Show Me Your Nails 2.0

[Tamara76]

Due to some technical glitches with the original Show Me Your Nails Thread, I am starting a new thread with @vegchililover78's blessing (She says "hello," by the way!).

Please share your nail looks, nail art and manicures!

...And don't forget to check out @Beadshopgirl's Nail Stamping Thread for stamping inspiration! ❤️  

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Nailed-It/The-Nail-Stamping-Thread/m-p/3328865

[CookieGirl1]

That's a fun, grungy color, @Mellmars1185 .

[Mellmars1185]

@CookieGirl1 Thank you! That is a great way to describe it!

[ather]

@Mellmars1185  Oooo this is such a pretty colour!

[Mellmars1185]

@ather Thank you 😊🙏💓

[RGbrown]

@Mellmars1185 

Gorgeous color and a very fabulous name 🤭 It looks great on you! ✨✨

[Mellmars1185]

@RGbrown Thank you very much. I would describe the shade as a metallic sage with glitter.

[CynthieLu]

That's a fancy one 😍@Mellmars1185 

Very pretty in silver 🩶

[Mellmars1185]

Thank you very much @CynthieLu 

[segmlove]

Olive and June nails are the best fake nails out there! Don't believe me see for ur self. Ps don't drop a nail down the sink to never be found again lol. Am still sad I did that.

[CynthieLu]

That would be a sad loss @segmlove 

[RGbrown]

Bright and springy to celebrate the warm weather we've had for the last few days ☀️🌱

Sadly it's cloudy today though, so indirect light was my only decent shot 😐

Londontown Notting The Fancy (pinky): bright yellow cream. I've got mixed emotions about this one...Londontown managed to make a yellow that isn't thick and gloopy, which was nice, but they did that by making it super thin, such that it took 4 coats for full coverage for me. Those four coats were easy, I didn't deal with it dragging a ton of bare spots or getting lumpy, and it self-leveled beautifully, but four coats still feels excessive. Gorgeous color though.

Black Dahlia Lacquer Rain Daisy (ring and thumb): white crelly with hot pink, light green, light blue, lavender, and yellow round matte glitters in various sizes. Thicccccc as per usual for BDL, this took a bit of thinner to make it more workable (and maybe still could have used a little more as I'm noticing some bubbles on my ring finger from getting it a little too thick, but the bottle was too full, bleh), but is fantastically fun. Three coats for opacity, not fussy though once I'd thinned it out. We are ignoring the screwed up tip of my thumb...I managed to bump it at some point, but noticed after it was too late to try and smooth it out, and didn't feel like trying to touch it up with another coat. Sigh. 

Zoya Paris (middle): hot pink jelly, super sheer, three coats here with my topper sandwiched in between each layer. Easy to use, not fussy at all. 

Revlon Charming (index): pale lavender cream, super duper easy two coater

Londontown Cheshire Plains: topper on pinky, middle, and index, this is a very simple polish with a clear base and tiny light blue matte circle glitters. The glitters mostly sink to the bottom, so you'll have to mix it up or store it upside down for a bit before use, but once mixed, they're quite plentiful. It's subtle over the yellow and purple, but very apparent over the darker pink. I just thought this might be a fun little way to try and tie these creams into the BDL speckled gloriousness, and I'm happy with how it came out.

Side topic! Nail repairs!

Spoiler

I managed to get a small tear in one of my nails, my index, for the first time in months, while cooking of all things 🙄 Just a small nick maybe 2mm long, about halfway down the nail bed, way too far down to do much of anything about other than try to repair it. Normally I use tea bags and super glue, but it's a bit of work to file file file it smooth, and no matter how careful I am, I usually wind up accidentally filing the edge of the patch too thin (along with the adjoining part of my nail), leaving me with another weak spot that's prone to breaking later, and it's a frustrating cycle. Sooooo, back in November, I picked up a small pot of Nail Boo dip powder for an attempt at an alternate method, and finally had the occasion to bring it out and test it.

Method used: gently scuff up the nail surface around the break, then wipe with acetone or alcohol to clean off dust and oils. Apply a thin layer of glue (I highly recommend a brush on bottle instead of some sort of squeeze tube), then cover with dip powder. You can dip your finger directly in the pot, or I used a small scoop to pour a little over the glue. Gently brush off the excess with a fluffy brush, and let dry. Then file the surface, but the best thing about this is that if you've gotten your glue down relatively smoothly (this is where the brush on glue really helps), there's not a whole lot to file. I did have to do some edge work because I didn't cover my entire nail with dip powder, but Ulta's manicure sticks were super helpful for that (the slanted end is coated in file material and works nicely for detail work like this, which hopefully helped me from going too far around the edges...I guess that remains to be seen, whether or not I get another break at the back edge of the patch once this grows out some more). 

Overall I'm super happy with how much quicker and easier it was...dealing with teabags can be frustrating, and the filing is tedious, but this dip method was much faster! Unfortunately, I've noticed a different sort of anomaly though...my polish seems to wrinkle up over the patch, and I'm not sure why. I've done two manis over it now; when I saw wrinkles the first time, I just assumed I'd bumped my finger and screwed it up (par for the course for me lately lol...I absolutely cannot seem to not mess at least one nail up), but today's mani has the same wrinkling in the same exact spot, so I'm starting to suspect the patch is causing it somehow. Not sure what's going on at all...I've never had teabag patches wrinkle before, so I'm pretty sure it's not the glue I've been using. Will have to do some playing with different base coats or maybe even a different powder to see if I can narrow it down and hopefully stop it from happening.

[Saradestin]

So beautiful @RGbrown and thank you for the information! 

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown  Coincidentally, I also tried (for the first time) a dip powder to patch 2 splits for my current manicure. A friend offered me one her extra Orly Nail Rescue Kits. I didn't coat my entire nail with glue + powder either; I just applied it over the splits. I had maybe something similar to your wrinkling, but more like polish thought there was an oil slick where the patch was and needed an extra pass to cover it—even though there was base coat over it. Also, I wound up with a noticeable bubble on one nail because I didn't let the patch dry completely before applying base coat (because impatient), and I might've also used too much glue on that nail. It wasn't bubbled up before I laid down base coat; seems like the powder patch swelled up once something was applied atop it. I didn't have the bubble/swelling problem on the other nail, which is funny because that nail has worse damage to patch. I'm watching to see how long this powder patch holds up before passing final judgment. 

That Londontown yellow is very bright! Sounds like it behaves well, despite needing 4 coats. I love the other polishes too, but Notting The Fancy keeps drawing my attention. 💛

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

Yeah, I'm on the fence a bit with the powder. It's way quicker than teabags, so I'm still leaning towards it as my long term solution, but in other aspects, it's got some headaches. The first one, I did two layers, but that took forever to dry, way longer than I would have expected, and after I took that mani off, I found I needed to redo it anyways. Not a big deal, I always always always break my first teabag patch too, and it was quick and easy to just slap another layer on. Normally once I do that second round with teabags, it holds up fine for a few manis, but this one did not...had to redo it with my next change too. And now, it's broken again 😐 the patch is at least keeping my nail stiff and keeping the crack from flexing much, but I'm also trying to be as careful as I can until I can get to repairing it again later today.

Part of my issues right now stem from daily life though...spring and warmer weather means I've been out doing some decently heavy yard work recently, bagging leaves and dragging limbs and cutting back bushy overgrowth and such, so it's a bit harder for me to say it's the powder's fault when I've been way more active with my hands. And there's also my staunch refusal to just bite the bullet and cut the nail way down...I file a little more off with every polish change, but there's still enough length to put more pressure on that crack than it really needs. 

The wrinkling though, that really bugs me. When I did the second patch, I thought maybe I just hadn't let the first one dry long enough, but I waited an hour or so before putting polish over it this time to make dang sure it was dry (and had only done one layer), and that definitely wasn't it. Sigh. Maybe one day I'll figure out a way to stop that.

[Shosh85]

@RGbrown  Oooh, such a lovely, happy mix of colors! 😍

[RGbrown]

@Shosh85 

Thanks so much! 💖

[CookieGirl1]

I appreciated your explanation/review on the nail repair, @RGbrown!  That's definitely something that happens regularly for me; I'll have to refer back to this later.

[RGbrown]

@CookieGirl1 

Thanks so much! May you never need it, but I hope it helps if you do! 💖

[ather]

@RGbrown  I love the speckles!!! Loving the yellow! It’s so pretty! Rain daisy is also beautiful! Thanks for sharing your tips on the broken nail! I need to test this out. I have a problematic nail! 

[RGbrown]

@ather 

Thanks so much! Ugh, I'm sorry you've got a problem child, but maybe this'll help! 💖

[CynthieLu]

Love this combination @RGbrown  defintley very spring has sprung 😄

Thank you sooo much for the informative post, that was really good information. My nails are soo short but I'm putting that info in the bank in case I can successfully get some length on these things one day