"Touching up" Shellac (mine, not clients)

[Seraphine]

Well, I've been wearing Shellac since Thursday and am well impressed! Great colour, wears very well, and I've been putting them through the test with lots of dishes and cleaning and messing things.

Today, I went to work at a nursing home and exposed them to just a TOUCH too much acetone I was trying to be so careful! So my index and 3rd finger on my right hand are wrecked - the free edge is exposed, and the Shellac is thinned.

So... any way to fix this, or do I just have to redo those fingers? Can I just use base/colour/top coat in the affected area? Anyone tried this before?

(I've got a tight schedule for tomorrow, and need nice nails by the end of the day, so a quick option is preferred!)

Thanks!

 

[deanosnana]

Personally, I would just soak off Shellac on the fingers you mention. I think you'll get a much better finish if you just start over. HTH.

 

[geeg]

I wouldn't soak off. Who has the flippin' time??

Use a white block buffer to smooth and thin down a bit all over (no need to take everything off) and then Base one or two coats of colour and then top.

If the natural nail is not exposed then there is no need to use a base coat either; just colour and top.

 

[Seraphine]

Thank you Geeg - I was sure I had read somewhere on the board about someone touching up Shellac, but couldn't find it by searching. All the other nails are great!

I have about 20 minutes to do this later, so I'll give it a try!

 

[Jessicles]

Soaking off is the most thorough approach, but I've had a few clients that were in an extreme hurry, and I've filed the ledge smooth, dusted, scrubfreshed just the chipped part, applied basecoat to whole nail, color coat to chipped area, color coat whole nail, then top coat to whole nail. It looked seamless and perfect. Some colors you can get away with just one coat over the whole nail or even just to the chipped part, you just have to see. It does take about 10 minutes total though.

 

[Seraphine]

Did the quick fix yesterday - looks great! I don't know how long it will hold up compared to the regular, but as long as it keeps me til next week I'll be thrilled!

Thanks everyone!