NAILING NAIL ART

Nail Art Tips and Tricks

Hello, Wonderers! This is Wei Ling and today I have a very special nail post. These few items, which I would like to share with you guys, are my personal essentials when it comes to nail art. Of course the nail polish is the most important but I'm just going to mention the things that might differ from others. There's also some of my top tips at the bottom of this post so keep on scrolling.

When it comes to prepping my nails, I don't really take the steps that others use such as pushing their cuticles and buffing their nail beds. I keep it quite simple by just trimming and filing my nails with regular nail clippers and a nail file. Nothing too special. I normally wipe my nails with a piece of tissue soaked with rubbing alcohol or methylated spirit. This is to remove the oil on my nail so that the polish will stick better and last longer. Using alcohol swabs will work just fine but is a bit more pricey.

Cleaning up around the cuticles after painting is one of my top tips, especially for beginners. It makes the nail art look neater and gives the effect of professionally done nails. Just use a cotton bud or a flat brush dipped in nail polish remover to clean up any polish that might have gotten onto your skin.

When your nails start to chip or when it's time to go back to school, removing the nail polish can be a pain, especially glitter nail polishes. I normally use a stronger remover that usually contains acetone to do so. The use of acetone is a very controversial topic but I am all for it. This is because acetone removers usually evaporate faster, which means that the remover will not be sitting on your nails for too long.  

Lastly, taking care of your nails. Nail polishes and remover can be quite damaging to the nails so moisturizing is a key essential to having beautiful nail art designs. A painting wouldn't look very nice on a torn canvas, would it? I have tried quite a few cuticle balms and oils but I find that plain old Vaseline works the best. It is a very cheap and effective solution to hang nails and dry cuticles.

Now here's some extra tips that I have picked up, both from the Internet and through experience.

• Make sure you use the toilet BEFORE you start painting your nails. Even if you don't need to go, do it anyways just in case. Needing to use the toilet with wet nails is sheer torture!!!
• Paint each coat thinly and not just blob a whole lot on. It will take a few extra coats but the finish will definitely be better than one super thick coat. Not to mention, it will also take ages to dry and you risk smudging it in the process.
• Avoid using cotton wool to remove any damaged nail art or clean up while the other nails are still wet. The fuzzy cotton will just end up getting everywhere and sticking to the other nails. Instead, I prefer to use some tissue paper or toilet roll as it has no lint!
• Top coats are one of the most important part of the entire process. I would rather invest in an expensive topcoat than other nail polishes as it really makes a HUGE difference to the final outcome. If the nail polish 'slides' of your nail even after waiting for a long time to dry, it probably has something to do with your topcoat. I would recommend you to buy a new one and start over!
• If your manicure or nail art smudges as you apply your topcoat, it is likely to be because of one of these three things. Your polish wasn't dry enough yet, your black nail polish smudges easily or, again, there's something up with your topcoat. For the first problem, it can be solved by WAITING LONGER! Yes, as simple as that. Just be patient as you wouldn't want your entire manicure to be ruined just because you were impatient. Next, black polishes seem to smudge VERY easily even if it seems completely dry. For that, I would replace the black polish with black acrylic paint. Yep, you heard me right. (more like READ it right huehue) Acrylic paints work very well for fine details as it dries less quickly, giving you more time to perfect the design and doesn't smudge!. Lastly, the top coat. I recommend you to use a fast drying topcoat if you experience the problem of smudging as it dries even before the polish has time to smudge!

That's all I have for now. Thank you so much for reading and please come back next week. Adios, Wonderers!