Mid-manicure, gouged a nail, what do you do?

[Anonymous]

I had finished the color but hadn't done a top coat. I've been cursing this polish, it doesn't flow, it turns gummy. I thought the color was dry (it should have been) and I opened a box and one thumb nail got gouges in it.

What would you do? I didn't want to start all over (although I might take this off tomorrow!), so here's what I did. I took an orange stick and used it as a roller and I rolled the polish (it took quite a bit of pressure) until it smoothed out. Then I put another coat over it!

The gouges are not detectable and it's ready for a top coat. I know this has happened to everybody, what did you do? And does anybody have any speculations on what is wrong with this polish?

[srgntfox]

I usually get mad and end up wiping all my nails clean! Haha sometimes I won’t even attempt repainting them at the moment

[Anonymous]

@srgntfox  I came close to doing that! They weren't looking very good anyway, but after I fixed the one that gouged and put on the top coat, they look pretty good! It's strange that only one got gouges in it, I used both hands, all fingers, opening stuff. But that one nail had several gouges. But the polish was nasty... lesson learned, if the polish is nasty at the start, it's not going to get better! Stop then or fix the polish, don't have a bad day over it.

[ragdoll4mom]

I dip the nail polish brush in nail polish remover and stroke it over the nail until the boo boo is smooth.  Slap another coat of polish on top, and you're good to go.

[Anonymous]

@ragdoll4mom  I never thought of that! I've got bunches of brushes, I think I'd start with a clean one... great tip, thank you!

[RGbrown]

It takes a pretty big goof for me to take a nail back to base and start over with it...in fact, even then, I'm gonna do my best to smooth it out as best as possible and slap another coat over it lol. I hate having to pull out the remover to fix one nail; no matter how careful I am, I am guaranteed to screw other nails up with it, so I'd much rather try and fix it sans remover.

Is it an old polish, or has it always had that texture? You might try adding some nail polish remover or polish thinner to that polish to thin it down (or acetone, but I know you don't have any 😛 ). My base coat gets like that over time; the longer I have it, the gummier it gets, but a little acetone calms it back down

[Beadshopgirl]

@RGbrown @Anonymous Never put nail polish remover into an old bottle of polish. It will break down your polish and ruin it. It's a good idea to purchase actual nail polish thinner to rescue old polishes. 💅🏻

[RGbrown]

@Beadshopgirl

Thanks for mentioning that...it's been one of those niggling questions in the back of my mind for some time, one that I never think to go and look up, so I just did some quick research.

Zoya Renew is a nail polish "rejuvenator". It's ingredients are butyl acetate, heptaine, and ethyl acetate. Both acetates are solvents commonly used in non-acetone removers, which makes me think that might be an acceptable substitute. I haven't reversed my search and checked what else might be in a non-acetone remover (nor have I investigated heptaine yet), but I've heard your advice before and often wondered if it really is true...I've always just used acetone with no issues. But I'm also normally just stretching out my last few uses of my base coat before I toss the bottle, not trying to fix a polish that I may be trying to salvage for future months or even years.

ETA: Looking at individual ingredients is making me cross-eyed, so I'm giving up on it. I'll leave this link here for reference on how to properly fix thick polish: www dot wikihow.com/Thin-Nail-Polish

I stand corrected on acetone, especially if you want to keep the polish long term (though for short term, I'll likely keep using it to get a couple more uses out of my almost-empties). Thanks again beadshopgirl 🙂

[Anonymous]

@RGbrown  Heptane is a solvent that decreases viscosity. It's in a lot of nail polishes and some thinners.

[Anonymous]

@RGbrown  Thanks for finding that Wiki! I had all my nail polishes laying down so I could see the colors, I just stood them up. And I've been cleaning the brushes with nail polish remover, thus putting a bit of acetone into the polish, that's bad, I should use the thinner. And the problem with that polish is probably that it had separated. I only gave it a sideways shake, I should have shaken it more enthusiastically because it had probably been sitting on a shelf separating for a long time.

[Anonymous]

@RGbrown and @Beadshopgirl - First of all, I didn't know there was "nail polish thinner" so I am wiser now, thank you!

About the polish, it's one of my $2-$3 finds. I'm afraid the price of nail polish these days gives me anxiety. So it could be old, it could have gotten too hot...the bottle did not appear to have been opened. I think nail polish thinner would do it good! And I have some Essie top coat that could use some, too!

@RGbrown  I am not capable of removing the polish from one nail without getting cotton stuck to all the others, so I know exactly what you mean. @ragdoll4mom 's idea of using a brush (with remover) on the one nail sounds much more doable to me.

Now, does anybody know how to get dog hair out of top coat? I can't figure out how it gets into the bottle but I swear I have it on every nail!

I'm off to find nail polish thinner now! Any brand better than others?

[RGbrown]

@Anonymous

Now that I'm on a kick researching thinners, the ones I've looked at so far all seem to have similar ingredients

Zoya Renew (.5oz, $10 @ Zoya): butyl acetate, heptaine, ethyl acetate

OPI nail lacquer thinner (2oz, $10 @ Ulta): Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate

Develop 10 polish thinner (.5oz, $6.99 @ Ulta): Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Heptane

Based on this, I'll probably get the OPI...best bang for the buck 

[Anonymous]

@RGbrown  I ordered Orly 2 oz $6.87 Amazon, free shipping, Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate. I read that it was important to find one without Acetone because Acetone would ruin the polish eventually. I have no idea if that's true. And also that the thinner and the polish have to have an ingredient in common for it to work, that makes sense to me.