Correcting chips walk through

I've had a rough week. No censure, please. Though I did finally get through number 10? 11? In a full series re-read and now I'm all adrift. I read a whole book today. Now what? Latest Margaret Atwood or more pulp? It's about time for my annual Three Musketeers re-read. Hm.

Issues! Issues! Regardless. I do want to post how I fix chips. I know I've done it before, but honestly...are you gonna go looking for it? I can't remember if I gave you pics of the process or not, and honestly, I am not going back and digging for it, either. The Balearic Cool of Model's Own is really perfect for showing this because it is SO vibrant.

I skipped the first step, which is to take polish thinner, not remover!, THINNER, and with a finger or thumb dipped in a small amount smooth out the edges of the chip. I skipped this step because BMWWU did this mani and she always uses some Orly Nail Armor frankenstrengthener she cooks up. I have mixed feelings about Nail Armor. It has done a beautiful job maintaining and strengthening my nails but those little silk fibers in there (and yeah, I know that's an animal product but it's one they will produce on their own in nature and it doesn't harm them. I never said I was vegan, I am anti-animal testing.) stick off and can cause your nails to chip if you don't know how to smooth over the tips of your nails and blend them back into the fold, so to speak. Nail Armor is a very thick formula and pretty opaque on it's own so I find when using that as a base it's not really necessary to blend out the edges of the chip. If you are using a different strengthener or not using one at all (I hate you, incidentally) then you will want to do that.

Here's what the chips looked like:

Fill those in with a dab of your strengthener, whatever it is. Again, in this case it's Orly Nail Armor.

Do I need to tell you that you should have washed your hands first? Washed, dried...this should be common sense, but in case it isn't, before you start wash and thoroughly dry your hands. No lotion, for Pete's sake. Save that for when you're done.

Don't be shy about it. Load it up. We're filling in basically a hole here. You don't have to be terribly neat about this, either. See how I've gone over the edge? This should help create a strong bond to the nail and blend the polish in later. Obviously, you don't want to just leave a ball of Armor there, but you do want it to be enough to fill in so your repair isn't obvious.

OOO. Wow. Yeah, that middle finger is going to need another hit. As you would do two coats on your nails when doing a mani from the beginning, you will also do two here. Use your judgement on if you need another.

After two coats of Nail Armor in the chip. See how that has pretty much smoothed out? We have 4 more coats to go here, but you want this as smooth as you can get it now. If you need to, you can lightly buff out any rough spots, but you shouldn't have to.

Fill in the chip with the color. This happens to be from the last post, Balearic Cool with Indian Ocean over it. See how the cream blue is so vibrant? This was a great color to use for this. Cover up all the base coat you had to put on to fill the chip. Blend it down and smooth so it's not a bump on then end of your nail.

Just another shot at the bottom of the bottle. You can see the blue here, how it's blended in. The color here is deceptive, as is the lighting, I apologize. It's not nearly this sky blue in real life.

Here's the right hand. Remember that more prominent ridge? That's gone now. Careful application will take care of so many sins. Just be patient. If you're in a rush then you should probably take it all off rather than try to make a fix.

Hit it again, smooth it out. This looks like a glob but it wasn't in reality. It's the color and the cream as opposed to shimmer causing an optical illusion.

The right hand with two thick coats.

Now, I must have flaked out somewhere because I didn't take pictures of putting the shimmer top coat over this, but that's really...it's just another coat of paint. Maybe I figured you guys would know enough to understand how that would look.

The end result a few days later. Note that it didn't hold it forever and it won't. It just extends the life of your manicure for a few more days. As you can see, it held better than the index finger!

I hope this is a helpful post to you guys. I always try to pass on what little tricks I've learned and keep the faith that they are giving someone a tip they didn't know.

Coming up tomorrow, the manicure after this! HEE HEE! What a cliff hanger. **roll eyes at self**

Happy Repaired Talons!