Saving Your Own Nails

TIP OF THE WEEK #21 

SAVING YOUR OWN NAILS By Vicki Peters (circa 2000)

I know as well as anyone that as a professional nail tech our nails should look good all the time and that is nearly impossible. If your nails need a fill, are filed to a point and half the polish is off, when you go to the bank to make your deposit the bank teller, or anyone else for that matter, is not going to ask you where you get your nails done. We are a walking advertisement and our nails should look good all the time.

So here are some suggestions.

1. Make a standing appointment with a salon down the street and get them done. Enjoy having your nails done just like your clients do. Oh I can hear  it now, I don't like the way anyone else does my nails, I am so particular",  well get over it because having them done not quite to your liking is better  than not having them done at all.

2. Make a standing appointment with someone in your salon whose work you do  like and pay her for the appointment so you don't get bumped.

3. Wear them natural and buff them to a high shine. Nails are nails even if  you specialize in artificial nails.

4. Cover your acrylic nails after you polish them with gels to protect the  polish. Gel is acetone resistant and you can buff off the top layer to get to  the polish to remove it and do a fill.

5. Wearing tips that melt? Apply a layer of gel to the underside to protect  them.

6. Cover the nails you tend to file with the stretchy wrap made specifically  for this. Problem is it looks pretty tattered by the end of the day and you  have to remove it every time you wash and I am assuming your washing your  hands in between every client.

7. Do as I do - wear a bankers rubber finger on your thumb and index fingers  that get hit the most with files.

8. Remove the client's polish with the cotton in between your fingers,  between your first and second knuckle, keeping the cotton away from the tips  of your fingers.

9. Have the client use a polish remover machine.

10. Schedule time to do your nails at the end of each week when you're done  taking clients, before you go home.

I know this is a challenge, it is for everyone. But remember you are a  walking advertisement and if you do not have time, which most of us don't  make the time so you always are presentable. And if your going to a trade  show don't go unless you are wearing your very best work. We all inspect each

other's nails at shows and it is important that they look good. Trust me  everyone looks at mine at shows and even if someone else does my nails I tell  them I do them! Except when I am wearing nails from someone like Kym Lee  or  Tom Holcomb!

Vicki

DISCLAIMER

Any products mentioned in the "Tip Of The Week by Vicki Peters" is not an endorsement of any kind.

The Peters Perspective

"When you stop learning your career ends and your job begins"

Tricks of the Trade: Applying Nail Tips with Acrylic

TIP OF THE WEEK #14:  TIP APPLICATION IN ACRYLIC by Vicki Peters

Diana Bonn posed a question about a comment I recently made on the list about applying tips with acrylic instead of glue, when I was addressing the tips not holding up. Glue, gel glue and most bonding agents and resins are all cynoacrylates. Cynoacrylates break down in water and acrylics don't, that is a fact. So every time you wash your hands you're contributing to the breakdown of the glue you are wearing.

Now I am not stating that glue is not good - do not misunderstand me - what I am claiming is that acrylic is stronger and bonds longer to the natural nail.

I am a huge fan of cutting the wells out of tips, refining the smile lines and placing the edge of the tip on the edge of the nail. It is a cosmetic way of applying a tip that gives very little strength, the strength is in the overlay. If the overlay does not have a properly balanced overlay and is weak on the sides and stress are the tip will break. Same goes for a sculpture. So make sure your overlay is providing the structure not the tip. Applying the well-less tip on the edge of the natural nail with acrylic will give it more strength to stay on.

 

Here are three suggestions for applying tips with acrylic:

#1  Size out your tips and refine them if you choose to. You can use this method with or without wells, with natural colored tips and French white tips. Prep the nail plate just like you would for a sculptured nail, primer and all. Let the primer dry. One tip at a time turn the tip over so the underneath is facing up. Place a small amount of liquid and powder on the inside of the tip where the contact area is going to be on the nail - a thin layer across the entire edge of the tip. Use pink or clear powder. Place on the nail and hold into place until dry.   This takes a bit more time having to hold the tip while drying but the results will be better. When the tips are secure cut and shape the tips and continue with your overlay procedures.

#2  Another way to do this is to place a small ball of acrylic on the tip of the  natural nail and spread it over the entire edge of the nail. Then press the tip into the acrylic. Again you must hold the tip in place until it is dry. Too much acrylic will squish out and not enough will not give enough strength. When the tips are secure, cut and shape the tips and continue with your overlay procedures.

#3 The third way to apply tips in acrylic is to overlay the entire natural nail with pink powder. Before the acrylic is dry press a white French tip onto the very tip of the acrylic on the natural nail and let dry. Apply the cuticle area very thin or not completely up to the cuticle area. Once you have done this on all ten nails cut and shape the parameter of the tips. Then overlay the entire nail with clear acrylic, right over the pink you already applied with a thin coat and over the white tip. Be sure to view from the side to make sure you have not applied too much clear acrylic on the nail bed and not enough on the tip.

Ok so mow another tip: there is no need to take the shine of the tips once you have applied them. The acrylic will stick to them anyway - however whenever applying gels and fibgerglass you may want to take a white block and remove the shine.

Vicki

The Peters Perspective

"When you stop learning your career ends and your job begins"

DISCLAIMER

Any products mentioned in the "Tip Of The Week by Vicki Peters" is not an endorsement of any kind.

 

 [JZ Note: be careful not to "squish out" the acrylic - when you apply the tip you gently set it on the nail and hold, not rock it on like when using adhesive.  My nail mentor - Terri Lundberg - described it like landing a plane - you "land" the tip very gently and then hold it until dry.  This  technique also gives a fantastic arch to very flat nails (and fills in the gap between the tip and nail)!]