Archive for the 'Tips and Tricks' Category
I’ve been reading your comments about the glitters from the OPI Alice In Wonderland collection and see that quite a few of you have been experiencing major chipping issues. I thought I would share the results of my unintentional wear test with Mad As A Hatter.
You see I wore MAAH for NYE and because I can be extremely lazy AND I hate removing glitters (the soak off process is arduous) I ended up leaving the polish on my right (non-photographed) hand for NINE DAYS. Yes, I walked around for almost a week with a blinged out right hand and random skittles on the left. No, I really don’t care about the stares I undoubtedly received. Don’t judge!
Anywhoodle, when I finally went to remove MAAH, I thought I should document how well it lasted on me. Which is why your comments about chipping are so surprising. I used one coat of Nubar Foundation Base Coat, 3 layers of MAAH and 2 coats of Olan Labs Quick & Slick Top Coat. Now I did get a chip on my left thumb on NYE but that was a Wii related accident. You have to admit, for nine days, the polish looks pretty good.
That makes me curious… those of you that have experienced chipping and poor wear from your Alice in Wonderland glitters, what products are you using and how many layers of each? Remember, the thicker the coats and the more coats you use, the more prone you are to chipping. So my first suggestion, not knowing your technique, is to apply thin coats of everything and see if that helps.
Has opening a bottle of nail polish ever made you feel like the weakest person on the planet? Have you struggled with a stuck-on cap that’s even more air-tight than a jar of pickles? I know I have! This morning in fact. It’s like they’re sealed by body builders or something.
While OPI seems to be the worst in terms of new bottles, I want to kick myself when a bottle cap is stuck due to my own laziness. I don’t always take the time to clean excess polish from the rim of my bottles and when that stuff dries, it’s like glue!
Sure you can get all muscleman on the bottle but if you’re too rough, it can break. I don’t know what’s worse, staring at the lacquer you can’t apply in a stuck bottle or a broken mess of spilled polish on the floor. So what’s the trick?
1. If it’s simply that the bottle cap is too slippery for you to grip, try wrapping a rubber band around the neck or using a rubberized jar opener (pictured above) but don’t force it.
2. Dip the bottle in hot water for a couple minutes. The heat from the water will liquefy the dried polish so you can easily unscrew the cap. Just don’t submerge the bottle. Extreme heat can ruin the formula plus you can lose the label if that gets wet. Oh and don’t forget to clean up the excess polish from the rim.
 Even though I get excited when fall comes and I break out my favorite deep, dark polishes, there’s always one caveat to wearing them… staining. Whether it’s during application or removal we’ve all experienced the irritation of polish stains on the skin. If you’ve ever worn a deep blue, you KNOW what I’m talking about. OPI DS Fantasy, I’m looking at you! Smurf hands aren’t cute except maybe on Halloween and even then blue skin isn’t exactly the hotness.
So one of my missions while backstage during New York Fashion Week was to get some tips from the pros working behind the scenes. I’ve combined their best advice with a couple of my own ideas and a quick tutorial video to help you wear your vampies with ease. |
Click here to view more pictures and read the rest of this story.
 I’ve told you about my DDS (Danny Devito Syndrome) in the past and it reared its ugly head just before my trip to Vegas. You see, my thumb nail split and peeled which fed into my tendency to pick at things. So of course I peeled back the split layer and made things worse. Even with a ridge filling base coat I could see the unevenness in my thumb nail. Not to mention the fact that one wrong move would have just torn that piece off. That’s when Orly Nail Rescue came into my life.
I met with a rep from Orly at Cosmoprof and we were discussing treatment products. She told me of her love for Tough Cookie (I’ll be testing it soon) and I told her about my nail issue. She immediately grabbed for a Nail Rescue kit, saying it would literally save my nail. Considering that I get these kinds of splits often, I figured it was worth a shot. See the results, after the jump! |
 As you can see in the “before” pic (left), the tear was pretty big and left me with a flimsy piece of nail that was barely hanging on. I know a lot of people use nail glue and patches or pieces of tea bag to fix breaks but Orly Nail Rescue seems much simpler to me.
It’s an easy 3 step system that left my nail with a flawless surface. Included in the kit is a bottle of Nail Glue, Nail Repair Powder and a Buffer. As demonstrated in the image below you just Brush, Dip and Smooth! |
Step 1: Clean the nail bed and brush the nail glue over the entire nail, avoiding cuticles. Tip - If you are fixing an uneven area, like I did, you’ll want to repeat this process using the glue on the lower section ONLY to even the nail surface.
Step 2: Immediately dip your nail into the Nail Repair Powder.
Make sure you brush off the excess powder.
Step 3: Buff the nail surface smooth. This was my first attempt and I did repeat the steps to even out the broken layer. As you can see, it’s not a beautiful look but it’s smooth, even and ready for polish while you grow out the breakage.
You can’t even tell my nail is broken!
Removal: Soaking in acetone will remove the hardened powder which means you MUST use a non-acetone remover when taking off your polish.
Orly’s Nail Rescue Kit is available online at OrlyBeauty.com ($9) or Head2ToeBeauty.com ($4.95) and in stores at Sally Beauty Supply ($6.99).
What’s your favorite method for repairing broken nails? Have you tried Nail Rescue? Share!
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