Nail polish

[sharondd]

I am using OPI at the moment but I cant seem to get my technique right for the perfect polished finish, I have been practicing now for 6 weeks, do you think I should change to another brand? do all polishes have the same sized brush?

I have read Geegs tutorial and I have watched video's on youtube, so I know it in theroy but cant seem to get the hang of it in the practical

 

[sharondd]

I did the purple varnish last week and the pink varnish this week!

 

[frankie91]

What are you finding hard about polishing?

Sent from my GT-I5800 using SalonGeek

 

[Sam81]

What is it you find hard?, Getting a nice line or loading your brush right? I've used several brands of polish and honestly, I think the OPI brush is the easiest I've tried. Your purple looks fine, just a little tidying needed on the end of the index finger if I'm being super critical. The pink is a bit wobbly but not that bad! Have you tried the push, pull method? Put your brush about a little way up the nail, push it towards the cuticle & pull back in one sweep over the free edge. That way you avoid flooding the cuticle. Personally I find it easiest to get a nice line if you start in the middle of the nail at each stroke then pull the brush round, it stops it being too 'square'.

 

[sharondd]

The part Im finding hard is the nice neat line around the cuticle, what I do is load my brush place it in the middle of the nail then push the polish up to the cuticle then pull down, then one stroke each side of the nail

 

[Noodle]

This wonderful tutorial has helped me loads:

http://www.salongeek.com/nail-finishing-maintenance/11972-precision-polishing.html

Hope it helps you too.

 

[sharondd]

I have read that tutorial a few times Noodle..... Thanks

 

[izzidoll]

I have read that tutorial a few times Noodle..... Thanks

It really is just down to practise now then!
The pics you have posted are OK, yes on the purple a little tidy is required on a finger, but that is not a problem, as you can get polish on the skin when painting such short nails.
Don't be so hard on yourself, just keep painting nails and it will get easier, and as your confidence grows you will get nearer and nearer to the cuticle and tidier and sharper.
Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[SJK]

I find the OPI brush quite wide and more difficult to use on smaller nails. I do like it generally but my heart sinks when I see tiny nails and a regular sized bottle of OPI.

Maybe it would be worth trying another brand. Why not get a similar colour, say bright red, from several different decent brands and seeing how you get on?

In addition to that, try using the neatening trick. Get a little brush that you feel comfortable using and dip it in the top of your polish remover dispenser. Wipe it almost dry and then use it to neaten the edges of your polish. Wipe clean and re-dip. Works wonders.

 

[Beauty4all]

Marigolds and OPI, that's all you need!
I practiced on rubber gloves filled with rice and tied with an elastic band round the wrist to stop the rice coming out. The weight of the rice in the fingers makes it feel like a real hand. Then I stuck cheap fake nails to each finger, square tips on one hand and squoval on the other. This way you get to polish all day and all night without having to rely on getting someone to volunteer!
When I started, I couldn't even paint a straight line from the cuticle to free edge let alone a perfect nail. The rubber gloves really helped.

Btw, OPI I find, is the easiest to apply, (I do use CND aswell), so don't change brands because I do think you will regret it.

So keep going....believe me , it does get better!
:biggrin:

 

[sophiegees]

I think you nails are ok and very soon you will be great. I have only just started and know what you are going through. And remember those photos are really close up - I bet when you look at those nails normally they look fab.

What has helped me with the bottom curve was to swipe from one side to the other across the nail. That gave me so much confidence, and when I asked on here about it I was told it was ok to do this. But now mostly I do it up and down, exept when it does not look quite right then I revert back and do the side to side swipe.

I also practiced and use OPI as it is way easier than other polishes. But for tiny nails it is a bit hard...

I also used a nail trainer which was invaluable - was able to do thousands of nails...

good luck you will be fine

xx

 

[justkrissi]

I'm a massive fan of OPI, but have recently started experimenting with CND which I also love!

Don't give up on OPI as it is a fantastic polish!

Unfortunately it's just down to practice practice practice.

OPI have released a fantastic new Muppets collection the colours are fantastic for Chritmas, queue shamless adverstising... check out my signature for my website :biggrin:

Krissi x

 

[waffle4]

What has helped me with the bottom curve was to swipe from one side to the other across the nail.

Ooh how do you mean? literally pushing the brush width ways across the nail instead of length ways??? xx

 

[sharondd]

Some fantastic advice and I would like to thank you all for replying to me
I think I will get a few bottles of the same colour in different brands, the other two that seem to be the most favourite are Essie and China Glaze, I cant get CND polishes until Im qualified
I have a plastic hand that I got from Sallys and I have rubber gloves to, so I am going to take on that advice and practice with them
I hope in a few months time I will look back on this post and say " Ive now mastered it"

Thanks once again