Natural Nail Polishing Issues

Ok, so last week I had my acrylic nails taken off. Today I am remembering why I wore them for 15 years plus. Besides the fact that they feel weak and overly sensitive with every day activities (and I realize this will end once they have a chance to recover from the damage) I am having problems with polishing them without getting air bubbles in the finished product. When I had a manicure last week and the technician painted them, of course they had no air bubbles. Now that I change the color and do my own manicure, I get air bubbles.

Here are some tips that I found while googling the issue:

- Let your nails dry completely between coats. DID that. Besides, the nail technician doesn’t wait in between coats!

- Do not put a whole bunch of polish on the brush at one time either. Ok point taken. I will give that a try next time and post my results.

- Your storing the bottles in a too hot of a environment. Ok, point taken, it does indeed get very hot here in the valley. How do I remedy that though? Should I refrigerate my huge collection of nail polish?

- To remove the bubbles place a few drops of fingernail polish remover in the nail polish and shake gently. Does this ruin the varnish after a few times of doing that? I’m going to have to look into that. It seems like too high maintenance of a practice to do every time, plus I doubt the nail shop does that.

- Before applying my base coat I take a cotton pad and wipe my nails with alcohol (ah, not the drinking kind lol) to dry the surface thoroughly! Hmmm, maybe.

- Roll the polish bottle, don’t shake it. – Nope, doesn’t work. Tried it, still have bubbles.

- Don’t “work” the polish too much; the fewer brush strokes the better. This might mean getting polish on your cuticles but you can clean that up after with NP remover and a cuticle stick wrapped in cotton but there’s nothing you can do about bubbles. If you’re only using OPI, try a different brand.

Ok so, I’ve got a few different things to try. In the meantime, here are some more interesting things that might help general nail care:

Polish has a shelf life of about two years especially if stored properly.
More causes of bubbling include drafts, air conditioners, fans etc.