Now I know some readers may not know
who Macgyver is (My spell check want it to be Maguire tsk tsk tsk).
He is in the league of Chuck Norris and David Hasselhoff's Michael
Knight. He would be hand cuffed to a rail, locked up in a steel
cupboard falling from a plane plummeting into the ocean. He escapes
and stops the bad guy with a bobby pin, toilet roll, an empty egg
carton and a battery. All kinds of bad assery.
Here is my way of making my nails last:
Clean off previous polish push back
your cuticles and file your nails. I choose to use nail polish
remover for acrylic or gel nails as it doesn't dry out your nails.
Wipe down the nail instead of trying to make fire wiping up and down
and left and right. I also recently started using a glass nail file.
It's much gentler than normal nail boards. I choose also NOT to buff
my nails. They are already so thin I don't want to thin them out even
more. Most base coats act as ridge fillers.
Start with a nail primer. This removes
the oils from the nail for better polish adherence. Now we don't have
Sephora with their Formula X here in South Africa. (Why? Is it
because we are African?) So I tested a few DIYs like lemon juice and
apple cider vinegar but the best so far is vodka. I bought a few nail
polish bottles from Westpack, filled one with vodka and it just
works. Paint it on and let it dry.
Next paint your base coat. Not clear
polish. A base coat. I know some brands sell clear polish as base and
that's just not good enough for me. I know Essence has the type I
wanted. It's milky and when you paint it on the texture is a bit
rough. But due to the stores I go to, don't really like to restock.
WTF. So I resorted to make my own plan. I
used Pink Armour “Nail Gel”(Yes I will put that in inverted
commas as it's just normal clear nail polish tinted pink) and added
some Maizena (Corn Starch) until it became milky. (Storing is tricky
as the corn starch settles at the bottom over time. Before using I
mix it up a little with a toothpick)
Paint your colour then base again. Then
colour again. It's best to set aside at least an hour for nail
painting. Make sure to leave proper time to dry. The more layers
you add the longer it takes to dry. The best I can explain is that as
you paint the next layer it 'fuses' with the previous layer it wets
the layer making it fragile for squishing and smudging.
Cool tip: Use Prestik to hold the polish bottle.
Do your nail art. I enjoy Regular Show.
As ain't nobody has time for intricate character designs I did the
title screen background with sponging.
Even if you did not do a design, paint
on a top coat. It gives it that extra shine and make the polish last
that bit longer and seals in the design. With sponging it's like the
blends better.
Clean up the edges with nail polish
remover and either a q tip or a brush. Last step is the difference between a
salon manicure and a DIY. Oil. You could go all fancy and buy a
cuticle oil. I'm too cheap for that. I bought lip gloss roller
bottles from wespack and filled it with extra virgin olive oil. You
can also use coconut oil, sweet almond oil or a mixture. You can buy
small bottles of each at clicks and dischem that are for medicinal
use (Usually by the calamine lotion and caster oil.)
Smear it on each nail and rub it in to
your skin. We've spent all this time removing oil and that dries the
nail bed and cuticle out. The real trick is to cuticle oil every time
you wash your hands. Just because I write it here doesn't mean I do
it. I ain't gonna lie. I try to every night before bed.
You also have to top coat every night
but by the time my nails chip or flake off (depending on the quality
of the polish) I'm bored of my nail design anyway.
That is my Magyver way of doing my
nails. What is you unusual trick to make polish last longer?
é
