We’ve all been there. After hours of work reverse stamping every single nail and creating a manicure to die for, it happens… CHIPS on one or more nails just days after your masterpiece was finished. Unfortunately, beautiful nails aren’t always necessarily part of a long lasting manicure. I’ll never forget that on one occasion, I spent 3 hours creating what I believed to be was some of my best work, only to have a large hunk of nail design fly off somewhere two days later!
Don’t yank your hair out or swear off those in-depth nail stamping manis forever, because I’ve discovered a few tips and tricks that when used faithfully, will add at least a week to any nail art you create and finally deliver a long lasting manicure. Some of the following tips need to occur when doing your nails and some need to happen in the days after your mani was completed.
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Tip 1: Lightly Buff the Surface of Your Nails
Your fingernails contain oils and ridges on the surface that do not bode well for nail polish adhesion. I’m sure you already know that a base coat and top coat are essential to any long lasting manicure. You might be surprised to find though that by simply buffing the surfaces of your nails to help smooth out those ridges and remove some of the oils, you can extend the life of your mani dramatically. Make sure that you do not buff too aggressively or you could risk thinning your nails and causing them to weaken. Also, you want to buff your nails’ surfaces after cleaning and filing them and before applying a base coat.
Tip 2: Dip Nails in Ice Water
When creating a nail stamping mani or any sort of nail art design beyond a simple polish, you will find that many layers of nail polish are typically applied (base coat, 2 coats of color, several stamping layers, and a top coat or two). Because of this, it can take HOURS for your mani to dry thoroughly and properly. If you bump or drag your nails across something before they have dried completely, you are creating weaknesses in the mani that will come back to haunt you later. In order to remedy this and speed up your mani’s drying time substantially, soak your nails in ice water. The cold water will harden your polish in just a few minutes versus waiting several hours.
Tip 3: Wrap the tips of your nails with POLISH
When starting to take my nail art seriously, I kept hearing the nail gurus say that you must wrap your tips with polish in order to achieve a long lasting manicure. However, I could never figure out how to accomplish this without sacrificing the way my nails looked. Instead of the polish looking sleek and smooth, it would have streaks and lumps towards the ends due to wrapping the tips. In order to rectify this, I recommend wrapping the tips FIRST and then smoothing out the top of your nails with your actual layer of polish. If that option doesn’t appeal to you, then at least wrap the tips of your nails with the final layer of top coat. This way, you add a bit more protection at the tips of your nails, which routinely see the most wear and tear.
Tip 4: Protect Your Mani Around Water
Water comes into contact with our nails many, many times a day and it is definitely the enemy to a long lasting manicure. If you are washing dishes by hand, by all means, wear rubber gloves with a fabric lining to prevent damage to your nails and mani. The fabric lining of the gloves is essential so that the rubber inside the gloves doesn’t stick to your mani and ruin it.
I was always so disheartened when taking a shower because 9 times out of 10, I would emerge with chunks of nail polish missing. I concluded that the hairs on my head were working their way up under my nail polish layers while I was washing my hair. In order to combat this, I brought those same cool rubber gloves right into the shower with me and never wash my hair without putting those gloves on first. I extended the wear of a perfect mani by almost a week with this tip alone!
Tip 5: Protect Your Mani in the Shower
At this point you may be wondering, “How on Earth can you wash your hair with rubber gloves on?” The answer is, you can’t. So that’s where the final tip I have for a long lasting manicure comes in to play: Use a hair scalp massager (or two) in order to wash your hair. I bought a pair of these scalp massagers and have one in each hand when washing my hair in the shower. An added benefit is that these tend to do a better job of washing my scalp than I did with just my bare fingers and my hair is shinier and cleaner than ever!
I hope you found these tips and tricks useful and will give some of these a try during and after your next mani. I can’t wait to hear how they worked for you and if you have any tips of your own for a long lasting manicure, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to give them a try myself next time.