Help! Nail varnishing skills of a 5 year old.

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

I've only painted my nails a few times and had them painted once. Clearly I'm doing a few things wrong here. I used a coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty, 2 coats of Rimmel Lycra Pro and a top coat of the Sally Hansen. I tried to make the coats thin and left plenty of drying time between coats and 2 episodes of Nurse Jackie after the top coat. Then I went round with a cotton bud/remover.

I must be doing it wrong. Please advise. Thanks.

I think either your polish is too thick or your coats are too thick. Are you sure it was dry before the next coat? Also don't go as close to the edges. I do one stripe down the middle then one either side, correct any missing bits on thr next coat.

Thanks anchovies I think the polish is thick but I don't have anything to compare it with. Is there anything I can do to thin it down or should I get new?

Fast dry top coat.

I paint base coat, two-three colour coats and then straight onto top coat without waiting for any layers to dry.

I then clean up and mess with a brush and pure acetone. Find pure acetone to clean up better than remove as its stronger.

I also have think you are going down a little close to the cuticle which is making a neat smile line harder to achieve. Put the polish brush on the nail a little way up, then push down toward the cuticle, leaving a small gap.

It does look very thick - my polish goes like that if it's an old bottle that's been open for years ages

Nail varnish is about 18 months old so I'll treat myself to an opi colour.
I did only put base,2 coats and a top coat TheAwfulDaughter but I think they were too thick. I'll try leaving less time between coats too.

Thanks for the application tips Pink. I'll give them a try. I'll try to apply my Olympic standard emulsion cutting in skills to the nails.

Thanks again for all the tips.

You might find a different brush suits you more. I'm useless with anything other than Essie. You might need a bit of trial and error before you hit on the polish and brush that works for you.

I'm going to memorise that before I go to town next with DH. 'MN says I have to experiment so I'll need one of those, one of those, one of those. No, they're not all the same at all and I have to find one that's right for me'.

Love it.

Don't bin old polish!. Polish never goes bad it just thickens! Buy some nail polish thinner, Sally's salon supplies sell it. Pour a few drops in and shake then it'll be good as new.
The double duty Sally Hansen isn't great. Separate base and top coat is better. Best topcoat from boots/superdrug is Sally Hansen inst dri in the red bottle. Sally Hansen do some good bases too, use a strengthener as base if your nails are weak.
Wait at least 2 mins between each coat when applying polish. Do thin even coats, try and do it in three strokes of the brush, middle then each side.
For clean up use pure acetone and a flat brush. An eyeshadow one will do. Sweep any mistakes off down the sides and at the cuticle. The shape of the brush will make this really easy and precise. Cotton buds are too big, blunt and linty.

Right. I will search out that thinner. Thanks.

The only thing I have to add that hasn't been said already, is how do you prep your nails before you paint them? I've been trying to improve my technique recently (ie put more effort in), and have found that using one of those buffy things to shine my nails first has made a big difference in how well the polish goes on.

disclaimer: this may be standard for everyone else, but it was a small revelation for me!

Prep? Nope. I was being serious when I said I was a complete dunderhead about this.

Thanks

I don't mean one of those drilly-machines-of-death by the way, I just use a thing from boots/superdrug that's cuboid (and like £2), which helpfully has the sides named and numbered and I just follow the instructions! You need to wash your hands between buffing and polish, so that the dust is gone.

A proper S&B'er may be along soon to tell me I'm wrong about buffing, so I would await a guru's confirmation!

Sorry reveal I'm gonna do what you said...
Buffing makes nails too shiny for polish to adhere correctly plus it thins the nail bed so doing it often will weaken them. Only buff if you have a peeling, flaky bit.
If you do file and buff don't then wash your hands as water soaks into the nail swells it slightly. This isn't good when applying polish. Wipe the nail with polish remover or alcohol instead to remove dust and oil ready for polish.

I'm so glad I added my disclaimer!

Betterthan (sorry to hijack op!) I only do mine a bit (like once every 2-4 weeks) is that terrible? My nails got drilled at a salon once and i was horrified :/ will switch from washing to using remover!

Thanks for the clarification. Tbh my nails have always been so thin and rubbish that I was a bit worried about wearing them away completely!
I'm a bit heavy handed - see pics above for evidence.