LRD the Ungroomed again - is there a trick to making your nail varnish not look, er, crap?

[JaneS]

My students can do nail varnish properly and I am guessing they don't shell out for manicures, so I refuse to believe that's the solution!

Whenever I do mine I end up with bits of varnish on the edges and they look a bit raggedy. Is it just being steady-handed or is there some kind of trick?

(I cannot believe I am wasting the time of a whole forum of woman with stupid questions like this. )

Steady hand BUT paint before a bath and them pick off any splashes in the bath.

Does that not make the polish go all soft and chippy with the heat? No bath here anyway, but I could soak them in a bowl of water if it'd work.

You need this the best top coat for glossy nails ever.

I do a quick file, keep my nails fairly short, a couple of coats of varnish and then one coat of seche vite.

What colours are you using?

Undercoat can help I think as it goes on more smoothly.

Other than that a steady hand and aim for three strokes on each nail - one in the middle then either side.

tracey - I've just done them with Rimmel 'Deliciously dark', and sometimes I use Celebrity Bash, which is also Rimmel. My skin is olive so pale colours look odd on me, though doubtless they'd be easier!

I do use undercoat - will give the recommended topcoat a go, though.

Practise, practise , practise.

File your nails first.
Get one of those buffer files too, they make the surface of your nails really even and the varnish glides on much better.
Then wash your hands and really scrub your nails with a towel.
Shake the bottle well before using.
When you lift the brush out of the bottle, wipe it on both sides.
I do mine leaning on the kitchen work top as it's a good height for me.
DON'T try to paint up to the edges of your nails, aim to leave a 1-1.5mm space all the way around.
Let the 1st coat dry and then apply a 2nd.
Let that dry and then apply clear top coat.

Ah.

Penny drops.

I always try to paint up to the edge of the nail. Duh.

I, er, did suspect there was something blindingly obvious I was missing!

Keep your nail varnish in the fridge so it doesn't go gloopy!

I also wipe over with nail polish remover before painting just to remove any oils at all.

Yep, paint an oval onto your nail. And start with your pinkie and work towards your thumb - less likely to smudge that way.

if you get any over the edges, use a qtip and dip into some nail polish remover :)

Thanks all - will try the fridge thing!

I've never made the qtip thing work - maybe because they're dark colours, but it always just smudges!

I'm learning, I'm learning ...

Do it at the very start of an hour long tv programme. And then, when it's done, don't do anything else until the programme finishes. Otherwise it will smudge.

Painting my nails nicely is one of my very rare S&B skills...

Always use a base coat and use sally hansen diamond shine top coat over your colour varnish. I've tried numerous and no other top coat compares!