that little ridge under the nail

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Hi christie,

Whatever form you use as you know, the fit has to be perfect. To sculpt smooth, with NO ridge, try it like I do in 2 stages.

First bead place in front of the free edge on the form and ONLY push it up to the free edge to make your template and to form your shape. Keep this layer very thin as it is only going to be your guide for the 2nd bead.

Second bead will form your new smile-line as normal, blending the rest of the bead out on to the template to the free edge. Same as you would apply to a tip.

This method creates absolute smoothness as you are not forcing any product underneath the free edge on the first bead, and then you are laying your 2nd bead on the top after the first bead has hardened. No squidging (a new technical term)

Hope you find this method works for you.
 

Christie's Nails

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You know when you do forms there is always a little ridge where the acrylic ends and your nail starts. No matter how hard I try to make that form up under the nail perfectly...there is still a ridge where dirt can collect. I hate it! It drives me nuts.
I recently cut my nails down really short and did glimmer acrylic over forms. It looks really neato. The nails are clear and glittery. But that was about two weeks ago so now the darn ridge starts growing out.
What do you all do about this? I have used a football shaped drill bit to smooth it out but am wondering if there is some really cool trick that I have not figured out yet. Any ideas?
 
I think the way some people prevent this ridge is to leave the customer with a tiny smidgen of a free edge. Then apply a form underneath their free edge snugly. Then sculpt the new free edge on top of theirs. If the product is on top of the nail then there are no gaps or ledges or ridges or whatever.

The customer would need a fairly decent shaped free edge for this to work and the form would have to fit just right to prevent cracking and breaking. So, you can not do this on everyone, however there are some people who can be sculpted in this way. On the people who need to have their free edge cut all the way back I use a carbide or diamond cone to get down under the ledge to carveit smooth. But you don't want to do to much or it can weaken the sculpt. So, I don't know. I guess sometimes you just have to grab a handy dandy toothpick and start digging!

If you go to Tammy Taylor website you can see what I am talking about in her videos. She does it this way.
 
my mum gigi would be able to help with this too but she is doing the same training with the Geek. She has sculpted my nails many times and I haven't got the 'ridge' thing. It would drive me nuts and I'd end up trying to pick at them. :x I do agree with Your Nail Pro about sculpting with some free-egde to get the snug fit! The Team Creative Winning Nails has a section on Sculpting too which is quite good ;) Barbara Barlow did that section. She has since retired from Educating but she does 'awsome' sculpts and won comps too a while back! just a bit of info there for ya ;)
 
You really do not get any little ridge under your nail? None at all?
When I did my nails I filed them to this perfect shape before I put the form under. I was really carefull about it. I do not have thick skin on the sides of my fingers or anything that would have got in the way of the form (you know how some people just do not have the right shape finger?) I spent 3 or 4 minutes on each form, trimming it to fit under my nail just right,shaping it, getting it snug to my nail...and now 3 weeks later there is a ridge. I filed under my nail and painted some top coat under there so there is no ridge now...but that drives me nuts.
Maybe I am being too picky? I usually always have my own nails under my acrylic, I have never put tips on before either, so I am used to my nail being totally smooth under the free edge. Maybe I am being too picky.
 
Hi Christie,
I'm not beeing smars a$$ here but if you spent 3 or 4 minutes fitting each form then you are a perfectionist and this "ridge" most people don't even notice exist ;)
Maybe try a carbide cone and drill this ridge out? And smooth it out with the fine one.
 
Yeah that is what I ended up doing. I just thought maybe someone else had a fabulous trick they would share...
Just trying to make conversation you know! lol Got to keep Samuel's message board busy with hot new topics. ;)
 
I usually sculpt about half the time. It kinda depends...on what I feel like doing..

Well this is the first time I did sculpts on my own nails. I really learn alot about something when I do it on my own nails. I can see how everything looks 1,2 and 3 weeks later. I know how the nails were taken care of, etc.

So I have been thinking, and looking at my sculpted nails many many times a day. (my mom used to yell at me for looking at my nails all the time when I was a kid :rolleyes: )

And after much study and thought..I am wondering if I get the acrylic up under the little bit of free edge when I am shaping the acrylic free edge. You know when you plop the acrylic ball on there..press to you left, press to your right.... then I sort of square it up with my brush... I think I may be forcing the acrylic under my nail when I do that...thus creating a ridge. watchya think?

I saw that CND guy in Las Vegas ( you know the one who practiced his ratio on 800 tips?) anyway I saw him totally remove all free edge before putting the form on. I thought that looked cool and tried it on someone. Then I realized that it takes a very special shaped finger for that. There are some that this cannot work with.

Something else I realized...it is really hard to do forms on yourself. I usually squeeze the form and the tip of the finger on my clients when I apply the acrylic. Making sure that I have a good shape and the form is not wiggling someplace weird. Well that is a two handed job. When I recently did my sculpts I used the little egg shape sticker from the center of the form to help hold the form in place underneath my finger tip. Do you know what I mean?

I have used a number of kinds of forms. I think right now I have a roll of supply source... just generic. Why? are you about to tell me that if I am not using CND forms then I am not cool? :rolleyes:

Oh my gosh you know what I hate... when the client is trying to "help" you fit the form under their nail...aaaaaa I will stop...pull the finger back down where I had it...and start fitting again..that one really bugs me.

So did ya have fun?? Little vacation in your home land?? Learn anything new?? Glad to be home??
 
HowdA All.

That pooper scooper thingee after sculpting nails is usually down to 2 things:

  • Whacked out forms
  • Lousy fit

What type of forms do you use?
One thing I try to do is remove virtually ALL of the natural nail plate free edge prior to sculpting. WTF for? The longer the natural nail plate free edge, the more the curling and malformation will take place. The more malformation, the bigger pain in the a** to get a smooth form fit.
One thing you can try with longer free edges is:
Put the form under the very edge of the free edge, not up against the hyponychium... make sense?

Anyhooo.... lemme know what forms u use... You can get a smooth fit every time, but usually only with some tweaking here and there.

o... BTW: How often do you sculpt?

Toooodles
 
Christie's Nails said:
I think I may be forcing the acrylic under my nail when I do that...thus creating a ridge. watchya think?

Good chance... A lot of it depends on the form, the fit of the form, and the stability as well.

I thought that looked cool and tried it on someone. Then I realized that it takes a very special shaped finger for that.

To avoid customising the form... yea... I agree. But most nails I sculpt, I remove the free edge of the nail in this way. Often times (for a good fit) I then need to cut out the center slightly to but up against the hyponychium and create a tight seal. Once again... much of this does depend on the form.

I think right now I have a roll of supply source... just generic. Why? are you about to tell me that if I am not using CND forms then I am not cool? :rolleyes:

hehe... As far as Im concerned... use the tool that best gets the job done for you. If they do the job for you... cool (they are most likely less dear)... But if youre having probs... you may want to try something else. I have used various other forms and can honestly say that the Performance forms are hands down the best... Have you tried them?

I agree with Geeg on the sculpting Zone 1. Far too many people try to do Zone 1 in 1 big ol honkin bead. Its much easier to sculpt in at least 2 beads in this zone.
1st bead should be to create a tip, or natural nail (by making the product meet up to the NN, but not over it, this will make the 1st bead as thick as the NN) 2nd bead is for strength and design (building toward the apex etc..)

So did ya have fun?? Little vacation in your home land?? Learn anything new?? Glad to be home??

I had a blast in San Diego. Not much of a vacation though... workworkwork.
Learned some funky techniques, and a bunch of stuff that I sadly can't discuss as of yet... but trust me... its going to be very cool :)
And yes... I am very glad to be back home with my family (which in a way really includes all you guys as well eh?)

Toodles
 
Sculpting the free edge in two beads...hmmm Here I was trying so hard to do it in one. I would much rather do it in two..that is a good tip, I am gonna try it next time.

Yup I have used CND forms alot. They are pretty good. Lots of little tabbies everywhere.

I try incredibly hard to get the form fitted perfectly but all that is for nothin if I am shoving the acrylic under there.

I think I am a little obsessive about my nails too. It just bugs me that I can feel at all where the natural nail ends and acrylic begins. I bet some of my clients would not even notice "the ridge". Hey here is a pic of my scupted nails that I am wearing right now...(I might have posted this pic before)

<img src="http://www.lavazone2.com/welovett/nails/pictures/plumeria6.jpg" width="400" height="298" alt="my sculpted nails" border=2>

This is 3 weeks after the fullset and I had just done my fill the day I took this pic. I used glimmer.

Thanks again for the two bead tip! I think it will work...can't wait to try it!
 
Those rock Christie!

Hope the 2 bead thing sorts you. I always found sculpting to be a bit of a pain before I tried it. The key reason is cause your bead glides on the form, but grabs to the plate. This made scuplting a bit bizaro. Sculpting in layers means that once the first bead is laid... the second layer feels just like your working on a tip.

I bet some of my clients would not even notice "the ridge"

I bet they don't either. Glad you are so picky... it brings up some great topics :D

Take care
 
Christie's Nails said:
Thanks again for the two bead tip! I think it will work...can't wait to try it!


Christie your nails are tooo cool :eyesore: :rainbow: I told you Geeg would be able to help too - hope the two bead works, can't wait to hear the next installment.... :scat:
 
Would this not cause a shadow or some sort of variation in the white color? I have never seen this done before.......interesting, it is what makes sense, but never tried it.

leigh ann
 
Your Nail Pro said:
Would this not cause a shadow or some sort of variation in the white color?

I know what youre thinking... but it really doesnt cause a problem at all. Think of it as: the first bead creates a blended tip... the second is my overlay. Easy peasy. Give it a whirl and lemme know how you got on with it.

toodles
 
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