I could add a million disclaimers to this, but I'll just add two:
- I watched a lot of YouTube videos first
- I dove in and tried it, following the directions that came with my products.
There you have it, let's get started.
This whole process is dusty, friends. So have some damp towels or something around to help you clean up.
First, I take off my previous dip. OBVIOUSLY, if you have naked nails, you can skip this step.
I use a rough file and take the shine off.
Then, the interesting part. I heat up about a cup of rice until it's warm to the touch.
I put the warm rice in a bowl. Then I put about 1/4 cup of acetone in a plastic bag and stick my hand in the bag into the acetone and bury my fingertips into the warm rice. (The hair binder helps the fumes stay in the bag, because the fumes are veritable.). The warm acetone takes off non-glitters in about 7 minutes. But you can't heat up acetone because DO YOU WANT TO EXPLODE?!
I lightly file around my cuticles... sometimes. It seems to make my manicure last longer when I do.
Next up, I put one layer of clear dip on. It's just like putting on regular nail polish but you use the base liquid. Then I dip [you dip, we dip] it into the little jar.
I use one of these fingernail brushes and brush the access powder off. IT WILL FEEL EXCESSIVE TO BRUSH IT OFF. But it works better than just layering over that loose powder, I swears.
Now comes the fun part. Color.
I do a thing called "the apex method" and it works for me.
I do the first layer of color on about half the nail.Brush off the excess powder, then do the next layer on about 3/4 of the nail. Brush off that extra!
Then I do full coverage on the next layer.
This is what happens when you put on your base liquid too thick. I'd love to tell you I did this mistake on purpose so you could see what it looks like.
I did not.
Maybe you'll want an extra full coverage layer, but most powders have pretty great opaqueness, so then you can "activate" your nails. Use an activator liquid liberally.
Yes, they look pretty shaggy at this point. It'll be okay.
Then file the shiz out of those babies. I use a regular file and go around the edges of my nail, then straight across side to side. I feel them as I go because having little edges and hanging pieces DRIVES ME CRAZY.
See? That wonky nail got smoothed out!
Once you've filed them to your liking, you get to use that activator again.
Wait a couple minutes, wipe off your nails with a paper towel to make sure all the activator got soaked up (the combo of activator and the third liquid is what makes the dip powder get hard, so try to keep them separate unless they're on your actual nail).
Then you do a quick layer of the top coat. Wait a couple more minutes, then do a NICE layer of top coat. #CapThe Edges (That means brush your top coat on the top edge of your fingernails; it helps with staying power.)
This color is Cherry Bomb from Sparkle & Co.
It glows in the dark.
That's it!
All my nails have lasted 2 weeks, at which point I've had to take them off (so they've could have lasted longer). I haven't had any problems with "lifting" (the dip coming up at the edges by your cuticle) or chipping. There are great groups on Facebook to learn techniques and tricks from, as well as one million YouTube videos that can show you all the ways.