Sunday, August 12, 2012

Nail Polish tips

By my friend Dana. But first, speaking of Dana, this was a pleasant surprise which turned out on Face book. I have started to teach myself to knit. My first hapless victim was my friend Dana, who recieved a pair of rose pink socks for her 30th birthday. Now rose pink because the only 4 ply wool I can get at Spotlight is all baby wool. I'm teaching myself to knit fairisle soon, you know, patterns, and I'm going to start with socks.... which will all be baby colours. But beggars can't be choosers and I can't afford to go on the net and spend $16  on a ball of merino of my choice, so baby colours it is.

And on another Dana note: a while ago I was having problems trying to do a french manicure in practice for my wedding. I went and got some $2 stuff but it only lasted a day! So I emailed Dana, a bit of an expert in nail polish and asked her if I should just splash out and spend the $30 on the proper stuff.
Well I followed her tips and the same nail polish lasted about 3 days, including washing dishes and stuff. So here was her reply...


I find the $2 shop ones are a bit hit-and-miss. Some of them are perfectly fine, others don't seem very good quality. Then there are some expensive ones which are total rubbish and you are just paying for a label! White varnish is notoriously bad for chipping, regardless of the brand. Did you do a clear bottom coat as well? That helps, and sometimes I keeping adding another top coat every day. And any manicure, no matter how good quality, only looks good for about 3 days on me because I do so much with my hands and I never bother to wear gloves when washing dishes or in the garden. You will probably be the same!

The most important thing is to prep, exactly the same as when you are prepping to paint anything else. Make sure there's no grease or moisturiser on your hands and you can even buff the surface of your nails ever so slightly with a fine emery board to provide a key for the varnish. Don't paint it on too thick, two thin coats is plenty.
Give it another go and if you're still not having any luck it could pay to invest in some better quality stuff. It will last aaaaages. $30 sounds quite steep though. Is that the Manicare set?

If you ever get a chance to have a 'Shellac Manicure' done for cheap (or free!) you must try it! It's about $50 so definitely only a special occasion thing. I got a cheap deal before I went overseas and I just loved it. It's special nail polish that they dry under a UV light and it goes rock hard. It never chips or wears off, and you only remove it about 2-3 weeks later when your nails have grown out and it starts looking weird



No comments: