I did my first gel polish (Nubar Gelicure) pedi the other day. My client kept pointing her big toe upwards and the gel ran back a bit and ruined the perfect margin I'd created. I do very thin coats and the other nails were all fine. Client was very happy, but I thought the cuticle area looked a mess on the big toes. Dread to think how they'll look as they grow. She had a ton of cuticle, which took me forever to deal with and I still didn't leave her with the perfect set I like to achieve. I'd really have preferred to soak first and give her a standard pedi, but she was going away so I just had to crack on and do it dry.
Fast forward to today when I've come to do my own mani pedi. I took off my toe polish- super glittery China Glaze lacquer, which I soaked off like gel so I wouldn't have to scrub. Well underneath all that lacquer my toenails looked dreadful, so much damage, white marks galore. I hadn't worn gel on them in about a year. That damage has clearly been caused by me and my cuticle work ;( my nails also never have gel and I noticed they do have a few white marks and don't look great.
How can I call myself a nail tech and work on other people when I am somehow ruining my own? It always feels like there's cuticle, as in I can feel the tool catching, I can see what I'm doing and it doesn't feel like or look like I'm causing damage but I must be. I swear I am careful, I have watched Holly's video, I have obviously been trained and I've watched countless YouTube videos etc. I do my cuticle work and when I'm done it looks fine, but then when I come to remove my polish I can see slight damage on quite a few of the nails.
I then went on to give myself an iLac rockstar pedi and had even more disheartening troubles. I desperately tried to use only the teeniest bit of topcoat, I tried to do only a few nails at a time. I tried everything, but on most of the nails the topcoat still ran into the cuticle area and sidewalls. I can only do my own feet with legs crossed and holding my foot in front of my face, so it's pretty much pointing straight up, which I know isn't ideal but it ran all over the shop. I ended up having to use old nippers and a file to remove any excess. Also, after 2 topcoats, I went in to cleanse and some of my glitter went silver in patches. I had fully covered it with topcoat though, 2 coats and clearly there was enough because it ran everywhere. I usually only do one coat on pops and never have this problem. My only thought was I may have accidentally used the dehydrator to cleanse, I don't think I did though. The second foot I top coated thinly 3 times just to make sure and it was fine thankfully, apart from the topcoat flooding.
I feel like an utterly useless failure. My painting skills are good. My work always gets compliments, but I'm still really struggling with problems that no one else seems to ever encounter! My nails always looked so lovely back in the days when all I did was paint them and basically ignored my cuticles. Now I feel like I'm destroying mine and quite likely clients!
I'm sorry this is long winded and all round the houses. I love doing nails. I spend all my free time reading salon geek, watching YouTube and practising on pops etc. I've invested so much and want to be the best I can. I feel like completely giving up and like I should throw my cuticle tools out the window! I'm so upset with myself I just want to cry. I know I need a kick up the rear but I just can't figure out how I'm having so many issues. Xx
Fast forward to today when I've come to do my own mani pedi. I took off my toe polish- super glittery China Glaze lacquer, which I soaked off like gel so I wouldn't have to scrub. Well underneath all that lacquer my toenails looked dreadful, so much damage, white marks galore. I hadn't worn gel on them in about a year. That damage has clearly been caused by me and my cuticle work ;( my nails also never have gel and I noticed they do have a few white marks and don't look great.
How can I call myself a nail tech and work on other people when I am somehow ruining my own? It always feels like there's cuticle, as in I can feel the tool catching, I can see what I'm doing and it doesn't feel like or look like I'm causing damage but I must be. I swear I am careful, I have watched Holly's video, I have obviously been trained and I've watched countless YouTube videos etc. I do my cuticle work and when I'm done it looks fine, but then when I come to remove my polish I can see slight damage on quite a few of the nails.
I then went on to give myself an iLac rockstar pedi and had even more disheartening troubles. I desperately tried to use only the teeniest bit of topcoat, I tried to do only a few nails at a time. I tried everything, but on most of the nails the topcoat still ran into the cuticle area and sidewalls. I can only do my own feet with legs crossed and holding my foot in front of my face, so it's pretty much pointing straight up, which I know isn't ideal but it ran all over the shop. I ended up having to use old nippers and a file to remove any excess. Also, after 2 topcoats, I went in to cleanse and some of my glitter went silver in patches. I had fully covered it with topcoat though, 2 coats and clearly there was enough because it ran everywhere. I usually only do one coat on pops and never have this problem. My only thought was I may have accidentally used the dehydrator to cleanse, I don't think I did though. The second foot I top coated thinly 3 times just to make sure and it was fine thankfully, apart from the topcoat flooding.
I feel like an utterly useless failure. My painting skills are good. My work always gets compliments, but I'm still really struggling with problems that no one else seems to ever encounter! My nails always looked so lovely back in the days when all I did was paint them and basically ignored my cuticles. Now I feel like I'm destroying mine and quite likely clients!
I'm sorry this is long winded and all round the houses. I love doing nails. I spend all my free time reading salon geek, watching YouTube and practising on pops etc. I've invested so much and want to be the best I can. I feel like completely giving up and like I should throw my cuticle tools out the window! I'm so upset with myself I just want to cry. I know I need a kick up the rear but I just can't figure out how I'm having so many issues. Xx