Nice nails - do you have to go the salon?

[bonhomme]

Lots of girls at work have lovely manicured nails, nicely panted.

Do you have to go to a nail bar/salon to achieve this?

Thanks

no. It just gets better with practice. Mind you I'm a dab hand at it now as I've been painting my nails since I was a little girl.

Mine are very strong, that might be why they get chips, I'm always using them to prise things open, separate lego bricks etc and rarely wear gloves for housework, gardening etc, if they were weak I would probably take more care of them. If I get away without chips, the edges wear away within 48 hours, even with running the polish and topcoat over the edges, you can always see a white edge quickly. I don't mind too much as I like changing colours and am happy to have bare nails for a few days if I haven't got time.

Now, who can tell me the best way to get gel nail varnish off without going to a salon? I tried cotton wool pads soaked in acetone based remover wrapped round with foil last time and they kept falling off and it took ages and still didn't really get it all off. What am I doing wrong?

Whoknows you need to use pure acetone not just remover with acetone in it. Use long strips of foil and don't move so they stay on for 10-15 mins. Then scrape the polish off with an orange stick or metal cuticle pusher. Buff and rough patches of gel left but not the bare nail. Then oil them.

Thanks, sounds harsh, I'll pinch some from work and give it a try. Bit nervous as I get eczema on my hands. Definitely think gel is going to be a holidays only thing for me from now on.

Can anybody explain about cuticles, please?

Feel a bit daft saying this, but I don't understand what people are talking about when they say their cuticles are ragged, need maintenance, etc. (I do know what a cuticle is, by the way!)

I've never done anything to my cuticles. They're just...there. How do I know if I'm supposed to be dissolving them off or something?

Who make sure you buff the shine off the gel polish before you soak them, otherwise it's almost impossible to get it off!

Ah, I didn't do that last time Shop, might explain why I had such difficulty!

Oh yeah! Use a file and get all the shiny coating off the gel polish!
Koala. If your cuticles don't overgrow onto the nail bed then they are fine. Do you get hangnails and are they dry? If so maybe get them sorted but otherwise they are ok.

For anyone with weak nails, this stuff is amazing. Made an enormous difference to mine.

Koala, I get a layer of dead skin on the surface of my nails for the first couple of mm in front of the cuticle. If I polish over them it peels, if I don't it looks like a peculiar gap, so I have to remove it, but it gets tatty easily.

I have never had a professional manicure done. My nails are always neat and short (have to be for work), and I use a gel nail varnish, usually clear or the one I have now is a light pink one. But since I started taking a daily womens vitamin, my nails are fantastic. They are stronger and don't break as much and are whiter. Its an evening primrose oil based vitamin (which dr told me to take for pms). Not sure about the pms bit, but my hair and nails are lovely right now .

Thanks, ladies - I get it now! My cuticles don't grow over my nails at all, or shred at the sides. They're just a line where te nail meets the finger. So I think I'll continue to be lazy and ignore them (result! )