Shellac chipping on French polish

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fluffycloudland

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I did my mother in laws nails 9 days ago, three have chipped on the cream puff but not peeled. The previous time I did them she removed it with meths and now her nails are thin and have pseudo leukonychia, the shellac didn't go on great on the romantique layer. I did my nieces French the next week and hers went on much better.

She's oiling twice a day with solar oil which has stopped them peeling and breaking. She says she doesn't look at a dish cloth without putting gloves on.

Is it possible that she'd be better off having a solid colour until the meth damage has grown out?.

I trained in shellac via S2 in July and it's really denting my confidence that hers chip like this. I sealed religiously on each nail.
 
Meths oh my Lordy lol

Is it possible you did the White a little too thick? 2 or even 3 really thin layers work much better and avoid chipping

Any pics?
 
anyone care to explain to me what you mean by "removing with meths"? you don't happen to mean methylated chemicals (still unsure of the correct chemical english term so please correct me if i'm wrong)? and where did she found them?
 
Last edited:
Methylated spirits asteropi, you use it for removing oil based paint from paintbrushes unless you are my mother in law.

I did base coat, two romantique, one cream puff, express 5 and advised her to use solar oil. I took them off and re did the chipped ones today and the nails look better already.

I find cream puff really dense so I do one coat. I haven't taken pics.
 
Studio white may be an option as it doesn't get as thick as you go down the bottle.
 
Yes I want to order that before the price goes back up. Plus a better pink for French.

I'll try her with a solid colour next time & see what happens. I'll check my nieces nails on Saturday.

My own shellac stays on just fine.
 
I don't believe that Methylated spirits would actually dissolve shellac, it may soften it like any strong chemical but i'm going to assume that those nails had a helping hand off and not from the methylated spirits. You need to treat this client as someone who has pulled their shellac off, because my guess is that the Methylated Spirits has just softened the polish and she has peeled it off, which would account for the white marks on her nails.

With a client like this you must explain that due to their incorrect removal there nails have now been compromised , and shellac may not last the full 2 weeks on them, this is in no way your fault and there is not much you can do apart from go over the aftercare again (which because she's family she will probably continue to ignore )

Shellac French using Cream Puff and Romantique is the hardest application to do in all of the shellac range IMO, Romantique is a fickle shade that loves to go streaky if you use too much pressure, and cream puff is the thickest of all the colours, and loves to wrinkle if applied too thickly! There is a little trick for helping cream puff not chip and that to get it on the nail as thin as possible , then using an old gel brush dampened with some IPA clean up your smile line, but also clean up a very narrow margin of the white at both side walls, this allows the top coat to completely encase the white which will lead to less chipping.

Another thing to consider, is to make sure you are not overcapping your free edge, a build up of product at the free edge can cause chipping and peeling too, Check out CNDs 5 point polish method to make sure you are able to apply the shellac thinly and evenly.
 
Methylated spirits asteropi, you use it for removing oil based paint from paintbrushes unless you are my mother in law.

I did base coat, two romantique, one cream puff, express 5 and advised her to use solar oil. I took them off and re did the chipped ones today and the nails look better already.

I find cream puff really dense so I do one coat. I haven't taken pics.

I did a search after your answer and found the greek version of what you mean along with this comment and I couldn't stop laughing:

"Blue in half litre bottles, tastes OK.
This country is great! anywhere you can get food, you get meths."

As to your problem now, shellac is a hybrid polish, not a gel one, meaning it was designed to work best with strong healthy nails, which I bet yours are. It doesn't last long on damaged or naturally weak nails. Trust me I know. My own nails are so weak and bendy, now matter how much solar oil I use, that I wasn't doing shellac on clients because they wouldn't last on me for more than 3 days. I thought there was something wrong with the product or my application but there wasn't other than my stupid nails. And they always chipped at the free edge for me. I guess it's the same case with your mother-in-law. After doing that meths removal to her nails she damaged them so severely she can't get a proper duration from them. Whether you did them again or not she's gonna be back within the week with the same problem.

What you can do now:
Well not much you can really do now. She has to grow it out. Try an acrylic or gel overlay to help it. You will probably get normal time after that.
Alternatively, you can try base coat-original top coat- 2* colour coat - white coat - 2* topcoat. That first top coat layer will help add more strength to the nail plate, but make sure it's the original and not the express 5. It usually does the trick for weak nails, but I'm not sure about damaged ones.

What you can do in general if your clients have weak/damaged nails, well if you want to stick to shellac then I guess it's one of the 2 ways mentioned above. Otherwise, you can try a pure gel polish, like Gelish, that will help you get the duration you want.

Don't get too disheartened. We've all been there!
 
Thank you, it never occurred to me that she'd pulled it off. That would damage her nail plate wouldn't it?.

She wouldn't tell me either, she knows what my reaction would be to that.

I have a Lecente G1 brush for tidying smile lines but I'll look at that video too. I really want to get this right.



Thank you all.
 

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