The Nail Polish/Anything to Do with Nails Thread

[OrangeSlice]

Sput, what do you mean by destroy your nails? Is gel bad for nails? I've never used it.

[sputnik]

yes. it's like industrial strength polish and they have to soak your nails in acetone for like 10 minutes and scrape it off. it lasts weeks though.
i figure anything they have to bake onto your nails can't be good for you...

eta: it's not. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-sus...b_1333236.html

[witchcurlgirl]

I have a lot of sucess with Seche Vite as a topcoat for my manicure, and then a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine topcoat a few days later.

I only wear neutrals on my hands as well, and with this combo I'm good for 7 days, can stretch it to 9 which is pretty good for natural nails.

[OrangeSlice]

She lost me after the first sentence of that article:

Unlike most women, I only get manicures three or four times a year.

Really? Do most women get manicures more than that? I'm lucky to even get that. When I go full on war paint on the nails, I do it myself. I'll get a pedi in the sandal months maybe every other month and maintain them myself, but I don't every really get my fingernails done. Mainly due to the fact that I hate paying for something that'll get chipped by the end of the day. How often do you all get a professional manicure? I do think for formal events though that I might go for it (gel) just to look nice for that evening or couple of days. My nails (and hair) grow obscenely fast anyway, so if I damage them, it'll be gone in a few weeks.

[DeadDwarf]

This is kind of surprising to me, but I bought a few colors in Sally Hansen Hard as Nails nailpolish. I got them on sale for $1.50 and figured my kids might use them. I used some on my toes and since I have been pregnant and nailpolish smells made me sick, I don't think I even looked at my toes for 6 weeks. It was still on all my toes after that long. Then I put it on my 2 year old's toes, her toe polish usually lasts a day, but it's still on a week later. I bought a hot pink color in Sally Hansen xtreme wear ($2 on sale) and it's still on her fingers a week later.

I am shocked. This is with no base or top coats at all, just the Sally Hansen nail polish! Totally worth the cheap price.

[sputnik]

Really? Do most women get manicures more than that? I'm lucky to even get that. When I go full on war paint on the nails, I do it myself. I'll get a pedi in the sandal months maybe every other month and maintain them myself, but I don't every really get my fingernails done. Mainly due to the fact that I hate paying for something that'll get chipped by the end of the day. How often do you all get a professional manicure? I do think for formal events though that I might go for it (gel) just to look nice for that evening or couple of days. My nails (and hair) grow obscenely fast anyway, so if I damage them, it'll be gone in a few weeks.

it depends on where i'm living.
when i was in switzerland, a basic manicure was at least 80$ so you kind of forgot they even existed and did without.
in chile, they were cheaper and i would go about twice a month to get my hands done, once a month for feet, less in winter though.
in new york, i've found a few really good, cheap and fast places. there's one in brooklyn a block from where i live that charges 18$ for a basic mani and pedi. in midtown near my office it's more but still pretty cheap. so i go about once every 2 weeks for hands, and maybe every 3 weeks for feet. i could go and get my hands done once a week but i don't have time.

yes, i could do it myself but i love that it's 30-45 minutes that i take over a lunch hour or on the weekend on the way back from doing laundry that is just for myself. or i'll go with friends and we'll sit back and chat about mindless stuff and come out looking and feeling prettier. nothing wrong with a little pampering.

[fgg]

Really? Do most women get manicures more than that? I'm lucky to even get that.

i get a mani/pedi every 2-3 weeks without fail and have for years.

[witchcurlgirl]

I get a weekly manicure, and a pedicure every two weeks in summer, every 3 weeks in winter. But I know that 'most' women do not. I think outside of bigger cities in the US, where there aren't large amounts of nail salons it's quite expensive.

I also get lots of other things done too, so I'm not the best example of 'average' when it comes to stuff like that.

I can do my own nails, and I do on occasion. And truthfully, I do both manicures and pedicures on myself better than the pros. But I have no wraps, or gels or anything else like that on my nails though.

[Air Quotes]

I do my own mani and pedi and I think the last time I went to the salon for it was about 7 years ago. I'm a thrifty bitch.

[Laurent]

I do my own most of the time, but not very well. I'm not good at painting them, especially the nails on my right hand, and my nails are really small. I'm impressed with people who can do their own and make them look good, because I usually have to stick to neutrals on my fingers and hope the mistakes don't show. I do color on my toes, because it's easier for me to paint them.

I get a mani a few times a year and a pedi a few times during the summer. I'd get it done more if it was more convenient and cheaper. When I get a mani I usually go for color, but I can't keep it from chipping because I type a lot. I've read that you should do a top coat every other day after you get a mani to keep the color protected, but I don't because I know I'd screw it up worse and end up having to take the color completely off.

[Jezi]

I've never had a manicure or pedicure. I do my own nails, always. They're never perfect, but they're okay. I don't like people i don't know touching me (also do my own hair), and I'm extremely cheap. Plus, it's not really the norm here. I've never known anyone who had man/pedis regularly, at most maybe twice a year (if that).

[Beeyotch]

I go every 2-3 months, whenever I get bored and get hit by the whim. Definitely on special occasions birthdays/anniversaries/vacations. Every so often if I know I have a chunk of free time on the weekend, I'll get drunk put on some tunes and do my nails myself and wait hours for them to dry properly. I'm like Laurent, i don't feel like I do as good a job at painting them as the professionals but surprisingly, I get better results on my drunken attempts than my sober ones.

Right now I'm wearing highlighter yellow on my hands done by my own drunken hand this weekend and I'm really kind of loving it.

Mainly it's because my nails are nice and not broken from not doing any cooking/cleaning like I was saying upthread.

[pinkbunnyslippers]

yes. it's like industrial strength polish and they have to soak your nails in acetone for like 10 minutes and scrape it off. it lasts weeks though.
i figure anything they have to bake onto your nails can't be good for you...

eta: it's not. Dr. Susan Taylor: The Skinny on Gel Nail Polish

Gosh, I didn't know all of that went on for gel nails. I will not get that done.

[Kathie_Moffett]

I've never tried it, but it looks simple. I would go for a good quality clear polish, and very fine glitter.

Actually if you're going to make a glitter nail polish you will need a suspension base, or the glitters will all just fall right to the bottom of the bottle.

Your best bet is either to:

1. Order a bottle of suspension aka "glamour" base and some loose, very important>>solvent-resistant<very important glitters (both items can be found on Etsy, for example, or from tkbtrading.com). Mix 'em up. You can add a few drops of color from a plain nail polish if you want, just so it isn't completely sheer. Just mix to where you want it. It helps to add a couple of stainless steel BBs, which are available at hardware stores. Make sure you use stainless! And do not use just any glitter, like from Michael's or some shit like that, 'cause it will probably curl, bleed color or just melt.

or

2. You can "franken" a polish, which means you go to the drugstore, Claire's, Forever 21, or any number of stores which carry cheap glittery nail polishes. Buy a couple you like that seem compatible and mix 'em! Obviously, these commercial polishes already have suspension base in them, so you will not have problems with falling glitter. Be careful of mixing colored bases (even if they are sheer)--you probably don't want "mud" color. Like, go for mixes you know will produce something cool, like red+blue=purple or white+red=pink, stuff like that. It's often good to mix a large glitter with a small one, like Kleancolor Black Out:




and, say, Jordana blue glitter:



You can come up with some really interesting creations!

Sometimes I take a solid color polish and add a glitter polish to it. Half and half in an empty bottle--maybe add a little clear if you want it to be more jellylike and semisheer so the glitters will shine through more brightly! (Imagine, for instance, mixing that Kleancolor with a red jelly polish...)

Only caution is that if the glitter polish you use has really BIG glitters, you should be careful or you may have to add some plain suspension base to the mix. Small to tiny glitters don't need as much, especially if you've mixed 'em into a thick, creamy polish which will help "suspend" them too.

You'll notice if you get into this stuff as a hobby that most (especially cheap) polishes w/huge glitters tend to have VERY thick base, sometimes gloopy even. Helps to hold the damn glitters up but can be difficult to apply, like spreading Jello on your nails.

There're several cheap brands which are great for mixing and playing. Sinful Colors, Confetti, Wet 'N Wild/Spoiled, Sally Hansen or even Revlon--those are the best that are easy to find. Kleancolor, LA Glitters, New York Summer, Sation and a few other salon brands are cheap too and you can order them online or rummage through beauty supply places. IMHO Sally's house brand Finger Paints are a bit overpriced for what they are but they are fun to mix.

I like Essie, Orly, Opi and so on but they're a bit spendy for this kinda fun unless I get them on sale. I do know one site, transdesign.com I think is the one, where you can get Essie and Orly for about half price. Oh, IIRC that's also where Sation and another-brand-I-forget are like $1.50 a bottle. Ha.

There are some beautiful topcoat polishes that are great for mixing as well--clear with tiny, brilliant glitters. One I like is called Pearl Harbor from Sinful Colors, it's the one on the left:



I added some of that to a peachy coral polish I had and then added clear polish and a dollop of a sheer pink with holographic glitters--I was pleasantly surprised by how well it turned out. Gotta dig up a pic and post it...

Of course you can mishmash all these techniques. Start a polish with suspension base, add premade polishes as well as loose glitter...go to town! Beware though, it is addictive.

[Kathie_Moffett]

Pardon the double post, but I'm just dropping this here so that y'all can have a big moment of or maybe even .

Certainly you will want to have a stiff .

Just to show you how crazy the world of nail polish can get:

NEW Lynnderella The Annotated Heart - Limited Edition | eBay

Yes, you read that shit right. Six hundred and twenty bucks for ONE NAIL POLISH. Lynnderella stuff has sold for more than that, actually. Lynn's a graphic designer from NYC who began making her own polishes a few years ago. There is a whole huuuuge backstory and drama associated with her saga which you can all google should you wish to. It's quite entertaining....not as epic as LeAnn or Britney but funnier and even loopier imo. NAIL POLISH WARZZZ OMG. Facebook, blogs, the whole damn enchilada.

I hope Lynn is laughing all the way to the bank. Her polishes ARE pretty and original. She hasn't always presented herself well publicly but I get the sense she's probably an interesting character. And rich.