Help with nail painting please!

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angel20

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Hello all. I am new to this site (which is great) and this is my first post, so please be gentle with me. I am a newish beauty therapist working part time in a salon (also have a boring office job to pay the bills). I don't do many manicures and pedicures and as a result my nail painting is not that great. Recently I went on an interview at a top salon in Chelsea (rather ambitious of me!) but my nail painting let me down. It was a rather humiliating experience to be honest. I had to do dark polish and french polish and it was the french polish that was not up to 'Chelsea' standards!! I know nail trainers are great for practising enhancements etc.. but would it be good for me simply to practise my polishing techniques? As they are expensive I don't want to pay out for one if you don't think it would be suitable for that purpose. Everyone on this forum seems so knowledgeable and I would appreciate any advise you could give me.

p.s I have dry cuticles, should I use Solar oil or butter or balm??

Thanks in advance of your replies
 
hi i think for polishing its best to just practice on people , i had a nail finger where i put nail tips on but it just isnt the same i just keep practicing on everyone xx
 
angel20 said:
Hello all. I am new to this site (which is great) and this is my first post, so please be gentle with me. I am a newish beauty therapist working part time in a salon (also have a boring office job to pay the bills). I don't do many manicures and pedicures and as a result my nail painting is not that great. Recently I went on an interview at a top salon in Chelsea (rather ambitious of me!) but my nail painting let me down. It was a rather humiliating experience to be honest. I had to do dark polish and french polish and it was the french polish that was not up to 'Chelsea' standards!! I know nail trainers are great for practising enhancements etc.. but would it be good for me simply to practise my polishing techniques? As they are expensive I don't want to pay out for one if you don't think it would be suitable for that purpose. Everyone on this forum seems so knowledgeable and I would appreciate any advise you could give me.

p.s I have dry cuticles, should I use Solar oil or butter or balm??

I'm afraid I must disagree with emma louise. The Nail Trainer is an excellent tool for learning how to apply enamel ... excellent!!

Here's the method for applying perfect enamel.[/B]

Think this way ... push - pull!!

Remove the brush from the enamel bottle and remove excess polish against the side of the bottle on one side of the brush only.

Place the brush - polish side down - in the middle of the nail and apply a little pressure to 'fan out' the brush so that it is a nice rounded cuticle-shape. Then push gently back to the eponychium (not touching the skin) and then with a light touch, pull forward to the free edge. Fill in the sides. You may go over again with some very light strokes to smooth if need be. Don't be too slow with this. If you work a little quicker then you get a better finish.

A light touch is absolutely necessary to get a professional smooth finish. The main reason most women do not get a 'professional' finish with their polish at home is because they do not have a light touch with the brush and they are too slow.

If you make any mistakes ... you can dip a brush (NOT your enhancement brush) into some NailFresh and use the point of the brush to correct the line. NailFresh is a million times better than polish remover for this job and leaves no trace behind of colour.

SolarOil is the most intense treatment for dry skin surrounding the nail. SolarBalm is easier to carry in your handbag and is also very intense ... it is SolarOil in a balm format. I always have one in the car and next to the TV!!
 
also a lot of the technique is in how you hold your clients finger.
make sure when you hold the finger with your left hand(if you are right handed) to have you left little finger stinking out slightly use this as something to steady your right hand with, it stops you having the shakes and gives you more control over your brush strokes.
when doing a french polish pop your brush on the free edge and roll the finger under the brush it is easer than trying to move the brush from one end of the free edge to the other.
hope this makes sense.
 
joannerowsell said:
also a lot of the technique is in how you hold your clients finger.
make sure when you hold the finger with your left hand(if you are right handed) to have you left little finger stinking out slightly use this as something to steady your right hand with, it stops you having the shakes and gives you more control over your brush strokes.
when doing a french polish pop your brush on the free edge and roll the finger under the brush it is easer than trying to move the brush from one end of the free edge to the other.
hope this makes sense.

GOOD advice! Balance is key to do ing a good job.
 
joannerowsell said:
also a lot of the technique is in how you hold your clients finger.
make sure when you hold the finger with your left hand(if you are right handed) to have you left little finger stinking out slightly use this as something to steady your right hand with, it stops you having the shakes and gives you more control over your brush strokes.
when doing a french polish pop your brush on the free edge and roll the finger under the brush it is easer than trying to move the brush from one end of the free edge to the other.
hope this makes sense.
Did an infill on a client last week and she wanted red nail enamel...for the life of me I just could not stop my right hand shaking when applying the polish! This was the first time it happened to me....was really embarassed as it must have looked as though I was in desperate need of an alcoholic fix!
 
I have to say when i am aware of needing to do a thorough, steady job, this is usually the time iget the shakes too. I also make sure i use my little finger to balance my hand on so that i can control the brush better.

A nail trainer is supposed to be good, and worth getting as you know you will always have a practise hand. If you can't afford one, then use tips to practise on, use the sizes you dont often use, i find this is a good way to practise polish.
 
Thanks very much for all your advice. Off to Ebay now to see if I can get a nail trainer so that I can start practising!
 
I used the plastic fingers where you insert tips, and that is how I practiced, with the technique that Geeg explained above. Make sure you wipe the polish brush off completely on one side, and fan the brush out. Let the polish brush work for you by spreading it, and pulling it out. A balance those hands!! You'll get good, just practice.
 
Ok prepare to just die laughing ............

When I first started my college course I had spent so much that for a while I just could not afford even a second hand nail trainer but wanting the "whole hand" feel to my polish practice I didn't fancy one of the individual practice nail type things. Sooooooooooo a Blue Peter air took over the house & I built myself a do-fer (as in "do fer now" :lol: ) nail trainer.
One pair or marigolds, plenty of shredded paper, brown paper, lots of sticky tape, nail tips in an assorted size pack and one house brick :lol:

The result was my very friendly "Handy Andie"
Looks rediculous but it did the job.
 

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Karen_SCV said:
Ok prepare to just die laughing ............

When I first started my college course I had spent so much that for a while I just could not afford even a second hand nail trainer but wanting the "whole hand" feel to my polish practice I didn't fancy one of the individual practice nail type things. Sooooooooooo a Blue Peter air took over the house & I built myself a do-fer (as in "do fer now" :lol: ) nail trainer.
One pair or marigolds, plenty of shredded paper, brown paper, lots of sticky tape, nail tips in an assorted size pack and one house brick :lol:

The result was my very friendly "Handy Andie"
Looks rediculous but it did the job.
...okay, I finished laughing my socks off at the picture :lol: :lol: ....but brilliant Karen - very Blue Peteresque indeed but does the job huh ;) !
 
Karen_SCV said:
Ok prepare to just die laughing ............

When I first started my college course I had spent so much that for a while I just could not afford even a second hand nail trainer but wanting the "whole hand" feel to my polish practice I didn't fancy one of the individual practice nail type things. Sooooooooooo a Blue Peter air took over the house & I built myself a do-fer (as in "do fer now" :lol: ) nail trainer.
One pair or marigolds, plenty of shredded paper, brown paper, lots of sticky tape, nail tips in an assorted size pack and one house brick :lol:

The result was my very friendly "Handy Andie"
Looks rediculous but it did the job.
I have to ask........how many Blue Peter badges did you get?????????
Thats a fantastic do-fer and the image doesn`t really matter does it? At least you have a talking point, and I do love a talking point!!!!!!!!!!!
 
angel20 said:
Hello all. I am new to this site (which is great) and this is my first post, so please be gentle with me. I am a newish beauty therapist working part time in a salon (also have a boring office job to pay the bills). I don't do many manicures and pedicures and as a result my nail painting is not that great. Recently I went on an interview at a top salon in Chelsea (rather ambitious of me!) but my nail painting let me down. It was a rather humiliating experience to be honest. I had to do dark polish and french polish and it was the french polish that was not up to 'Chelsea' standards!! I know nail trainers are great for practising enhancements etc.. but would it be good for me simply to practise my polishing techniques? As they are expensive I don't want to pay out for one if you don't think it would be suitable for that purpose. Everyone on this forum seems so knowledgeable and I would appreciate any advise you could give me.

p.s I have dry cuticles, should I use Solar oil or butter or balm??

Thanks in advance of your replies
I keep the the ends of the tips that get cut off and generaly thrown away, these are great to practice smile lines on with your chosen product and lets face it, we all need to practice and using these is a great way to recycle so to speak
 
Debs said:
I keep the the ends of the tips that get cut off and generaly thrown away, these are great to practice smile lines on with your chosen product and lets face it, we all need to practice and using these is a great way to recycle so to speak
What a brill idea debs i always thow them away and when im practising i use new nail tip which is a waste will b doin it your way in future
 
When i first started doing nails i was really nervous mainly about doing dark colours coz they are less forgiving. Guess who was the poor devil that got his nails painted all sorts of lush colours? Yep, you've guess it, my hubby! He's a good sport aint he and dont think twice now about polishing nails ;) Mind you he wasnt always there so a lot of time was spent using dummy hand (at least they dont answer back, lol).
 

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