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Looking to stop biting your nails? Grow them out? Do you have weak nails that split and peel? Just want to know the best way to take care of your nails? Want to know how to do salon quality (and better) nail art? Want to know what's trendy in the polish world or what's a good present to get someone? Interested in mixing custom polish creations? Just want to watch hundreds of us talk about how our collection threatens to take over our houses? All this can be yours and more for a Basic nail care tips: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...0#post403455548 FAQs: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...0#post403455554 Goon Nail Blogs!: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...4#post403455561 Links to Shops & suppliers: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...0#post403455558 (In Progress!) Previously, on 'Nail Care Thread': http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3379962 (These are just a *random assortment* of nails in the last thread arranged in terms of technique. This list, while long, is nowhere near comprehensive nor is it meant to be the best of the best. It's meant to focus on techniques & give a few examples of the wide variety of nail art out there. Many, many things are missing from this (notably glitters and other manicures that don't involve extensive techniques) and many awesome posters are likely missing. I'm sorry! PLEASE feel free to post any and all nail art (or anything related) in this thread.)  (Fish Biscuit) (Konad stamping) (Midnight Sun) (stamping, elegant, geometric) (Crabsurd) (stamping, subtle & elegant) (Midnight Sun) (china pattern stamping) (Midnight Sun) (gradient, stamping) (Melicious) (honeycomb, stamping) (better than mama) (stamping, Wonderwoman nails) (NotMordecai) (Fish scales) (Midnight Sun) (fish scales) (Prof.Snugglesworth) (Upscale 'Space Hooker' nails) (jomiel) (galaxy nails, sponging) (Lannie) (basic french) (liwet Ruffian manicure) (Amber Sweet V-Day Ruffian) (liwet) (Reverse french) (Onashae) (Mini mouse french) (Tulip Candy) (funky french) (killerwhat) (french with pet) (kittentits) (Tuxedo french) (Sparrow) (spats!) (Ruggedor) (zig zags, tape mani) (elbow) (tape mani, geometric, work appropriate) (hereyoume) (tape mani) (cool kids inc) (tape/patchwork mani) (Fru Fru) (tape shapes) (ananci) (tape mani, sunburst) (Melicious) (lightning bolt, tape mani) (Humanoid Female) (half/half geometric) (polarbear_terrorist) (checkers, tape mani) (Fru Fru) (striping tape mani, Targaryan colors) (adventure in the sandbox) (leopard spots) (Amber Sweet) (gradient + leopard) (Midnight Sun) (rainbow + tiger) (somebeachsomewhere) (gradient freehand) (Tulip Candy) (gradient sponge) (NatashaQuick) (glitter gradient) (Norse Code) (glitter gradient) (Bat Country) (freehand) (Tulip Candy) (freehand, mario) (Slicer Dicer) (freehand, nail art with rhinestones) (Pulled Pork Taco) (crackle polish) (Tatiana) (snake skin 'crackle' effect) (Peach) (black crackle/shatter) (Ruggedor) (splatter mani) (Hellacopter) (magnetic polish) (NatashaQuick) (monarch butterfly) (megathrust) (flakie) (Tshirt Ninja) (flakie topcoat) (Norse Code) (Lippmann polish) (liwet) (layered glitter) (Robo Olga) (peacock) (Amber Sweet, ooze) (RheaConfused) (Halloween) (Ruggedor) (holographic) (Olive Bar) (funky french manicure with holo nail polish) (Hellacopter) (holo) (Melicious) (newsprint crossword nails) (Lanthanum) (water marbling) (Berry Blood) (water marbling) (Pilot to Gunner) (water marbling) (Fire in the Disco) (Sally Hansen nail decals) (amishsexpot) (Sally Hansen nail decals) (boner_city) (ncLA decals)Do It Yourself Polishes (Frankens) & related  (jomiel) (holographic polish with spectraflair franken) (jomiel) (duochrome/color morphing powders frankens) Fish Biscuit swatches three of Rufus en Fuego's custom polishes (hereyoume swatches Rufus en Fuego's custom polish - ATU Lippman clone) Prof Snuggleworth's custom navy holographic polish Prof. Snuggleworth's Ice Cream Parlour polish  Fight Club's custom nail stamps!
Noricae fucked around with this message at Apr 8, 2013 around 05:25 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 05:27 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 07:19 |
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Basic Nail Care: Reducing Nail Length: There are three basic ways to shorten your nails: cutting with clippers, cutting with nail scissors or filing your nails. The consensus about nail cutting generally is: don't! Use a nail file, or series of nail files, instead. Unless your nails are very thick (most applicable to your toenails) using clippers or scissors damages the edge significantly and leaves rough edges that should be filed down anyway. If you choose to cut your nails, don't do it when the nail is wet. When nails become wet they swell, become very flexible and weak - flexible like wet paper, not rubbery and resilient. These can cause peeling and breakage, especially starting near nail edges, over time. Nails should be two hours dry before you clip, cut, or file them, or do anything else to them (polish). Filing: All filing should be done on dry nails and in a unidirectional manner - from the side of the nail in toward the center, for optimal nail strength. Filing with polish ON is a good idea for very weak nails. Filing technique demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RrfWakB-lI Avoid filing the sides of your nails since this weakens them. There are three types of nail files that can be used to smooth, even, shape or reduce the length of nails: metal files, paper backed files of various sorts (akin to sandpaper), and glass files. Metal files are the cheapest, longest lasting and by far the roughest and worst for your nails. Paper files come in many grades, just like sandpaper, and you should probably own a rough one (for reducing length), a medium one (for shaping nails), and a couple of fine grade ones (for reducing edge roughness). Lastly, glass files are very gentle, last for a long time (a few brands are not true glass files - Revlon's, Ulta's - and should be avoided because they wear out in a few uses) and tend to give good results unless your nails are very thick. They can however break, and there is only one grade available in most glass file brands so people with thicker nails can find them too slow for sole use. File your nails into various nail shapes:  Some shapes actually last longer on various people (depending on nail hardness & use of the nail), but mostly this is aesthetic.Conditioning skin & cuticles: The skin on your hands gets an incredible amount of wear on it and tends to be the driest skin on your body. Dryness affects resilience and health, and using a moisturizer on your hands daily is generally a good idea. The skin around your nails, especially the top of the nail - the cuticle area - affects the health of your nail, since the nail bed at the very top is alive. If you use nail polish this is doubly important, since polish removers dry out the skin around your nail. Moisturizers around your nail, on your cuticle, and even *under* your nails affects nail flexibility, peeling, whether or not you get hangnails and general finger health. This is a fairly important part of nail care; consider buying a good hand moisturizer and/or a specialized cuticle cream (such as Lush's Lemony Flutter - or make your own!) and use it at least once a day, if not more. Nail Health: Diet and genetics play a large part in nail health - but not as much as actually taking regular, good care of them! Your nails however are windows into your general health, and where vitamin deficiencies, anemia, and other health issues crop up first. A wavy nail might indicate a vitamin deficiency or an injury for example. Getting regular sleep, eating balanced meals, possibly taking vitamin supplements if you have an erratic eating schedule and drinking enough liquids affect your nail health too. There is one specific supplement that will affect nail health and length more than anything else: biotin (Vitamin B7). Biotin has been shown to dramatically increase nail length and thickness, and also affects hair growth and quality - but some people find that it also affects facial hair growth!  There are also several categories of 'nail strengtheners' that will help improve the quality of your nail, especially if you have weak, peeling nails, but less so if you have thick and brittle nails. Some of these strengtheners contain components that physically cross link keratin in your nail ('formaldehyde' - a.k.a. formalin* based ones), some only overlay a matrix of additional protein on the nail, and some contain Fluoride or Dimethyl Urea to strengthen the nail. A great rundown on strengtheners and how they behave can be found at Loodie Loodie's blog: http://loodieloodieloodie.blogspot....ers-1-of-7.html (You CAN over-harden a weak and peeling nail, especially with strengtheners that contain formaldehyde, so ymmv). *Please see the Q&A on 3-Free for a bit about formalin/formaldehyde. Polishing: Applying nail polish takes practice, and your technique affects the life of your manicure. You can achieve salon quality results over time however, so do not give up! There are a few things that you can keep in mind that will help right away, however: Polishing should be done on dry, oil free (swipe with remover or alcohol) nails that have smooth edges, ideally with cuticles that are pushed back a bit. Here is a technique that helps apply polish more easily (and avoid spilling them into your cuticles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q53GuwSajE8 Some brands of nail polish are shoddy, and they will spill everywhere, leave brush marks, streak, stain - so manicures are also dependent on having a decent formula in the polish. Consider "wrapping" or painting the edges of your fingernails when you apply polish. That is, paint over the free edge and swipe the brush sideways, getting a bit of the polish on the underside. Doing this with base coats, all polish layers, and your top coat (if any) increases the lifespan of your manicure and helps avoid chipping. Some (most quick drying) top coats do much, much better when your tips are wrapped, since they contain cellulose acetate butyrate, which dries to a hard finish and can sometimes 'pull' or shrink the layers under the top coat that do not have this ingredient. ALWAYS consider using a base coat, or at least a clear coat under your polish. It helps extend polish life, adhere it to your nail better, but more importantly some polish stains your nails! Not all base coats are created equally in this regard. The two main options you have for base coats are: sticky ones (dry matte, and are sticky due to rubberized formulas, such as Orly Bonder, CND Stickey, China Glaze Adhesion) and normal ones (nail treatments, such as OPI Nail Envy, Nailtek Foundation II, Nailtiques, Gelous often double as base coats ). Everyone has a preference and a brand that works best for them. A note about base coats: the Seche brand, while having a great top coat, tends to have fairly shoddy base coat formulas. The #1 secret to getting perfect looking nails is to use a small liner brush, or an eyeshadow brush in 100% acetone and swiping it around your cuticle and any skin that has polish on it right after you apply polish. Consider applying polish with your left hand (so right pinky to forefinger first) and then your right hand, with your thumbs last (you can wipe off smudges with thumbnails). Don't use polish because it takes so long? There are quick dry top coats that are a godsend for most of us: Seche Vite is the gold standard for this and the one you should try first. Most of us use a quick drying top coat and they harden polish in 1-2 minutes, with full, rock-hard cures in 30minutes-1hour. The above brand, while it dries super fast and to a rock hard glossy finish, does contain toluene, while most other quick dry top coats don't, so that is the one caveat! Other good options for brands to try are: Poshe, Out the Door, Sally Hansen Insta-dri, Essie Good to Go, Nubar Diamont, China Glaze Fast Forward. The alternative to fast dry top coats are "drying drops" such as OPI dry drops, which are thin liquids that apply using a dropper to your polished nails and then let them drop off. They can be messy, a bit slower, but work differently (they contain silicone and a plasticizer) and can be a good option for people that have issues with fast dry top coats - or you can use both! Removal should be done with polish remover (a lot of us like 100% acetone, or preferably acetone+glycerine - check out the homemade Zoya Remove+ clone that is acetone+glycerine here: http://loodieloodieloodie.blogspot....-plus-video.htm) and never scraped off. Apply some to a pad or cotton ball, place it on your nail for 15-30 seconds and then swipe *down* your nail to remove the color. That way you don't end up with bright blue fingers all day. For cremes or thinner polishes non-acetone removers are fine, but since they require longer contact with your nail and fingers they can actually be more drying and damaging than acetone or acetone based removers. For glitters, check out the 'foil removal method': http://berrypolished.com/removing-g...he-foil-method/ A Word on Nail Salons If you want manicured nails, learning to do your own nails not only saves you money (although you wouldn't know it from the collections posted in this thread) but can also be safer. The quality of nail salons varies quite a bit, and if you choose to go to a nail salon please make sure it is a clean one that sterilizes their tools, does not cut cuticles or skin, uses disposable tools where appropriate, lets you bring your own polishes and ideally knows more about nails than you do. Practice and get good at doing your nails yourself, and you can save yourself from infection and from spending money on a manicure that will chip in a week. Speaking of salons, even the best salon can make mistakes, and even perfectly applied manicures can lead to trouble, especially in the case of acrylic nails or non 'soak-off' gel nails. These types of nail coatings or false applications use harsh glues to adhere acrylic to your nails, require sanding and buffing of your nail before application (weakening them), require sanding off to remove the nail, require 'fills' to maintain - where your nail growth near your cuticle needs to be maintained, and worst of all: when they get wet, over time, they can lift at the edges and breed fungus or bacteria under them. Most nail salons do have strains of fungus floating around, not because of unhygienic procedures but because customers with acrylics and permanent nails grow them under their nails and bring them in to share regularly. The 'soak off' UV gel nail systems, like CND's Shellac and Harmony's Gelish, are a different matter. They can be removed with acetone (at home even), are made of different materials and seem to be safer for your nail and skin health. You can also do these at home, if you purchase an appropriate UV light (or newer systems that use LED lights preferably) for home use. Noricae fucked around with this message at May 9, 2012 around 12:25 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 05:27 |
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FAQs: Q) My nails are really dry and skin looks terrible since I've started polishing my nails regularly. How do I fix it?! A) Acetone is very drying - try using a remover with glycerin in it (Zoya Remove+ or the do it yourself version, for example), then moisturizing. Remove moisturizer before your next manicure or it will not last very long! Use a cuticle oil regularly to keep the skin moist and to avoid hang nails. Q) My nails are splitting, are weak, are dry and brittle and break easily, and it's happening more since I've used nail polish! A) Consider nail treatments, either formaldehyde resin based or protein based, if your nails are weak. Consider nail maintainers/moisturizers if your nails are thick, dry and very brittle. See http://loodieloodieloodie.blogspot....ers-1-of-7.html for a great blog series on nail hardeners. Also using a file for your nails, instead of clipping or scissors helps nail edges not flake. You can overdo nail treatment usage, if the treatment contains formaldehyde! Take a break from them if your nail feels hard so they do not become too rigid and snap from any strain that gets put on them. Q) My nails are much better not, but I suddenly got a big peel on the edge of a nail or a part of a nail broke. Other then filing/cutting my nail down to the broken edge, is there anything I can do to fix it? A) The best thing for your nail health/strength is to file down the nail to where it peeled or broke. Unfortunately this probably means filing all your nails down to match if uneven lengths bother you. There are a few other options however: buff the peeled area, use a repair kit, or invest in a UV soak-off gel system to make a gel 'fill' to strengthen the nail. The simplest is to file or buff down the peeled edge and polish over it, letting the polish strength the nail where it peeled. Your polish will definitely chip easily over the part of the nail that is missing or uneven, but for minor peels (not breaks) this might be a good option. There are nail 'repair kits' (such as Orly nail repair) that involve painting a nail glue on your nail where it's peeled or broken, dipping the nail into an acrylic powder, letting that dry and buffing it down so it's smooth. This may work for some people, but I have not tried it. The powder is removed with acetone so you will have to use non-acetone polish removers for the most part. You can also consider buying some silk nail wraps to strengthen the torn nail, or use teabags for a similar wrapping effect to save a torn nail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0y-R_1qq7M ! The most elaborate solution is to invest in a UV light box specifically for soak-off nail gel systems (such as seen here and apply shellac/hard gel onto your broken or peeling nail. If you are considering trying out a gel system anyway, or are interested in UV curing top coats (which can be put right on top of normal polish to protect them), this may be a good way to protect your nails. Q) What about those do it yourself gel systems? Are all 'gels' the same? Is it safe? The term 'gel' is used differently in salons and among the do it yourself manicure community. Sometimes 'gel' is used to refer to specific types of _acrylic_ nail systems in various salons and not the soak-off gel type of polish. If you are getting gel nails done in a salon, always inquire first and ask them whether it's soak-off gel polish or another system. Both types last quite a while - 10days to two weeks for the soak-off gels is a commonly reported duration, but acrylic-gel systems do not easily soak off with acetone, and can require filing them off, so they are more permanent (and possibly damaging to your nail) nail solution. The home-gel systems such as Shellac and Gelish are nail polishes that you apply either onto the associated base coat from one of the above systems, or sometimes just as a top coat. They're entirely removable by soaking in acetone for a while, with some brands more easily removed than others - Shellac is apparently softer and easier to remove than Gelish, for example. It's a matter of preference as to what to use. If you want a hard protective top coat, or a top coat to practice stamping on - where you can just swipe off mistakes with acetone, Gelish is better. If you want something that comes off more easily, Shellac seems to be better. The above two systems (I believe there are a few others as well) require either a UV curing lamp of the right wattage, or an LED curing lamp specifically made for curing gel polish. Some people have used other UV lamps to cure their gel polish (reptile bulbs, etc), but ymmv. Is it safe? The average UV lamp uses 4x 9 watt bulbs, so 36 watts. In comparison, a home tanning bed uses between 12-28x 100 watt bulbs, so 1200-2800 watts, while a salon tanning bed uses between 24-60x 100 or even 200 watt bulbs, so between 2400-12000 watts. This makes a home UV gel nail curing lamp much safer to use, especially considering that it only needs to be used minutes at a time. Q) I bite my nails! How do I stop? A) The easiest way to remind yourself to stop biting your nails (or to prevent them altogether due to your nail being so thick) is to cover them with polish. Textured polishes, polishes that dry to a hard glossy and thick finish, and taking care of your nails so you don't have ragged edges or hanging cuticles will go a LONG way toward preventing nail biting. Q) No matter what brand it is, polish never lasts on my nails and chips or lifts off in sheets within a day or two. How do I change this? A) File, buff and trim your nails. Make sure your nails are oil free (swipe with acetone).Use a good base coat (try the 'sticky' brands on your nail - e.g. CND Stickey, Orly Bonder, China Glaze Adhesion coat), a nail treatment, or simply a good clear polish as a base coat under your nails. Use a good top coat(see below) and wrap base coat, polish, and top coat around the edge of your nails. Do not polish when your nails are wet (2 hours after a shower or more) and do not take a shower right after you polish your nails. The polish will not make a good bond with wet nails or any nails that are swollen from previously having been wet. A shower right after polishing your nails will similarly make your nails swell and possibly result in entire nails lifting off in sheets if the layers are thick and wet enough. Q) Is a base coat really necessary to use? A) Nope, it's not necessary, but it does help prolong the life of a manicure and helps avoid permanent staining of your nails in some cases. If you choose to not use a base coat (or even a clear or light polish under your normal color) test out whether the polish you want to use stains your fingers. A quick application on your pinky and removal after a minute or two usually will let you know if a polish stains. Q) I'd love to polish my nails but I don't have three hours to spend on it every few days. Polish takes forever to dry! Help! A) Use a fast dry top coat. These dry in one to two MINUTES (unless you glopped on a ton of polish under and it's still very wet) and usually form a rock hard, shiny finish. They should be applied when the polish is still tacky, but not right away when the polish is wet. Popular brands are: Seche Vite fast dry top coat (very well known, only one that contains toluene and sometimes can shrink polish), Poshe, Out the Door, Sally Hansen Insta-dry anti-chip, Nubar Diamont (new bottles where they went back to the old formula), Essie Fast Good to Go, etc). You can also try "drying drops" (SH, Nailtek, others) instead or together with a good glossy top coat. These are dropped onto polish and dripped off your nail. A sidenote about quick dry top coats: less is not more with them! Apply a big glob, cover your nail, and wrap it down your nail edge. Applying very little can drag the polish under it, leave brush marks, not dry as fast (oddly) and chip faster. Q) Ok, I tried Seche Vite and a third of the way down the bottle it started getting goopy, applies too thick and is basically useless. Is there a way to fix it? A) This is the other big problem with Seche Vite - it evaporates much more than other quick dry top coats, possibly because it has toluene and possibly because it dries on the nail that much faster. You can use nail polish thinner to thin it out, or ideally thin it with a few drops every other time you use it as a top coat. You can also buy 'Seche Restore' which is specifically formulated to restore Seche Vite and which contains toluene and the right ratios of ethyl & butyl acetates. My experience with this has been: yes the lack of toluene is noticable. After thinning a bottle with regular (Sally's) nail polish thinner I would get a lot more chipping on my nails (within a day or two) than with a new bottle of Seche Vite. Alternatively, you can use another brand of top coat which is slower, less glossy, but evaporates far less (or reserve Seche Vite use for when you have very little time). Q) I used a quick dry top coat and it made my nail polish look terrible. It looks like the polish shrank around the edges or cuticle?! A) Some nail polishes react badly to quick dry top coats, especially those that contain cellulose acetate butyrate. The slower the bottom layer dries, the more likely a quick dry top coat will pull at the bottom and drag it off from the edges. Seche Vite is reported to do this most often, possibly because it is the fastest drying or because it contains toluene (which most polishes these days do not, since most are 3-Free). Let your polish dry a bit (3-4 minutes) and wrap your nail edges to lessen the amount this happens. Some people find that some brands will shrink regardless - notably Zoya, and they need to use a different top coat. Q) 3-Free? What? A) Toluene, Dibutyl phthalate, and Formaldehyde (actually Formalin) are the "3 big chemicals" that have for the most part been phased out of most nail polishes (but not nail treatments or some top coats) since the late '00s. DBP is the most significant of these and one you want to avoid; it is a plasticizer that disrupts endocrine (hormone) functions. It is found in very few things these days, however. More info Formaldehyde is a gas, and as such is not found in liquids such as nail polish. The chemical labeled 'formaldehyde' is actually formalin or methylene glycol and it is fairly safe. Formaldehyde resin is a different matter entirely, and is safe (or at least safer, except for people allergic to it) and is found in most 3-Free polishes. The reason I say 'fairly safe' is because formalin, over time, does release small amounts of formaldehyde, the gas, which is a human carcinogen, since these two chemicals exist in a reversible reaction with each other. An awesome article from a chemist on this: http://www.labmuffin.com/2012/03/bi...rmaldehyde.html Toluene is a central nervous system depressant and carcinogen, and when inhaled in large quantities (much larger than in nail polish) can accumulate in your liver and kidneys. It evaporates very fast however, and inhalation is the main danger when using polishes with toluene in them. So, a well ventilated area helps if you are using polishes with Toluene in them (Seche Vite). More info: http://www.labmuffin.com/2012/03/big-3-toluene.html In addition, some products are labeled 4-Free or 5-Free. The '4' refers to camphor, which is present in a wide variety of cosmetics and cold medicines. In nail polish camphor is a plasticizer (so, takes the place of DBP functionally) that accumulates in the liver, especially if ingested or used on the skin, and is also a lung irritant (which is why Vick's vapor rub works). It has *not* been found to be a mutagen or carcinogen in in vitro nor animal studies, so is safe for pregnant women. As a side note, it has also not been found to have any medicinal benefit except as an embalming agent (so, skin uses only) and decongestant. So, pretty much: don't drink your nail polish  The '5' refers to Formaldehyde Resin, which is fairly frequently used in polishes as a hardener and is a reaction between formaldehyde (a gas) and toluenesulfonamide. It is fairly inert, is not listed as a carcinogen nor does it exist in a reversible reaction with anything that can be a carcinogen. It does however usually trigger allergies for people who are allergic to formaldehyde AND can even cause some people, rarely, to develop allergies (swollen cuticles, skin) to it even if they did not have an allergy to formaldehyde before. A list of brands broken down by ingredient/safety type: http://alicenoir.wordpress.com/2011...ee-nail-polish/ This list is OK but it is not perfect, and different polishes within a brand might have different formulas (most notably glitters vs non glitters tend to differ). One thing to keep in mind is that some companies are relabeling formaldehyde resin as tosylamide resin, which is the more chemically specific term for the resin used (as formaldehyde resin is a class of different compounds and not just one). So do check for 'tosylamide resin', 'ethyl tosylamide' or tosylamide epoxy' as possible terms that might be substituted in for formaldehyde resin if this ingredient is a concern. Q) I love holographic polishes but a lot of them are patchy, drag, and apply TERRIBLY. What can I do to improve application? A) Use a 'holographic aqua base' specifically made for holo polishes, layer them over a base color or less holographic polish of the same color, or (cheapest yet) buy "nail foil glue" which is virtually the same as "holographic aqua base." Not all holographic polishes are created equally. The ones that are super duper shiny have a large amount of finer grade metal pigments (holographic pigment is unique in that it is a composition of magnesium fluoride and aluminum) instead of micas or lake dyes. These highly shiny ones will be a lot harder to apply, react differently than normal polishes and dry to very flat, thin metal films. If you don't have any of the above, you CAN still apply these goopier holos: overload the brush with polish, do not wipe any of it off, apply polish in one swipe (do not go over the same patch twice) and do not let the brush touch your nail. Sort of 'glide' it on. Let it dry VERY well before doing another layer. Q) This neon polish sucks! It's streaky, sheer and dries matte. Now what? A) Unfortunately neon dyes dry matte and are often sheer. Expect to use 3-4 layers of neon polishes, especially the lighter shades. Consider using white polish as a base, and a top coat for gloss. Q) I love chunky glitters but I hate the texture on my nails. Is there a way around this without doing 3+ layers of top coat? A) Consider using a "ridge filling" type base/top coat (that is clear), such as American Classics Gelous base coat, which is thick and self-levels. Then slap on your fast dry top coat on top. Q) I love glitter nail polish but I never use it because it takes forever to take off! What gives? A) Use the 'foil method' to remove glitter polishes. Take a small piece of cotton ball, dip it in acetone (or acetone based at the very least), place it over your nail, wrap your nail in aluminum foil. Wait 5-10 minutes and the glitter should slide off. Q) Acetone?! Isn't that bad for me? A) Nope, it's a a safe solvent, mostly because of how fast it evaporates and how little time it spends on your skin. I wouldn't sit around huffing it obviously, and should be used in a well ventilated area (as should nail polishes). Overall however, it removes polish quickly, and as a result sits around on your skin for a far shorter time than non-acetone removers, so fewer things to get absorbed into your skin and less drying out of your skin. Check out the glycerine+acetone combo you can make as a do-it-yourself remover. Pure acetone can be found in drugstores (sometimes) as can glycerine; a reliable source for large quantities of cheap pure acetone is Sally Beauty. Q) My nails are discolored from using a dark nail polish! Should I try a bleaching product? A) NO. Just let them grow out naturally and in the future use a good base coat to protect from nail staining. The bleaching products damage nails almost always - weaken, dry them out, make them flake. You can try soaking your bare nails in lemon juice or baking soda, using a sugar/hand scrub or very lightly buffing them out. Buffing nails weakens nails so do not overdo it! Fun fact: FD&C Yellow No 5 Lake dye, and FD&C Reds 6, 7, and 34 are the pigments most associated with staining of keratin (and skin too), so these might be the ones to check ingredient lists for if you've had previous staining. Q) Are you guys photoshopping your nails to look so clean? All the nail blogs I run into have these super fake looking nails with clean edges. How do I apply polish so neatly? A) Two answers: practice (check the 'how to apply polish' video links in the OP) and cleanup. Buy a thin paint brush (an angled eyebrow brush works well for this) and use pure acetone to remove excess polish after you apply it. That line below cuticles you often see in nail blogs? Due to the brush cleanup. Cleanup often works best when the polish is semi dry, versus completely, and before you put on any fast dry top coats (which are harder to remove). Q) What are those really detailed, precise patterns on some nails that I see? 'Stamping'? A) Nail stamping is basically what it sounds like - nail polish applied to and swiped across a metal plate that has designs etched into them. The polish is lifted on a soft rubber stamper, and the inverse of the image on the plate is 'rolled' onto your nail (since nails are curved). Konad is a Korean company that kicked off this trend, so this is also called "Konad nail art" or "Konad stamping." Q) Now that I read this thread, I find myself with twenty times the amount of nail polish that I had before? Where do I put it all? A) Helmers from Ikea are really popular ($40ish), or Michaels makes a mini version (http://i.imgur.com/unK36.jpg). Helmers have six drawers, are about two and a half feet high, and store 7x11+ a few extra staggered polishes per drawer (450-500 total). Each Michael's drawer holds about 120 or so. Posters in the last thread also used shoe boxes, various storage containers, toolchests from Costco and in one case a huge wooden library catalogue holder (awesome!). If you do buy a Helmer be aware that you need to assemble it yourself. This is generally easy but there are a couple of issues to watch for - some screws do not have predrilled holes and it can be hard to screw them in evenly, and be careful about bending the metal pieces the correct way (as having to redo it and bend them the other way weakens the metal). A guide to assembling a Helmer. Q) Where can I get stuff to make swatches? Anything I need to know? A) You can get nail wheels at Sally Beauty ($5-6 for a bunch of wheels, about 200 nails worth), ebay, or a bunch of other shops (check shop list, salon supplies). The other alternatives to nail wheels, which are hard to write on and compare individual polishes are swatchsicles - either homemade popsicle sticks + nail tips glued on top, or clear nail displays on a stick. I recommend the popsicle sticks or similar, standing up in a container or a mug, for ease of comparing colors and seeing what you have in one glance. Swatching your collection will do wonders to avoid buying dupes, helping see where you have holes in your collection, and picking out polish combinations. Some styles of available swatches. Some of the swatch options are made with plastic that are not solvent (acetone) resistant! Usually the clear ones. The Sally's wheels are solvent resistant, and are handy to have on hand if you want to compare polishes on the fly or especially if you are making frankens or want to try out temporary layer combinations. Q) I'd like to get some polishes from abroad but I can't find any place that mails to my country and/or rates for the same polishes are exorbitant in my country if I can find it at all. Any other options? A) You can consider swapping or getting a fellow polish collector to buy it for you. Ask here and maybe someone has access to it. Makeup Alley (http://www.makeupalley.com/) also has a large swap board and reviews for members to rate their exchanges. Q) I set up a swap but nail polish is listed as a hazardous explosive. How can I ship things? A) The safest way to ship polish, especially large quantities, is by ground shipping (UPS ground), which is how all the mail order polish companies ship. However, most swappers have had luck shipping via the USPS, especially low amounts of polishes (1-4). Padded envelope and bubble wrap are highly recommended since these are fragile objects, or ideally a small box of some sort (such as a priority mail flat rate box, or a smaller one for first class). 'Cosmetics' or 'art supplies' declared on the customs form is a better bet than 'NAIL POLISH YES GORGEOUS PINK SPARKLY FLAMMABLE NAIL POLISH IN THIS HERE BOX'. Probably. This has worked for packages to & from the US as far as I have heard, and most other countries as well EXCEPT for Australia. Australian Post apparently ships all packages over 1 lb with Fedex, and Fedex x-rays all such packages (and charges them extra) and has returned polish swap packages to many people that have tried to mail. I do not know whether very small amounts of polish, way under 1 lb, can easily be mailed out of Australia, whether such packages also go via Fedex or whether they are just not x-rayed. This restriction tends to include larger companies that sell nail polish as well, so you will have a hard time obtaining Australian polishes (such as Ozotic and Glitter Gals) directly from Australian companies (although there are indie shops that sell imported Aus polishes, such as llarowe.com and ninjapolish.com). Q) What's up with the title of the thread? A) Manglaze is a brand of (great quality, matte) polish for men with a funny name, great marketing and graphics that is run by a bunch of very 'metal' guys. Check out their brown shade named "Santorum." (For hilarity+ check out the brand "Alphanail" and their ads for how not to do nail polish for men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPBA2HKPus). Q) I'm a guy, want to wear polish but want to keep it subtle. What do I wear? A) Try matte finish polishes and darker shades that you like. Nail treatments also come in matte (and are usually clear) so there's totally no excuse for you not to find something you like. Like Alphanail (tm) says, nail polish is manly (tm). We welcome and love any and all over man(ly) posters! Noricae fucked around with this message at Sep 9, 2012 around 18:34 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 05:28 |
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(Let me know if yours is not listed here): Nail blogs from our own posters: Adventures of a Mad Scientist (ackapoo's) Aliquid (Silent Linguist's) An Accent Nail (cucurbit's) Candy Landfill (this fidh flies') Fandom Nails (Anther's) Lacquer Addiction (Prof.Snugglesworth's) Lightwell Nails (Malinn's) Manicure Madeleine (Metaline's) Nailin' It (Midnight Sun's) Nailstorms! (Waddle Dee's) Nail Utopia (Ninja Kitty's) Perky Polish (Beluga Smoothie's) The Polished Bones (That Damned Satyr's) Polish Hound (Ishkibibble_Fish's) Polished Mom (NotMordecai's fiancee's) Royal Milk Tea (royalmilktea's) Stay True Nails (liwet's) Shops & related from our own: Hot Mess Lacquers Rufus en Fuego's Etsy shop Indigo Bananas Noricae's shop Painted Sabotage Ninjakitty's Etsy shop Scofflaw Varnish cloudcuckoo's shop Sinister Benediction Prof Mary Ann's shop Yume Lacquer Marin Karin's shop Swap lists and spreadsheets for trading: (please let me know if these are still valid; some of these might be outdated): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...=CPSl9PoL#gid=0 – Themanic https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JMZnA4MUE#gid=0 – Berryblood https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...&hl=en_US#gid=0 – Caitlin https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...&hl=en_US#gid=0 – Hellacopter https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...1sbUtIVGc#gid=0 - Waddle Dee, collection as well as swap list Noricae fucked around with this message at Apr 8, 2013 around 18:31 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 05:28 |
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It's alive! Aliiiiiiiive! http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3495756 (frankening thread) Rufus En Fuego fucked around with this message at Jul 17, 2012 around 21:27 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 05:31 |
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Hi Noricae, could you remove my spreadsheet link, please? It's my stash spreadsheet, not my swap spreadsheet. 
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| # ? May 9, 2012 07:56 |
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So I've never shipped anything internationally before and I've got a Claire's Candy Shop I'm planning to send to Pulled Pork Taco this week, and Googling has made me paranoid while also managing to be mostly unhelpful. It seems the USPS prohibits nail polish and other flammable items in international shipments, but other shipping services charge an arm and a leg for their international services and thus are not options. Of course I'm not going to write "NAIL POLISH YES GORGEOUS PINK SPARKLY FLAMMABLE NAIL POLISH IN THIS HERE BOX" on the customs form, but what should I write? Cosmetics? Art supplies? Stool samples (who'd want to open that one, amirite?)? Something else? Any other tips, besides a poo poo-ton of bubble wrap?
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| # ? May 9, 2012 08:05 |
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Midnight Sun posted:Hi Noricae, could you remove my spreadsheet link, please? It's my stash spreadsheet, not my swap spreadsheet. I'm certain I'm missing blogs from SA posters as well, so let me know if yours isn't up there. That section's very much in progress. Haha, stool samples. I've usually had "art supplies" or "cosmetics" written on mine. You can always ship it in a little enclosed box (first class or something) instead of an envelope if you're worried about postal workers being able to tell what's in it. But honestly, I've received and mailed singlet polishes off in unpadded envelopes (polish in bubble wrap) and you could tell what it was easily and it's gotten across fine. Only Australia outgoing seems to be x-raying everything. edit: V Good point; shall do. Thanks for finding details - I forgot what Aus Post actually said. Noricae fucked around with this message at May 9, 2012 around 08:24 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 08:10 |
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Noricae posted:Sending nail polish abroad This might actually be useful to put in the OP (great work everyone who worked on it, btw!) since it gets asked relatively often. As for shipping from Australia to the US, Prof.Snugglesworth found this out: Prof.Snugglesworth posted:I did some more research last night and apparently what happens with Australia Post is that any parcel heading to the US that's over 1lb has to travel via a Fedex plane (smaller packages go via regular passenger planes which is what used to happen all of the time). Part of the whole scheme is that parcels going on Fedex planes get x-rayed in Australia prior to being loaded on the plane. Which is probably how they pick up on whether packages contain stuff like nail polish regardless of what's declared on the customs form. Then, to make things worse, parcels going to the US that weight over 1lb attract an additional $9 surcharge for the extra "security screening".
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| # ? May 9, 2012 08:22 |
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Obviously what you have to do is send two packages. One that has an outrageously illegal thing in it and the other that has nailpolish. They will be so taken by the parcel that has whatever you decide to put in it (bees maybe?) that they'll totally miss / forget about / not care about the nailpolish.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 08:30 |
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luscious posted:Obviously what you have to do is send two packages. One that has an outrageously illegal thing in it and the other that has nailpolish. They will be so taken by the parcel that has whatever you decide to put in it (bees maybe?) that they'll totally miss / forget about / not care about the nailpolish. Package 1: Bees. Or cocaine. Coked-out bees? Package 2: nail polish. This is an excellent plan. Chiming in a little late to the discussion of exponential nail polish collection growth that was happening earlier in the other thread, I began 2012 with exactly three (3) bottles of nail polish. Last weekend, I bought two of the Michael's white modular three-drawer craft storage things and I've already filled about 2/3 of the first one. I MUST OWN ALL OF THE POLISH. ALL OF IT.  If I'm feeling productive this weekend I may arrange them all in a nail polish bottle rainbow for pictures.
defenestratrix fucked around with this message at May 9, 2012 around 08:43 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 08:38 |
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Ubiquitous They posted:Package 1: Bees. Or cocaine. Coked-out bees? Package 2: nail polish. This is an excellent plan. I did the intermediate storage box thing too. "Oh, these two small plastic bins will surely last me all year! After all I had nine polishes two months ago, and these hold at least 120." Should have just gone straight to the Helmer. New polish people: BUY HELMER. Do not stop at Go.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 08:55 |
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I thought I was being clever and thrifty by buying 3 plastic shoe boxes for nail polish storage at $3 apiece. That lasted all of a month before my collection outgrew them and I got annoyed with playing polish Tetris to get the lids on. Roughly how many polishes can you cram into a Helmer? I read somewhere that the Michael's drawer units hold about 250. I'm debating if the hour drive to the nearest Ikea is worthwhile.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 09:03 |
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Ubiquitous They posted:I thought I was being clever and thrifty by buying 3 plastic shoe boxes for nail polish storage at $3 apiece. That lasted all of a month before my collection outgrew them and I got annoyed with playing polish Tetris to get the lids on. Roughly how many polishes can you cram into a Helmer? I read somewhere that the Michael's drawer units hold about 250. I'm debating if the hour drive to the nearest Ikea is worthwhile. Actually my bigger issue was boxes getting too heavy to lift, a lack of wheels, and not having a sturdy metal bottom (plastic boxes sagging). The metal construction was nicer than I expected (of the Helmer). Noricae fucked around with this message at May 9, 2012 around 09:20 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 09:12 |
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oUbiquitous They posted:So I've never shipped anything internationally before and I've got a Claire's Candy Shop I'm planning to send to Pulled Pork Taco this week, and Googling has made me paranoid while also managing to be mostly unhelpful. It seems the USPS prohibits nail polish and other flammable items in international shipments, but other shipping services charge an arm and a leg for their international services and thus are not options. Of course I'm not going to write "NAIL POLISH YES GORGEOUS PINK SPARKLY FLAMMABLE NAIL POLISH IN THIS HERE BOX" on the customs form, but what should I write? Cosmetics? Art supplies? Stool samples (who'd want to open that one, amirite?)? Something else? Any other tips, besides a poo poo-ton of bubble wrap? I usually write "glitter"
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| # ? May 9, 2012 11:30 |
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Ubiquitous They posted:So I've never shipped anything internationally before and I've got a Claire's Candy Shop I'm planning to send to Pulled Pork Taco this week, and Googling has made me paranoid while also managing to be mostly unhelpful. It seems the USPS prohibits nail polish and other flammable items in international shipments, but other shipping services charge an arm and a leg for their international services and thus are not options. Of course I'm not going to write "NAIL POLISH YES GORGEOUS PINK SPARKLY FLAMMABLE NAIL POLISH IN THIS HERE BOX" on the customs form, but what should I write? Cosmetics? Art supplies? Stool samples (who'd want to open that one, amirite?)? Something else? Any other tips, besides a poo poo-ton of bubble wrap? I have done this a few times and I always just write cosmetics. Never had a problem.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 11:48 |
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Fuego, if you are going to be setting up the goon pricing through the thread it might be a good idea to skip the polish name and picture on the reserved listings. I'm worried some s will see a lot of people getting full sized bottles at lower cost and start drama. Or you could use pictures in mini bottles to make them think it's pricey private samples. Sorry I am a worrier
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| # ? May 9, 2012 11:53 |
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Ubiquitous They posted:I thought I was being clever and thrifty by buying 3 plastic shoe boxes for nail polish storage at $3 apiece. That lasted all of a month before my collection outgrew them and I got annoyed with playing polish Tetris to get the lids on. Roughly how many polishes can you cram into a Helmer? I read somewhere that the Michael's drawer units hold about 250. I'm debating if the hour drive to the nearest Ikea is worthwhile. And yeah, seriously, everyone please just get a Helmer. The whole thing doesn't have to be polish! I stuck it in the back of my closet, and it's fantastic for holding extra bottles of shampoo, bars of soap, Q-tips, Tylenol, makeup, and all the other stuff you want organized but can't fit in your medicine cabinet. You can also often find Helmers on craigslist for like $20, including discontinued colors obviously.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 12:12 |
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Asstro Van posted:Fuego, if you are going to be setting up the goon pricing through the thread it might be a good idea to skip the polish name and picture on the reserved listings. I'm worried some Etsy doesn't show the price that things sold for after they're bought so it shouldn't be a drama magnet unless she does it when the store's actually open and stocked w/ regular visitors coming by to look at the offerings. Right now it just looks like some kind of SUPER SPECIAL SECRET PRIVATE RELEASE in the sales history but there's no price info so unless they Google up this thread she's safe.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 12:19 |
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Helmers are awesome, I love my red one. Noricae you were talking of a good yellow, I've had my eyes for a long time on Orly's Spark. If any goonette has it, I'd love to hear how's the formula.  Speaking of Orly, another one that's on my "to get when I'm less broke" list is Rock it.  There are other pics of it that don't look so awesome, but I've just about died when I saw this one.  Please tell me goonettes if you have (seen) this polish and if it really looks like this in real life.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 12:30 |
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Yay, nice new thread! Rufus, I would take a bottle of Fuego if you have any left. I sent you an email.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 12:41 |
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Merope posted:
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| # ? May 9, 2012 12:53 |
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Merope posted:Speaking of Orly, another one that's on my "to get when I'm less broke" list is Rock it. YES, Rock-It is awesome!  Edit: Here I've used it for the tips over Essie Mademoiselle. 
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| # ? May 9, 2012 13:22 |
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Fantastic, thanks Anne, and Midnight Sun, your mannis are awesome as always!
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| # ? May 9, 2012 13:40 |
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Thank you both Noricae and Bloodberry for the new thread. Great job! 
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| # ? May 9, 2012 14:10 |
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Merope posted:Helmers are awesome, I love my red one. I have and love the color of Spark, but if I remember correctly (it's been about a year since I used it) it is pretty goopy and a little streaky.Another goonette said it stained her nails badly, but I didn't have that issue.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 14:32 |
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I thought I had 200-something bottles of polish. Well, I did a count this morning and I have 337.  How did that happen? 
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| # ? May 9, 2012 14:53 |
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^^^ Oh.  I may still get it because I love the color, perhaps I'll be lucky and not get from the bad batch that stains the nails! Which reminds me, a few months ago a work colleague saw me looking at Orly pics and told me how his wife works in a beauty saloon and they had ordered for the first time Orly polish which stained their nails. They assumed its a bad brand and they probably didn't order again, which is a shame. I tried to tell him they may have been fake, but maybe they had a bad batch. I want to try sometime to order from the ebay seller called maiandjays, I read about them often on the Internet but I couldn't figure out where their shop is, how to order, until I found the aussie vogue forums: http://forums.vogue.com.au/showthread.php?t=363585 Lots of satisfied people in that thread and on blogs. I dont have yet the money to try them out, but I thought it could be useful especially for goonettes outside USA, since USA is polish heaven with all your easily accessible brands and cheap store prices and discounts. 
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| # ? May 9, 2012 15:14 |
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Asstro Van posted:Fuego, if you are going to be setting up the goon pricing through the thread it might be a good idea to skip the polish name and picture on the reserved listings. I'm worried some I actually thought about this, and my take on it is if they Google this thread and want in on the super special goon pricing and pay the $10 to do it, no bigs to me. Lowtax can thank me later. After this initial run of Fuego I'll solely be doing wishlists off the grid, so to speak. I only ran it through Etsy this time to get some sales/shipping cred and feedback, so I don't anticipate a problem with future sales. Especially since I'm no Lynnderella. If, on the off chance, drama actually happens I won't take it. s can check it at the door.Awesome new OP! I should have the frankening section finished by the end of the day!
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| # ? May 9, 2012 15:21 |
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Finally decided to get organized and bought a huge bottle of 100% acetone and a paintbrush (I spent 20 minutes at the art supply store touching all the brushes until I found the perfect one) so I can have cleaned-up cuticles. So happy. Also, gradients! I thought I would be terrible at it. Not too happy with how brown the purple ended up looking, but this was my first try with an old make-up sponge that is saturated with foundation. Gross? Maybe. But all my old sponges are getting a second shot at life before I chuck 'em.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 15:23 |
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Whoever posted uniqueglitters.com is a tease. I've been trying to access that site since last night and it won't load. I must crack into this delectable nugget and gawk at its innards! ALSO: Does anyone else use Chrome? The pics in the OP are all over the place for me and I'm sure it has to be a Chrome thing. It just barely started allowing me to click for big.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 15:54 |
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Rufus En Fuego posted:ALSO: Does anyone else use Chrome? The pics in the OP are all over the place for me and I'm sure it has to be a Chrome thing. It just barely started allowing me to click for big. I use chrome and they more or less go down the page in two columns, but it is a little wonky, especially near the bottom. Not sure what it's supposed to look like.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 16:10 |
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Reformed Tomboy posted:I use chrome and they more or less go down the page in two columns, but it is a little wonky, especially near the bottom. Not sure what it's supposed to look like. That's what I'm getting too, except the size toggle sometimes covers up the descriptive text.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 16:18 |
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Goddamn, China Glaze's Fairy Dust rules. Awesome new OP, too!
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| # ? May 9, 2012 17:36 |
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Rufus En Fuego posted:That's what I'm getting too, except the size toggle sometimes covers up the descriptive text. Yeah, that's what I meant by wonky. I guess I could have been more specific
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| # ? May 9, 2012 17:43 |
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drat, I almost forgot how talented all our nail ladies are. The new OP looks great edit: Oh I had a question: Is there one particular silver holo that is discernably better than the others? I mean, what would you consider the "most holographic holo"? Tshirt Ninja fucked around with this message at May 9, 2012 around 17:51 |
| # ? May 9, 2012 17:46 |
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Great OP! Rufus, I am wearing Cupcake over OPI DS Classic, and it looks really pretty. I'll post pics a bit later once I get it cleaned up.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 17:56 |
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DaisyDanger posted:Goddamn, China Glaze's Fairy Dust rules.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 17:57 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 07:19 |
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Tshirt Ninja posted:drat, I almost forgot how talented all our nail ladies are. The new OP looks great Layla is currently the best brand I've used. Nfu Oh's formula on new bottles is too iffy to really get behind it. Gosh is still good but not as easy to work with as the Layla and harder to get.
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| # ? May 9, 2012 18:26 |
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