Save Your Lifting Or Outgrown Manicure

Happy Wednesday, y'all!!

I hope this hump day is going more than well for you! If not, the week is halfway over (silver lining??) 

If you are anything like me (half frugal, half smart shopper?), you know the guilt I feel paying for these gel manicures - like yo! How are they getting more and more expensive year?! - and then the anger and frustration when they start to either grow out or lift in the following 1 - 2 weeks after the manicure.

If I am paying $30 - $50 for my manicure, it better be on my nails looking fresh for a while!!

It is a blessing and a curse that my nails grow quick. Anyone else?!

So instead of shelling out $30 - $50 every two weeks for touch ups or redos, I follow these hacks to keep my manicure going strong for long! 

OUTGROWN MANICURE:
Like anyone else, my nails start out all fresh and banging once I leave the nail salon, but then that freshness will only last for so long. 

Two weeks later, nails are still intact but the nails are growing and the gap between the cuticle and the polish grows wider and wider. The rest of the polish is still fly though. I can't just get it redone two weeks later. Or filled! A fill is still money!

After staring at the annoying gap, I realized and learned that I can just fill it in with regular nail polish at home. 

See the picture below:

TA-DA!!!

I love it!!! What do you think?

This look is actually a style in the manicure world. It is called reverse French manicure. As you know, the typical French manicure has a tip at the end of the nail that is a different color than the remainder of the nail. The reverse French manicure has a the "tip" at the top of the nail by the cuticle. 

It's actually a thing! "Reverse" French because the small tip of color is reversed in position. Get it, get it? :D

LIFTING MANICURE:

I have hit the two week point of my [first time with] dip powder manicure (I LOOOVE IT). For the most part, it is still going strong. However, it is starting to lift by the cuticle and y'all know what that is like - hair getting stuck in our nails in the shower or just hair getting caught in them out of the shower. WHAT A PAIN.

So when my manicure below started to grow out and lift, my heart began to sank. I've been wanting to try this look for a while and I was nowhere near ready to let it go.

Fresh coat

Yes, they are two different colors on each hand. I was undecided. LOL.

How did I fix the lift? I put a clear top coat on the edges of the manicure where it is lifting and filled the gap (basically a top coat reverse French manicure). The nail polish colors are nude so the gap isn't too noticeable or bothersome. 
As you can see, there is some top coat residue on my skin by the cuticles. To be honest, I rarely clean those mistakes. I like to naturally let them wash away. And they always do. 

And that's all folks!

So ladies and gents, SAVE YOUR MANICURE. 

You did not pay all that money to just get it done in two weeks. Oh no, honey! Not on my money-saving time! I got chuuuu.

<3<3<3

DIY: Removing Gel Nails At Home

Two weeks ago, I treated myself to my third manicure ever! After two weeks of having my spring coral gel manicure, it was time to get them off! I was 1) sick/bored of the color and 2) missing doing my own nails. Also, it was just time. A few nails were starting to chip. A nails enthusiast like me cannot stand chipping! For me, a slight chip demands a retouch or a do-over. 

The first time I got a gel manicure, my friend encouraged me to just eventually peel the gel off and so I did. After doing so, I saw the damage it had done! The polish had taken the first layer (nail skin?) off my nail. Not good!

This time around, I decided to YouTube some DIY tricks to remove gel at home. I found +NewBeauty Magazine's video and followed the directions given what I have. 

Step by step, I'll walk you though the process:

SUPPLIES:

What you'll need:

- Nail polish remover

- Cotton balls

- Nail filer

- Foil

- Tweezers (not pictured)

The video called for a cuticle pusher. I didn't have one so I made due with dull tweezers

FOIL:

Cut the foil into 10 squares. As you can see, mine are not evenly cut.

THE NAILS:

So I know this picture looks awful. I had already started the process of removing the gel nails when I realized I should document this for a blog post. Here, my nails are buffed out with my nail filer. That's why my fingers look quite dry and why the gel shine is gone.

Before I started this DIY test, my initial plan was to peel the gel as you'll see from my right hand. After I saw the beating my nail took from that peel, I decided to find a better way to do it.

By the way, the silver and the gold polish are regular polish. When my gel nails started to grow out, I hated that gap so I filled it in with nail polish to create a reverse French tip.

FOILING:

As recommended by the woman in the video, I pulled apart my cotton ball in half as half is sufficient. I soaked the cotton ball in nail polish remover. I laid the cotton ball on my nail. With the square foil, I wrapped my nails then squeezedthe foil to tighten and secure the foil around my finger. Doing this all made a mess of polish remover dripping down my arms...egh. I definitely over soaked the cotton.

I do wish I had bigger squares of foil. A few fell off my finger because there was not enough foil to tightly secure the cotton ball.

Recommended time is 10 - 15 minutes. 

REMOVE FOIL

Nearly 20 minutes later, this is how my nails looked like. Gorgeous, right? haha. So gross.

You can see that the edges were loosened and had lifted up. I thought it was going to be an easy peel. But this is what the cuticle pusher is for. The gel is softened so that you can lightly scrape the gel off. I used dull tweezers in lieu of a cuticle pusher.

FINAL PRODUCT

Ta da! These are my nails buffed, washed and lotioned (soaking in polish remover made my fingers dry and pruney).

I didn't get every last tidbit of gel off, but I got the majority of it off. I am pleased with the results.

As much as I love gel nails, it is definitely work and a process to take off. Though it's not too too bad, it definitely makes me love and appreciate doing my own nails with regular polish at home :)

Here's the easy to follow video that I used for reference:

Have you ever tried removing gel nails at home?

<3<3<3