time.

They look beautiful! I love Kiara Sky dip powders. I have a few colours. They are a great alternative to acrylic which stinks my house out. My autistic son freaks out at the smell of the monomer.

Here is one of my Kiara Sky attempts. (Which took hours!)

 

[ringbling17]

They look beautiful! I love Kiara Sky dip powders. I have a few colours. They are a great alternative to acrylic which stinks my house out. My autistic son freaks out at the smell of the monomer.

Here is one of my Kiara Sky attempts. (Which took hours!)

They look beautiful. I may attempt to do it myself one of these days. I have to say the Dip powders really stay on my nails forever. I literally only get my nails done every 3- 4 weeks.