This thread really left me ashamed and thinking no, I don't have art of polishing in sense you described, Gigi, for several reasons (not excuses ).

Firstly, precise polishing is not what I have been trained to, teachers were referring to polishing as something from 'old days when we didn't have coloured gels and powders', and 'ah, surely you know how to polish a nail...'. Well, now that I heard all those tips and tricks, seems to me like I don't.

Secondly, this kind of attitude among teachers and techs (I'm talking about my area, looks like things in UK and SAD are different) produced that trend, or fashion, of doing only gel manicures, and clients don't ask for that service, because they feel like 'polish won't last as long as gel'. Distributors did not encourage me to buy much polish, so retail suffers also.

But it certanly gave me stuff to think about, chalenge to learn something new and surely I hope that Polish Class will come in written form

Based on this thread, can I make a suggestion and ask if Gigi can be involved as much as possible please ....... and yes, it requires critiquing and teaching.

I propose that as many of us as possible (who love, loath, fear, think we are fab but we are not etc....) offer pics of polished nails up for critique? I would suggest French or colour, although the colour should probably be dark as this is less forgiving in terms of errors.

All polish jobs should be on natural nails, not nail trainers as I don't feel this offers a true representation of a real nail. I think it would also be helpful to say how long the actual polish application takes. This needs to be as if offering this service to a real client.

This is not a competition and there are no prizes, but we can all crituiqe and help eachother as well as learn from comments about other peoples work. Honest, constructive and helpful!

What do you think?

right i just popped to do a repair and took a pic of the nails i painted the other day can i post it here and you tell me what you think i am doing wrong??? Now i can see for myself that they are not great..... so no need to state the obvious, hahaha!! just want to know what to do to fix it.....please......

I am only here for the next few days before I go off to the States so I don't know how useful I can be but here are some criteria to aim for:

For applying colour

The finished job should be 4 coats of polish only.

1 thin Base coat
2 thin coats of colour
1 super shiney top coat

There should be no visible brush marks
side walls should be straight as an arrow with a free margin
cuticle line should be perfect with no wobbles
free edge should be coated with no polish underneath

for applying a French:
1 thin Base coat
1 thin coat of semi opaque pink
1 coat of white (and not too long) you should be able to do this in one coat
1 futrther coat of semi opaque pink
1 super shiney top coat

A further suggestion is to always apply your colour to the edge of the free edge BEFORE you apply your colour (this applies to the French white too). Doing this saves marring the surface of the polish.

Premium geeks can post pictures here in the thread
Non premium geeks can post in their albums

Non premium geeks should become premium geeks and help this site!

Thank you Gigi. If you are not available, then we can all help eachother. I will make an effort to go ahead with this. My eldest daughter is not available until Sunday evening, so I will collar her ASAP and do a paint job on her. Poor kid, she is long suffering .

ok ...here gos......(im scared, lol!!)
now i am not making excuses...but i have done better.....its just that i am so used to using CND enamels that i find opi quite think in comparison....but even so...i am still gonna post it......

OK here is my verdict (from judge gigi) lol

I think you could go a little closer to the sidewalls in zone 3 so that the nails do not look narrow in that area making them look slightly flared OR you could accomplish the same effect by leaving more of a free margin down the sides. See what I mean?
Polish is used to create an illusion so create it.
The top coat does not look as shiny as I think it should either in the photo.

But the colour looks to be applied evenly and smoothly and not too thickly and the finished result is clean and professional looking.

I like this thread! I loved polishing in school and usually got way behind in my testing because all the other girls were getting me to polish their nails and do funky designs. I spent tons of money on polishes...I love my polish collection. But then I kind of got away from it once I got into the salon, trying to perfect acrylic and gel techniques.

But then this past couple of weeks dealing with a hateful rash on my arm from acrylic dust is making me wonder if I even want to fool with enhancements. Maybe I should just stick to ultra lux manicures and pedicures. The thought was kind of getting me down as I was looking forward to doing enhancements and I was kind of bummed at the thought of my skin being so sensitive that I might not be able to.

But this thread has reminded me how much I love polishing too! I love doing cool polish jobs and funky nail art. Yay! I think Im going to give all the girls at the salon an awesome flashy polish job this weekend!

cant you wear dark polish? or put black on then a glittery polish over it?

i alays have my nails ploished black/blue/navy/grey/dark green./black and a glittery topcoat!

or could you do some sort of nail art on one finger?

i have black nails just now and the amount of people in college today who asked me who did the red nose on my ring finger!

just an idea....

Two things drive me nuts: when a client WANTS the polish touching the eponychium (sp) and sidewalls and when a client brings her own polish and it's some crappy drug store brand that has three bristles in the brush.

IMHO, a professional polish job is one that leaves a SMALL margin around the whole nail. I've actually had folks complain that the polish didn't go far enough.

I'm so used to professional polishes, sometimes I have a diffucult time polishing with OTC procucts. I deal with it tho and do the best polish job I can.

I love this tread!! I have also had people complain and ask for the polish touching the eponichium!!

My polishing IMO is pretty good altho looking through this site im sure i can improve! We also at college were marked on polishing right down to how we held the pot whilst applying the polish!

I really enjoy polishing, used to be nervous about the darker colours but now im much more confident. I love dark colours on myself but also find i wreck them ( must learn to do my manicures more carefully!) Where ive just started doing enhancements the acrylic in zone 3 isnt so smooth and rounded so i think polish will look pretty rubbish at the moment but hey, keep practising!!

**Off to paint own nails now!**

Lisa
xx

Lately ive been in a right ole pickle about good polishing...And struggling allot realised it wasnt my fault it was the polish i was using as ive just used OPI and they look amazing. glad i got that sorted was getting worried

What a good thread!!
I have felt for some time now that some women now days feel not catered for, as so many nail bars give the impression that everyone should have extensions or overlays. I have made a point to state in my advertising, "Natrual Nails can be beautiful too".

O.K guys GO FOR IT! I have 3 pictures in my nails album which are polish a french after an acrylic soak off & the pink ones which were a maintainance appointment finished with a colour polish.

I actually wish we could find a way of making polishing more commercial for us in the salon.

We looked at the possibility of having minx maybe as an alternative.
Has anyone else found a way of generating the same income from polishing and manicures as they do with enhancements?

I would be really interested to know.

Gina xx