The Tricks of the Trade ...

[cherubs]

Another 1, gel wipe/alcohol removes biro off leather sofa's if caught early enough!!

 

[geeg]

OK OK OK

Can we get back to the topic of tricks of the trade when performing nail enhancement services please?? This isn't the Goodhousekeeping site for useful tips for home cleaning etc!! :lol:

 

[sarah147]

i find doing smile lines hard to, so when on one of my training courses my teachers gave me a tip which is, place small well tips on do not blend and use the smile line of the tip to work with, i do it all the time now never had any client break any works wonders.

 

[ambision24]

How many of you have thrown away your brush on resins?
A great tip I learned was to take your oil and brush it around the rim of the glue bottle (where the screw lines are). It will no longer stick to itself!!
Also works for Polish bottles.
Also for those who dont already do this, when you clean out your brush after finishing a fill or a full set, take your brush and use a pull and twist motion to bring your brush back to its perfect point. Some new brushes need to be trained to get this shape after you remove the packing material (sometimes baking soda) it came with.
Kim Ensign
Master Ez Flow Educator
USA
www.AcrylicEnhancements.com

 

[nailnanny]

Hi there,

another trick i´ve been taught ,if you are using gel.

when you come to the point of sculpting ,lay like an iceshield on your nail(just a thin layer of your sculpting-gel on your enhancement) then proceed to build up with putting a thicker layer ,creating your c-curve,then turn your hand upside down for about 30 sec. and let your gel find its way to sculpt the c-curve,turn around again,wait 5-10 sec. and off you go for curing in the lamp.

You´ll find that you hardly ever have to file in shape after that.

Andrea

 

[sheryden]

When painting nails have an orange stick with cottonwool wrapped around it and keep it in a bottle of polish remover to quickly mop up any mistakes...(I did learn that at college)
Ideal if your doing french on extremely short nails!!


Im not sure if everyone does this already!!

when finishing off a french polish I get an orangewood stick dip it in remover then get some cooton wool turn the stick n the cotton wool until the end of the stick as got a small covering of wool then re dip in polish remover and clean edges of the nail. Works great.

Sheryden (Diamond Beauty Bar)

 

[buttonmoon]

i am not the greatest at french manicures.

i apply the white not being careful with it at all

then i have an old crystal touch gel brush and ahands down pad soaked in scrubfresh

i wipe the brush on the pad and sweep acros my smile line to create nice neat line

x

 

[nailartist]

When blending tips, graduate from coarser to finer grits to avoid filing all the way through the contact area to the natural nail. This is also gentler on the natural nail.

(I only just saw your reply to my post from two months ago on the tip blending thread, geeg. :o )

 

[Ms.Matrix]

I was teaching a student the other day and her model 'dinged' her nail polish so that there was a lovely (not) dent in the middle of her middle fingernail.
The student was mortified thinking she'd have to start all over again with this nail by removing the polish etc etc. I simply showed her the trick I have been doing for YEARS of dipping my middle finger into Scrub Fresh, then firmly and quickly, stroking the surface of the polished nail to smooth out the bump. One more coat of colour or top coat and you could never tell.

She was amazed --- --- never seen this done before. One of the tricks of the trade we take for granted??

How many others can we 'oldies' or even newbies, come up with that will help others to learn some of the Tricks of the Trade that never get taught in a class? Get your thinking caps on and share some of yours.

Yup, our instructor taught us this when we were in school, it was like seeing magic for the first time!!!:lol: I love little tricks like that...
Well, I will share one...my aunt has very wide nailbeds on her thumbs and a regular tip would not fit so I would use a pinky tip, cut it down the middle glue it to the portion that the tip didn't cover on her nail, blend and overlay...voila!! You would never know it was two tips!!

 

[beautycat]

wow...!! tried this the other day and it really works!
cheers for that info geeg.

 

[BABSann]

We keep cocktail sticks on our manicure desks.They are great if you are using a dark nail varnish,you can use them to smarten your cuticle area or side walls up.They're much more precise than an orange stick, a quick swipe over the offending polish and a perfect polish job.Works every time.

 

[geeg]

We keep cocktail sticks on our manicure desks.They are great if you are using a dark nail varnish,you can use them to smarten your cuticle area or side walls up.They're much more precise than an orange stick, a quick swipe over the offending polish and a perfect polish job.Works every time.

Can't possibly beat using a small brush and a bit of Nail Fresh ... but thanks for sharing.

 

[VHunter]

Ok, tricks that I know.. HMMMM

Ok
For rhinestones:
Use a plain pencil with a pink round eraser on the end, but a newpencil that is flat and the eraser is unused. Go to an office supply store and in the section for stuff for 'mailing' or 'filing', look for a lil flat round container. It's like a wax, or pomade... hard to explain. It's 'tacky'. It's to make your fingers tacky when flipping pages. Press the pencil eraser into that gently, pick up the stone and place it on the nail. VOILA.

Polish bottles, glue bottles, resin bottles.. etc..
Use some vaseline and put it around the grooves. it will keep the cap from sticking shut.

Personalized design french guides:

• Make a stencil with paper OR with a stiff clear plastic so you can save it and re-use it.. Cut it out with an exacto knife to make your stencil.
• Get some medical tape from the pharmacy (the cloudy-clear kind that's supposed to be 'ouchless' when removed from the skin).
• Use that stencil to trace onto the tape.
• Cut the shape out. Place the tape 'guide' onto the nail and you have a personalized design guide for a funky french or whatever....
• Paint and peel the tape away after.. Flawless lines :green:

Building with self levelling gel and no builder gel, new set, can be 'adjusted' for rebalances) AND this can be used in a similar manner for apply dip systems (how I learned it initially):

• Prep nails(Apply tips if necessary).
• Apply a line of gel from east to west (as Gigi says lol) along the seam of the smile line BUT not reaching all the way to the sidewalls.
• Cure
• Apply another line of gel that overlaps the first by the north and south AND that reaches closer to the sidewalls.
• Cure
• Apply a full coat from near the cuticle to the free edge.
• Cure
• Apply another full coat
• Cure
• File/shape as necessary.
• (** number of full coats will vary according to how thick/thin you apply your coats of gel.)

hope these ideas help.

 

[melissaq]

when doing air brush......... I use am old sable brush that I can put oil on and paint around the fingernail......thus when I'm done airbrushing I just wipe away excess paint off skin easily.....

 

[* Nail Freak *]

Some absolutely fab tips in this thread!! Thanks all!! (unfortunately i have none to share!) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[becki x]

To perfect smile lines and product application, when applying on your own wrong hand,practise on a nail trainer or model with your wrong hand first !

It makes it much easier.Also do your wrong hand first,while you are still fresh !

Hth

 

[xbarbigirlx]

gotta disagree with you on the polish corector pen, i find them fab for the job ! i simply wipe in a little acetone to clean after use. i keep one for dark and one for light polish and find they last indefinately with a little dab of acetone to re moisten them.

what really counts though is finding the method that works for you, as the old saying goes 'theres more than one way of skinning a cat'

Hi hi

Smart thinking!! The first tip got dirty quickly so when I changed the tip with a clean one it wouldn't moisten straight away so I had to use another pen.

xoxox.

 

[akaza]

I was teaching a student the other day and her model 'dinged' her nail polish so that there was a lovely (not) dent in the middle of her middle fingernail.
The student was mortified thinking she'd have to start all over again with this nail by removing the polish etc etc. I simply showed her the trick I have been doing for YEARS of dipping my middle finger into Scrub Fresh, then firmly and quickly, stroking the surface of the polished nail to smooth out the bump. One more coat of colour or top coat and you could never tell.

She was amazed --- --- never seen this done before. One of the tricks of the trade we take for granted??

How many others can we 'oldies' or even newbies, come up with that will help others to learn some of the Tricks of the Trade that never get taught in a class? Get your thinking caps on and share some of yours.

Hi!

I usually dip my finger in nail polish remover and then quickly wipe the nail...never thought of scrub fresh!

 

[kristine74]

Okay this isnt' MY idea per se, as it's how I was trained and part of my kit, but if you use gels and find some are hard to use, get yourself a candle warmer (like a little hotplate that you would put a melter pot on) and a small piece of tile. Put the tile on top of the warmer, and put your gel pots on the tile. Voila, a gel warmer, and boy oh boy does it ever make the really thick gels easier to use!

Example of a candle warmer:

https://lurebeauty.authsecure.com/original-candle-warmer-approved-p-1294.htmlhttp://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...=109&prev=/images?q=candle+warmer&gbv=2&hl=en