Prevent Polish Chipping and Peeling

This is the most common issue most people have with regular nail polish.  So what are some of the causes of nail polish chipping and peeling?

PROPER NAIL PREP- This is the most important step to prevent polish peeling.  If there is any natural oils on your nails, the polish will peel up, usually in sheets.  To effectively remove oils from your nails without thinning them (ie, buffing), wash your hands with soap and water and use a nail brush to clean around the cuticle and under the nail.  After washing your hands, cleanse the nail surface with a nail prep or rubbing alcohol. After prepping your nails, immediately apply your base coat of polish.  Note: Do not let the nail surface you want to polish touch your skin or hair before you apply your polish.  If you do, you put oil right back on the surface and your polish might peel.
 
USE BASE COAT - Base coat nail polish is usually more "rubberized" than other nail polishes and can cling to the natural nail better than applying polish without it.

USE A TOP COAT- A top coat will not only protect your polish color and add shine but it also adds durability and hardness. After your manicure, if you apply a top coat every 2-3 days after your manicure and cap around the tip of your nail where you file, your polish will last longer than if you do not.

WATER - Washing your hands before you polish is a good idea but too much water after you polish your nails, especially the first 4-6 hours afterward, can be detrimental to your manicure.  In the first 4-6 hours, your polish is still not completely dry, your nails will swell and expand the polish with the nail.  When the nail drys and shrinks back to it's normal size, your polish won't and increase the chance of it chipping when it finally does finish drying.

OLD OR CONTAMINATED POLISH - Old nail polish is thick and hard to work with.  It also takes forever to dry!  Some people decide that they need to thin out their polish with polish remover but this breaks down the polish in a manner that reduces it's adhesion properties.  Thin your polish with Nail Polish Thinner.  This can be found in your local beauty supply.

For more information on how to properly thin out and care for your polish, 

see Reviving Old Nail Polish and Maintaining Your Favorite Nail Polish.

Bella10 CutiOil is the Best Cuticle Oil Ever!

I am  always busy!  I work in a salon full time, I write blogs about nail care and nail care products I like, so yes, I'm always busy.  We won't even mention my social life...  But this time I've added more to my busy life.  I've decided to get busy creating my own line of all natural nail care products.  And it feels right!  I feel that it's a natural progression in my career

 Since I've been in the beauty industry for over 30 years, worked with all kinds of products, I know what type of products work and with what kind of ingredients are best.  I've always wanted my own brand of Cuticle Oil, hence my saying "Oil, Oil, Oil" to all my clients and friends.  Oil in the natural nail helps to minimize nail peeling nails and it reduces nail breakage.

Presto!  Bella10 CutiOil!

But I had to have the right combination of natural oils, with natural vitamin content (A,C,D & E), that would hydrate the nail and the cuticle.  I knew that I wanted Almond Oil to soften the nail and allow the nail to bend a little and not break if it was bumped.  I wanted an oil to mimic the skin's own natural sebum.  Luckily, I not only found one in Jojoba Oil but I also found another that I just love, Macadamia Nut Oil.  When our skin slows in producing it's own oil, we need to topically apply something to help the nails and skin stay hydrated.  I also wanted Apricot Kernel Oil because it has a very small molecular structure and can be a carrier oil and draw the extra vitamin E that I wanted to add deeper into the nail itself.  I added a very light Egyptian Geranium and Rose fragrance too.  Wish this screen had a scratch and sniff so I could share how light and beautiful this fragrance really is.

I am very pleased with the mixture of all these fantastic natural oils.  The quality of the cuticle oil compares with some of the major brands that are on the market and the price is better than what you will find too.  I will be retailing CutiOil at only $9.99 per bottle and I am accepting wholesale accounts.

This is just the beginning, as it looks like I have the beginnings of making my own brand. CutiOil is available on the Bella10 website!

To find out more about the lotions, see

"Why You Should Consider Natural Ingredients in Your Skin Care and Cosmetics" 

 

Prevent Peeling Nails

In my last post, I told you about an amazing TopInox® Stainless Steel Nail Clipper from Zamberg, that cuts so cleanly, and when used correctly will minimize micro-cracks in the nail plate that cause peeling nails.  Of course, it is always best to clip the nail after the nail has been soaked for at least 2 minutes. 

Clipping the nail is great if you need to take a lot of nail off at one time.  But even after clipping, the nail needs to be filed.  One of the best files I've come across over the years is a glass nail file, and luckily, Zamberg has those too!  Hey, I love one stop shopping!  lol

Check out these beauties!

 

I love that they have Bling too!

  

I personally like a pointed tip to my personal nail file

so I can clean under my own nails easily.

But seriously...

Glass nail files are gentle, yet effective way of filing the nails and preventing micro-tears between the flattened nail plates.  Micro-cracks and micro-tears can be caused by aggressive filing with a coarse nail file.  Also remember that filing the nails should always be from the side to the tip.  As shown below.

Artwork by Dawn Loberg, from "The Secret to Beautiful Natural Nails"

 Also, angle your file as shown here.

Artwork by Dawn Loberg, from "The Secret to Beautiful Natural Nails"

When ever you file, you will find small frays that stick out.  Be certain to gently file or buff that off with a light touch with your file or a very fine nail file or buffer.  A fray is an over-sized micro-tear. The less pressure with the file will be gentler to the natural nail and a nice glass file will do this beautifully.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you learned something new!

Want to know more on how to prevent peeling nails? Then you need to know about

 "Bella10 CutiOil is the Best Cuticle Oil Ever!"

Bella10 CutiOil is available at Bella10.com

Nail Polish Techniques Made Simple

I've shown many people how to polish a nail so that they do not get the polish on the cuticle.  I even describe in in my book "The Secret to Beautiful Natural Nails".  I describe it as a 4 Stroke Method, until now!  I love this easy visual from The Polished Perfectionist.  The reason I love it so much is it shows the initial polish brush placement on the nail.

1. Place the polish brush on the nail and fan out the brush slightly
2. Push the fanned out polish brush slowly toward the cuticle making certain to leave a "hairline" area bare between the cuticle and the polish.
3. Pull the polish brush to the tip of the finger.
4. Polish one side by placing the brush to the side of your original starting area and fill in the one side without touching the skin
5. Polish the other side
6. Polish the very tip of the nail where you would file it.

Don't forget when you are polishing your nails it is important to use a base coat (it holds the color to the nail and prevents chipping and peeling), your color (usually 2 coats) and a top coat (for shine and increased durability).

If you get a little polish on your skin, have an manicure stick handy.  Apply your top coat and apply a small amount of the top coat to your skin where the color is.  Wipe off the topcoat and color polish from your skin, avoiding the nail itself.  No polish remover necessary if you are dealing with a small area.  To help with drying, apply a cuticle oil, like CutiOil, to the cuticle area of your nails (don't be afraid to be generous) and have a cup of ice handy.  The cold cup of ice chills your fingertip as you hold the cup and sets your polish up faster.   It usually take 15 minutes for your polish to set up enough not to smudge and about an hour for it to not dent.

For further reading on Natural Nail Care, see 

"8 Tips on How to Grow your Nails Faster and Stronger" 

Chipped Polish

Why do most women, even after a great manicure in their favorite nail salon, have problems with their polish chipping.

There are several reasons that polish chips or peels.

Let's take a look at application first.

Peeling is usually because there is too much oil on the natural nail between the nail itself and the base coat of polish. It is very important to clean the natural nail of any and all oils, creams and lotions, paying special attention to the tip and cuticle area. This is a very important step if you want your polish to stay. Polish itself, should also be kept out of the cuticle area. Applying a base coat (because it is more flexible and adheres better to the natural nail), two coats of the color polish and then a good topcoat (which adds shine and protects the color from wear) is important. When applying the base coat and the top coat, it is always a good idea to apply the polish around the tip of the nail where you file the nail.

The polish itself. . .
 

It is always a good idea to use fresh polish and not polish that is too old or thinned out improperly. This type of polish will usually breakdown quicker than a fresher polish. To keep your polish fresher, longer, keep the neck of the bottle and the inside cap free of polish as this allows air into the bottle and thus thickens it more quickly.

Water

Stay out of water for long periods of time 24 hours after having your nails done. The reason is that your nails are made of the same types of cells as your skin, they have just dried out and flattened out as they grow out from your cuticle area. Also, your skin swells as it absorbs the water that you are in. It doesn't take too long for this to happen. So if your skin swells when it is in water, so do your nails. If your polish has not fully set (which it takes a full 24 hours to completely set) and you are in water long enough for your nails to start swelling, your polish is going to swell with it. When your nails contract again, your polish won't. You have increased your risk of your polish chipping just by taking a quick swim in the pool, or soak in a hot tub.

Maintenance

 

Yes, I said maintenance. We can't apply polish to our nails and expect it to just magically stay there without any wear and tear. If your polish can chip by having your nails swell while the polish is drying, imagine that your polish has completely dried. Polish is plastic and while it is slightly flexible, it is not invunerable. Your nails, through wear, are continually expanding and contracting when it is in water. Eventually, the polish will disengage from the nail where it keeps expanding and contracting. Like water under a shingle. So all you have to touch is a towel and the polish chips off where it loosened. The trick is to keep applying polish down the nail and around the tip of the nail (where you would file) starting the day after your manicure.It really isn't difficult to maintain your polish if you follow the above procedures. 

For more info on natural nail care and to get the latest book

"The Secret to Beautiful Natural Nails"

Visit the following websites
http://www.bella10.com/
or
http://www.secrettobeautifulnaturalnails.com/