OK, I know there must be some great words of wisdom out there concerning what to do while nail polish is drying.  Do you have favorite activities to pass the time?  Do you just go on about your business and hope not to touch them?  And while you are at it, do you know of any kinds of nail polish that cover well and are fast drying?  Which brands would you avoid?  Please share with us.

Kristi

Well i use loreal jetset  which drys fast but if i was going to do soemthing while they dried i would read or watch tv.

The only other one i have tried is rimmel london which i dislike.

Kristi, hopefully the type of nail polish you wear will dry in five minutes tops; otherwise, you need to change brands hon..

Never ever buy Artmatic, Sinful, Sally Hansen and all those cheapo brands at Walgreens or Longs (by cheapo, I mean those who are below $2.99)  The colors are nice, but they just don't work.  IMO Revlon, L'Oreal, CoverGirl, Maybelline are okay and aren't expensive.  But if you want to spend a little bit more and get the good stuff, you definitely have to try MAC, Lancome or Clinique.

I was shown to buff my nails before applying nail products, then use a clear nail polish to even out the surface of the nail and afterwards apply nail color.  You can always add an extra coat of clear nail polish on top of that so that it lasts longer.  What can you do while it dryes?  Watch TV, listen to music, anything that doesn not involve your hands...

tink

OPI polishes are hands down the best and the only ones I use except on the rare occasion. Their colors are true, plenty, shiney, and super long lasting! Take it from a GG who has perfectly manicured nails at all times  ask Brooke LOL!

For me, all nail polish work except the darker ones.
The darker ones, as soon as you have a small chip, it looks horrible
and I have to remove and redo all. They are also very hard to
apply uniformily (At least for me) and the color variation from nail to nail drives me up the wall.

I normally buy Revlon, though their deeply colored nail polish seem to dry 10 times faster than the more translucent ones (the ones I like), since it partially dries while I'm doing one nail which leads to a very ugly patchy mate effect if by accident you go over a partially dried area.

At least a pink translucent one (looks like a pink seashell) you can chip almost all fingers and it won't look too bad.

I think tink has the perfect advice, make sure the nail has a smooth surface and has been filed all around, use a fine filer to remove all surface imperfections then put a clear base coat, one of a few coats of nail polish (depending on the effect and dept of colors you seek) and then cover with a clear coat.

Every few days, look for tiny chipping (on the borders, delicately file so they are not jagged, file do fine filing (don't use the big filler or you'll chip your nails more), then reapply a top coat.

Well I guess we all go through stages of trying polish.  But the cheaper ones, like Sally Hansen just don't dry quickly enough to make it work for me.  I have some Revlon, but it seems to do the matte pattern Keira talks about.  I have some of Ulta's house brand that seems to work well, and OPI works flawlessly just about every time.  Expensive?  Yes, but I don't think I'll ever buy another kind.  I was first introduced to OPI at Julie's house.  She has a huge box with just about every color they make.  Talk about fun!

One other note, I've found some setting spray at Wal-mart that makes the cheaper kind dry faster.  It really does work, and is a good option if you are in a hurry, or just want to use up a nice shade is a cheap brand.

Kristi

Quote from: Tink on May 25, 2007, 12:30:51 AM
Never ever buy Artmatic, Sinful, Sally Hansen and all those cheapo brands at Walgreens or Longs (by cheapo, I mean those who are below $2.99)  The colors are nice, but they just don't work.  IMO Revlon, L'Oreal, CoverGirl, Maybelline are okay and aren't expensive.  But if you want to spend a little bit more and get the good stuff, you definitely have to try MAC, Lancome or Clinique.

Ok, since we are getting into fighting words here I will chip in with my experiences with  the Sally Hansen brand top coat. In a word, it works fine. Ok, so that is two words But seriously, I've had no complaints with the top coat stuff, none at all.

As far as actual color goes I've played with the bonbon brand and that is fine so far, but a bit thick for my likes. So, I've been pretty happy with the Love my Nails brand. No complaints there. I have no complaints with the NutraNail base coat either.

So all in all, the biggest complaint I can come across is the little trial color sized bonbon's brand tends to be thicker than I like.

^*shrug*
The world will end for sure


Now, this said I would not know 'good stuff' if it bit me so ^*shrug* call me a ghetto girl I guess. (An if you do, I'll bite you.) But from my point of view, cheap does not denote bad. It is, after all, just nail polish...





Oh, and yea, this stuff dries pretty fast these days an I use a base, color x2, compliment(i.e. sparkles!), top coat an I get decent millage out of them. Not NEARLY what I want but ^*shrug* I suppose a month of the same color would be boring... As for what to do... just don't bump your nails! I tend to read or chat with me Mum...

Quote from: Tink on May 25, 2007, 12:30:51 AM
Never ever buy Artmatic, Sinful, Sally Hansen and all those cheapo brands at Walgreens or Longs (by cheapo, I mean those who are below $2.99)  The colors are nice, but they just don't work.  IMO Revlon, L'Oreal, CoverGirl, Maybelline are okay and aren't expensive.  But if you want to spend a little bit more and get the good stuff, you definitely have to try MAC, Lancome or Clinique.

I love Sinful and recommend them to everyone. They have over 200 colors and call all be bought straight from their web site. The key to making them last is using a good top coat. I use Sally Hanson Mega-Shine to protect the polish. I try to do my nails at least once a week but if I touch up just the top coat, I can go three weeks without having to worry about it.

When I do my nails it takes me a few hours to complete the entire process. I take my time with the entire process. I set up my desk lamp in the living room so I have full lighting on my hands so I get every little bit of polish on the nail and the excess off. I also break out my magnifying mirror between coats and tweeze any stray facial hairs that didn't fall out on their own and touch up my eyebrows.

I have refined this to almost a fine art and take great care and precision in the way I go about it. there is nothing like doing my nails to a kevin smith movie-thon. lol

Quote from: Renae.Lupini on June 06, 2007, 01:21:42 PM
there is nothing like doing my nails to a kevin smith movie-thon. lol

What is this, some kind of Amy-biography?  You're not a Jersey Girl Mallrat, are you?   

You can't go wrong with the OPI brand, but it does cost a bit.  I've also been very happy with the Ulta store brand...my current fav is Sweet Tart, a translucent strawberry color.  It dries very quickly, which is useful when applying it in the parking lot at work...(dry to the touch in the time it takes to drive the 3-4 blocks and 2 stop lights, from the parking lot to the highway).

Additionally, I file the tops smooth (very fine grit...no ridges) and buff them until they are super shiny with a chamois buffer.  This gives a natural look so the folks at work don't freak out, but you also great looking shiny nails...kind of a "best of both worlds" thing.

.....Laurry

I've been nail watching.  It seems that the current trend is for women to paint their toenails and use clear on their fingernails.  Has anyone else noticed that, or is this just a local thing?  Either way, it works well for me.  Shoes cover the toes and the clear nails so far haven't attracted much attention.  I was behind some women checking out and I heard them say they would not use anything but Piggy Polish any more.  It's expensive at Ulta.  Has anyone tried it?

Kristi

  I love the Sally Hansen colors...true, they do take longer to set but the colors are awesome and the clearcoat is the best I've found.  For quick set brands I like OPI or the Ulta brands. 

I have electric blue color on my toes and I just got a Solar Pink & White ( with the white being a more subtle white called AMerican where the French appears to be a Bright White. )

I love them 

Daisy

OPI polishes are hands down the best and the only ones I use except on the rare occasion. Their colors are true, plenty, shiney, and super long lasting!


I agree 100%. It's the best one I have found


             JESSI

I just bought a nail kit from Seacret. There's a polishing block of wool/cotton/silk, some mineral oil, and a really high quality emery board thing. And a body wash or lotion, I forget exactly.

I'm not sure what the long term effect will be, but it shows promise. The way the guy at the mall shined one of my nails up, it's still incredibly shiny, smooth, and strong. I haven't spent as much time on all of my nails as he did on that individual one during the demonstration, but it's maybe a good thing that all my nails aren't that shiny  He said "I hope it isn't a problem, you're stuck with it for up to two weeks :v"

I've avoided treating my nails in any way prior to this, (a single salon manicure, aside from my usual shaping and trimming), because long nails like I have are enough of an attention getter without them being polished and I've heard most products actually damage the nail, but I quite like the way this stuff works so far.

I've got incredibly strong nails because I take 5mg of biotin/day, I haven't torn a nail while on biotin in nearly two years (the one time I tore a nail, I'd been off biotin a month and a half.) I very rarely even chip them (like seriously under 5 times), and my nails are generally 1/4th of an inch or longer. We'll see if polishing the grooves out of them every two weeks or so ends up weakening them, if it does, I'll stop using it.

Consider it!

I have mine done at the nail salon.  There is nothing like a manicure and pedicure to start the day.
I use OPI when doing my own nails.