Repairing a cracked nail, update

Well, Unfortunately I got a bad tear on the side of one thumbnail.  Unfortunately for me that is!  For you guys, LUCKY!  Because now I get to show you how to do the silk repair on a real nail!  :)

Here is my updated video.

Repairing a cracked nail

I often get asked how I repair a cracked or split nail.  I have a couple nails where I tend to get low splits on the sides near the quick.  For one, they can be painful if the nail tears all the way across.  Secondly, I never like having a shortie nail, so whenever possible I will repair the split with some silk and glue under my gel manicures until it grows out enough that I can either deal with the nail being a tad shorter or until it's filed off completely.

At the moment I don't have any splits or tears, So for the tutorial I did this on a sample nail with a line drawn to simulate a crack.  Next time I have a nail that splits and needs repairing I'll do one on my own nail and update this posting.

In addition to your usual gel manicure supplies, you need some brush on glue, silk or fiberglass nail wraps (I prefer the self-adhesive silk wraps), and very sharp small scissors or large nail clippers to cut the nail wrap.

Using very sharp scissors or the nail clippers, cut a small piece of the silk wrap.  Just a small rectangle enough to cover the split and a little bit around it.  If you don't have very sharp scissors, the edge of the nail wrap tends to fray and can leave your manicure not as smooth as it should be.

With the self adhesive nail wraps it's very easy to carefully place the piece of silk or fiber over the split, and smooth it down and into place with a dotting tool, cuticle push, orangewood stick or toothpick, whatever you have handy.  Make sure the silk or fiber goes right up to the very edge of the nail where the crack is.  You can even let it hang over just a tiny bit, as you can file it smooth later.

Apply a very thin layer of brush on nail glue over the silk and let it dry.  When it's dry, add another thin layer for additional strength.

When it's completely dry, take a fine buffer block (mine is a 240 grit I think) and gently buff over the repair to smooth it down.  Don't over buff it or you'll weaken your repair, just enough to smooth it.  You can use a nail file along the edge in a DOWNWARD MOTION ONLY to smooth the edge or side of the nail if you left any material hanging over.

Now continue on with your Gel manicure as usual!  Basecoat, color coats, and topcoat.  Voila!  All fixed!

If the split is very large, I will also add Gelish Structure Gel to my manicure in between the base coat and color coats.  Just a thin layer or two is all you need to add a bit more strength.  Even without adding the Structure, most of my split repairs last me a full two weeks.

Just remember, when you soak off your gel polish, the repair will soak off too.  Either you need to redo it each manicure or file off your color very gently instead.  I think it's much easier to just fix the crack again than to file off the color.

Check out the tutorial on YouTube!

Soak off Gel Water Marble and Peek-a-boo glitter

This next tutorial is a two-for-one special, LOL.  Within the video for the water marbling, I give you a quick how-to on doing a Peek-a-boo glitter design.  


Water marbling...... Well, let me say that I am the queen of suck when it comes to doing this with regular polish.  So, if you are like me and gave up on the idea of water marbling, give it another try with the gel polish.  It's much easier, and if you mess up you just wipe it off and start over!  


Personally I like to do this over a completed manicure.  That way, if I mess up and/or hate the way it came out I can easily wipe it off and try again without ruining what's underneath. I've done it this way and it came out fine and wore as well as any other manicure.  I usually just do this as an accent nail or two.  Another advantage to doing it over a complete manicure - it can spice up a mani you are getting bored with.  


In addition to your regular nail supplies you need a small cup with some room temp water (I use bottle water because I live on a well and our water sucks, LOL), lots of extra paper towels handy, and some toothpicks or manicure sticks.  


Since I like to do this over a completed manicure, I recommend doing a start-to finish manicure.  I do like having a base color, as some areas of the water marble may be sheer and color would show through a little bit, so use something complementary.  Alternatively you could do just base and topcoat with no color in between, or do just one layer of color instead of two.  


Water marble nails:

1. Open all your bottles of gel polish you are using and line them up around your cup in the order you want to drop them into the water.  
2. Drop the color into the water
1. The first drop will spread out the most, and will almost disappear onto the water surface because it's so thin
2. The next drops wont' spread as much, and you may have to shake the cup gently to get them to spread a little
3. Hold your brush close to the water and just let the drops fall.  You don't want to touch the brush to the water as you can contaminate your polish then.  You also don't want to let the drops fall from too high above the cup, or they will just sink right to the bottom and not spread out
4. I usually do 2-3 rounds of my colors
3. Make your design
1. Take a toothpick, manicure stick, dotting tool or whatever you want to use, and make your design.  You can carve out from the outside in toward a center point, in from the center toward the outiside, etc.  Whatever you want to do!  
4. Dip 1-2 fingers at a time, depending on the size of the cup you are using and your design.  
1. You want to dip them in with our nail plate parallel to the top of the water and the design, as much as possible
2. try to do this in one smooth motion into the cup
5. With your fingers still in the water, clean up all the excess polish on the surface of the water with a toothpick, manicure stick, etc. 
1. It's going to form a gloopy mess on the stick
2. This is why you need plenty of paper towels handy to set this messy stuff on top of!  :)
6. Clean up your fingers
1. I use a paper towel to wipe off the bulk of the mess on my fingers
2. You can then take a manicure stick and clean up around the cuticle and sidewalls
3. wipe a cotton pad or ball with alcohol over your fingers to remove any remaining gel before you cure.  
7. Cure for 2 minutes in a UV lamp
8. Apply Top it off, cap free edge, cure 2 minutes

The Peekaboo glitter nails:

This is something you can do as a complete manicure when you are first doing it, or something you can do as an add on over a previous glitter mani when you get bored with it (is it even really possible to get bored with a glitter mani?  LOL).

I've also done this to make a french with glitter tips.  Instead of adding glitter only at the tip, I will do the whole nail as glitter, then add a color and carve out the smile line.  It makes a much smoother and cleaner smile line than when I try to just add a tip of glitter.  The whole manicure ends up being smoother as well when done this way.  And you can carve out whatever you like as a design, leaving the glitter "peeking" out from under the color.  

1. Start out with your basic glitter manicure: base coat, 1-2 coats of color and then glitter scrubbed into the tacky layer
2. Now you can proceed one of two ways
1. Apply top it off and put your color over it, carve design, cure and topcoat again
2. Simply apply color over the glitter instead of top it off first, carve design, cure color coat, and then apply top it off and cure
3. Either way you want to do this, when you apply your color coat, just make it a nice, thin layer
4. Take a small brush dampened slightly with alcohol and carve your design out of the color
1. You can also use a toothpick, corner of a manicure stick, dotting tool, etc. 
5. You may want to flash cure each nail for a few seconds as you go.  
1. If you let it alone too long the nice crisp line will start to blur a little sometimes
2. If you have very small/narrow areas you carved out, the gel polish will try to self-level those right back together.  
6. When you are done carving your design, cure in the UV light 2 minutes
7. Add top it off, cap free edge, cure 2 minutes.

One of my best water marbles:

The colors just all worked so nicely together, and it looked great over the holo-y background because in the sheer areas you could see the blue holo underneath.

Spectraflair Franken Manicures

Spectraflair is a holographic pigment.  It's actually intended for automotive paint and industrial uses.  That being said, here's my disclaimer:


It is recommended that you use a mask when dealing with Spectraflair.  If I were making large quantities of anything and had dust flying, I would.  I don't feel it's necessary to franken a tiny amount of gel polish.  I have several other "car paint pigments" and I've not had any fingers turn green and fall off, I've not had any reactions, etc.  However, if you are concerned or not comfortable using this, DON'T.  I am not recommending anyone try this or use any other product that isn't intended for use in nails or cosmetics, this is just my personal experience and what I do.  


Spectraflair is a very, very, VERY fine powder that has a holographic effect.  It actually comes in a few different particle sizes, from 20-35 microns.  What I have currently is the 20 micron size, but I'm trying to get some of the 35 micron size, as it is supposed to be a bit more blingy.  


The Spectraflair isn't a super-bright, obvious holo.  Indoors or not well-lit areas it just looks shimmery.  Outside or in well lit indoor areas however, it creates a very nice holo effect.   The holo effect is more predominant when used over a black base or other very dark color.  


I've mixed Spectraflair into Structure gel and also into a few colors of gel polish.  It seems to work fine either way.  With the structure (or you could use TIO), you can mix a tiny amount to make a more sheer topcoat, or you can mix a slightly larger amount in to get an opaque silver color.  Either way, the amount you need is REALLY tiny!  


For this Manicure I mixed up the Spectraflair with Gelish's Up in the Blue

Here is a close up of one of the nails:

 Here are some other samples I've done:

From left to right: Spectraflair mixed into Structure to make opaque, Spectraflair mixed with black and painted over a black base coat, Spectraflair mixed into Gelish Up in the Blue (I used a bit too much spectraflair here, but it came out great when I did the manicure), Spectraflair mixed with Gelish Exhale

Here is a the video on mixing spectraflair with Structure, but again you can use any color you want to mix with.  Or, you can apply any color polish, then use clear mixed with spectraflair as a topcoat over it.  :)

Rockstar (or glitter) Nails & Toes

Next up I have a tutorial for how to do Rockstar nails/toes (or Glitter nails/toes).  


It's a really, really easy process!  It's just like doing a regular mani or pedi, just with one extra step - you scrub glitter into the lefty tackiness of one of your layers!  Yep, that's really all there is to it!  

1. Prep your nails as usual - file and shape, do your cuticle work, clean off any dirt or filing dust, etc.  
2. Apply dehydrator and let dry a few seconds
3. Apply bonder if you need it and let dry
4. Apply thin layer of base coat, cap free edge, cure 1 minute in UV lamp
5. Apply a thin layer of color, cap free edge, cure 2 minutes.
• What color you choose is up to you, but I recommend using a color that's similar to your glitter color.
• For Example here I used a dark metallic silver because I was using silver glitter.  If I was using red glitter, I might use something like Gelish Hot Rod Red or Stand Out
6. You can apply a second layer of color if you want to, but if you are covering the whole nail with glitter as we are here, it's not really necessary.  
7. Using a small brush dampened slightly with alcohol pick up some glitter and gently pat and "scrub" it into the tacky layer
• Keep picking up the glitter and scrubbing it in until the whole nail is covered
8. After the entire nail is covered, take your brush and quickly brush back and forth and from top to bottom to brush off any excess glitter.  This also help make sure all the glitter pieces are laying flat.
9. If I'm using a larger size glitter, like 0.008" or larger, I generally will apply a coat of Structure gel over the glitter to help smooth it all out.  Alternatively, you can use two layers of topcoat if you need it.  
10. Apply top it off, cap free edge, and cure two minutes.  
• It has been recommended that you use a separate topcoat for glitter work so you don't end up with glitter mucking up your topcoat.  
• Personally, I haven't had an issue with this and have never used a separate topcoat.  Applying a layer of structure after the glitter would be done with a separate brush, thus your topcoat bottle brush would be protected anyway.  
• If a rare piece of glitter does end up in my topcoat brush, I just wipe the brush with a clean paper towel and it's fine.  I'm still using my original bottle of topcoat that I bought almost a year ago.  

Nars Orgasm Blush and Black Funky French

Hello Everyone!  So my current manicure is a funky french with a custom color that I mixed up using Nars Orgasm blush.  I use black for the tips.  It's a very fun mani!  

1. Do the basic prep on your nails first - have them clean and shaped, cuticle work done, etc.  
2. Next is to mix up the custom color that I used for the nail bed.  For the video below I'm only doing one nail that I broke and needed repairing, so I'm using a very small amount of product.
• Place a small amount of Structure on a piece of tin foil.  For this I used 2 little blobs of stucture, and one would've been more than enough really.  For a full manicure I use 3-4 blobs.  If I were using a bottle polish color, I use 8-10 drops for a full 2-coat manicure.  That of course will vary depending on the length of your nails.  
• Using the end of your mixing stick, scrape a small amount of the Nars blush onto the top of your little blob of gel.  Mix it all together.  You can always add more if you want it to be darker or more pigmented
3. Now that your color is mixed up, start working on your nails
• Apply Dehydrator and let it try a few seconds
• Apply bonder if you use it and let it dry
• Apply base foundation gel, cap free edge, and cure 1 minute in a UV lamp
4. Now it's time to apply your custom color
• Using a gel brush, scoop a very small amount of the color you made off the tin foil and apply it thinly, just like you would Structure alone or a pot-style gel.  The viscosity of the Structure is a bit thicker than regular Gelish, so it can take some practice.  
• Apply a thin coat, cap your free edge and cure 2 minutes.
• Apply second coat, cap free edge and cure 2 minutes. 
5. Next is to apply the black tips.
• I used EZ Flow Gelez Pitch Black, because it's what I have.  Other blacks are Gelish Black Shadow, Shellac Black Pool, ACG Swag, RCM Black Stretch Limo, etc
• Wipe most of the polish off the bottle brush and apply a VERY thin layer of the black to the tip of your nail.  Don't worry if it's not a perfect smile line!  You'll clean it up next.  Make sure to cap your free edge.
• Dip a small brush into a bit some alcohol, and wipe the excess off the brush - you only want it damp, not dripping.  
• From the center to the edges, clean up and smooth out the smile line
• Cure for 2 minutes in a UV Lamp
• Repeat for a second coat - the second coat often doesn't need much if any cleanup, because you have a guide you are already following from the fist coat
6. Apply Topcoat
• Apply a thin layer of Top it Off over the whole nail, cap free edge, cure 2 minutes
7. Finish
• Wipe with alcohol to remove the tacky layer
• Apply cuticle oil

Here is the video.  You can see it also on YouTube

Videos now up on YouTube!

Ok, Ok.  So, I know I said I wouldn't be doing any videos for a couple of reasons, but I decided to give it a shot anyway.  My editing isn't so good, and I'm having to use a crappy old camera for the video because I cannot find the charger to my digital camcorder, and my regular video program I use to convert videos from my DSLR isn't working for some reason - hubby says missing a codec or something.  Sigh.  So, at any rate, crappy old digital camera in movie mode and Window's movie maker for the editing, but it does an OK job.

I just thought it would be easier to show you guys some things than try to just explain them.  I will go through the step by step here and also link to the videos.

for future reference, this is my YouTube Channel.  :)

I will go back and add videos to previous posts when I get videos done that relate to those posts.  :)