In my book of "History of Beauty Obsession", nail polish is the latest addition yet it is by far the most fast-growing one. I couldn't remember exactly what sparked off the addiction, all I could remember is my collection grew exponentially from less than 5 to a fully occupied Ikea Helmer cabinet. At the beginning, I found applying polish to be very frustrating - I could never get it dried evenly and shiny. With tons of practice and some very useful advices from the blogging world, I don't afraid to show my painted nails anymore.
In this post, I will show you how I shape my nail and how to apply nail polish. You will see some of my essential tools, favorite products and tips & tricks. If you are just starting to like nail polish and as lost as I was, I hope this post would help you out.
Shorten your nails to desired length using a nail file. Always move the file in one direction, never move it back and forth in a seesaw motion, that could weaken your nails.
To remove the sharp corners, hold the file at a slight angle and stroke from the corners towards the center.
Don't forget the area underneath - tile the file 45 degree to the nail surface and file slightly.
Repeat these steps to all nails, brush off any dust or remains.
Repeat the above steps on all nails
After applying first coat on all nails, clean up the edges.
Repeating painting until you are satisfied with the color. It should be easier by now as you have the first coat as a guideline. You can pick up more polish with the brush on subsequent layers. I found 2 to 3 coats are optimum in achieving the bottle color with most polishes.
Apply a top coat to seal in the color and prevent chipping. It also helps in smoothing out any unevenness.
Tada! Look at your nails, aren't they gorgeous? Now all you have to do is be easy to them, let them dry completely.
Here are some tools I used:
This OPI crystal file is my favorite. All of the glass files that I tried wore off very easily, they have to be replaced after 5 to 10 uses. This OPI is quite expensive for a nail file (US$7) but it doesn't wear off at all. I've been using this one for over a year and it is still as good as new. It can be used wet, simply dampen it before use, it files down the nail so much faster.