Nail Painting Basics
So what will you need to paint your nails? Let me just say straight up, that you will have to buy some nail polish. Nail polish is available at many different places and locations. There are specialty nail polishes, special effect nail polishes, etc., which are all different formulas. However, to keep it simple, your local drug store will have a nail polish that is a color. Pick a color that you like. Any color will do. Now we don’t want anyone to feel intimidated away from painting their nails, so we will only cover the basics using regular nail polish. I am going to describe how to paint your nails using crèmes just to demonstrate the painting technique because I think it will translate better on paper. I will always suggest using a base coat and a top coat for the best results in a manicure. I have seen people sacrifice one of three things to minimize the number of steps. But if you want the best-looking and longest-lasting manicure, these are the three steps to follow: base, color, and top.
Before applying the polish, you want to prepare to clean up. You want to hope that you won’t need to clean up, but if you do, you just want to be prepared. Make sure you have your acetone and clean-up brush on standby. A clean-up brush is nail speak for a small brush that allows you to gently trace around the cuticle. Other preparations include having paper towels nearby. I like to use paper towels to absorb some of the acetone from my brush and then wipe it off. Finally, make sure you are painting on a surface that you don’t care to get nail polish on.
Base coats
Furthermore, the type of base coat you pick can vary depending on your priorities. First, long-lasting style base coats are designed to anchor the polish to the nail. They normally help by acting as a sticky surface for the polish to grab on to. Second, peel-off base coats are less common for the average person since it’s probably not something the average person would be looking for. But people do use it if they want to peel off their manicure easily, which some regular people might use if they are working with glitter polish because glitter polishes are annoying to take off with nail polish remover. Finally, a smoothing base is often for people who have uneven nails with little dents or ridges, which can be related to a number of different medical conditions. But it’s not a bad thing! It’s actually very common for people to have uneven nails. Another good reason why someone might opt for a smoothing base coat, is if they end up picking a nail polish that will really show the imperfections of their natural nail. So, a smoothing base coat will help level out the polish over top and give it a nice smooth primer to work with. It’s more effective under something like a multichrome polish because that will show the imperfections and dents, or even a crème polish sometimes because it’s not very forgiving if it doesn’t have special effects sparkling everywhere.
In spite of that, people always ask “do I have to? Do I have to wear a base coat?” And the answer to that question is going to be no. I’m not going to force you to wear a base coat. You can absolutely put just the color on your nails and not wear a base coat. That’s fine. But it may not last as long, it may not apply as evenly, and it may stain your natural nail. If you care about any of those things, then you might want to use a base coat. And if you don’t care about any of those things, then yeah- don’t use a base coat.
Applying Base Coats
When painting your nails, you do not want to overload your brush. You just want a little bit of product on the brush, just enough to cover the nail. So when taking the brush out of the bottle, wipe one side of the brush off to have a bulb, making the other side flat. Then take the side with the bulb, flip your brush over, and put the brush- bulb side down- near the cuticle. Next, drag your brush from the cuticle to the free edge of your nail. And it’s okay to repeat a couple of strokes to get it even. You just have to do it quickly before it starts to dry. As someone with longer nails, I like to quickly dip my brush back into the bottle if I didn’t have enough product the first time. I much prefer going back into the bottle rather than flooding the nail. And that logic is the same when applying color. Only one coat is needed when applying a base coat. Also, don’t forget to wrap the tip of the nail at every step. The only expectation is with the peel-off base. If you are trying to use a peel-off base coat but also trying to make it last longer, it’s better to not wrap the tip so the polish has something to anchor it around the nail.
Dry Time
If you are painting all ten nails, and you are painting them carefully and slowly, then by the time you get to the tenth nail, you are probably safe to go back to the first nail and start applying your color. So, on average, that would be around 10-15 minutes. However, I don’t like saying a set time because there are a lot of other variables that enter the picture. Such as, the heat and humidity in your location, the type of product you are using, and how porous your nail is, will all affect the amount of time it takes for your base coat to dry.
Another trick you can do to see if your base coat is dry is to observe it. There is an observable difference between when you first paint it on and it is clearly wet versus when it starts to set in. So, if you were to gently tap it, you can tell it’s dry. Dry to the touch is what we are going for here. Generally speaking however, you do want to let each coat of polish dry. Because if you don’t, you are going to drag the polish underneath with your next brush stroke. It is important to have some patience and let your polish dry between each coat, but that doesn’t mean to wait 2 hours either.
Color Coat
Before applying the color, I like to gently shake or warm the polish. Be careful not to over shake your polish because you can get bubbles.
Applying Color Coat
After uncapping the bottle, you want to make sure there isn’t too much product on your brush. The polish should not be dripping off the brush when you lift it up. I like to pick up my brush and swipe one side off using the neck of the bottle. And personally, I like there to be a bulb on one side of the brush and the other side to be flat. Then, you want to flip back and start painting with the bulb side. Start near the cuticle, sneak up towards it, and then swipe down. Now, it is okay to swipe over the same location a couple times to make sure that everything is even, just make sure to work quickly before the nail polish dries. If you keep stroking in the same area of the nail, you will start to pick back up some of the product and leave a bald patch. There is a careful balance. Finally, always remember to wrap the tip with all layers to make your manicure last longer.
The number of coats can depend on the type of formula you are working with, but generally speaking, you will need to apply 2 to 3 thin coats in order to build up full opacity.
Let’s say you made a mistake and you got nail polish on your skin. You want to begin clean-up by dipping your clean-up brush into acetone and then trace over your mistake, removing the polish from your skin. And in between all of your swipes you should be wiping it off on your paper towel, so you don’t put the polish back on to your nail. This is something that you should be doing as you paint your nails. You do not want to paint all ten nails and then go back to clean up because the polish will be dry at that point and will make it harder to remove. You can also use your clean-up brush to go back and round the cuticle if you didn’t have the most perfect application. You want to leave a tiny gap between your cuticle and the color polish so it doesn’t look messy. It may look like your manicure has grown out, but it’s the best way to get the cleanest look without the polish flooding onto your skin. Leaving that gap also allows you to take your top coat and put that just past the color, so it anchors on to the bare nail plate and extends the wear of your manicure.
Dry Time
The same logic from the base coat applies to the color polish. If you are painting all ten nails, by the time you get back to the first nail, you should be good to paint the next coat. However, it is important to have patience and wait for your polish to dry completely or else bubbles will appear. Give 10 to 20 minutes on average in between coats. If you apply the top coat too quickly or thickly after you have painted the color polish, it can result in bubbles forming. Any top coat can develop bubbles for a few reasons. If you leave the cap off for too long, or as you continue to use it and the product naturally diminishes, air exposure to the product will increase because more air is physically in the bottle, and the more air that is in the bottle can lead to the more bubbles developing.
Glossy Top coat
Same technique as painting the nail with a base or color coat, but this time you want to extend- if you can- slightly past the color polish to seal it all in. You want to float the top coat over the nail. I think one mistake that people make, and ruin the nail polish underneath, is that they jab too hard with the brush.You want to make sure you are floating the top coat over and not apply too much pressure. You don’t want to push too hard into the polish and then drag it with your top coat. That is going to result in more nail polish color being picked up by the top coat brush. Be gentle. Practice makes perfect. Finally, remember to wrap the tip. Just one top coat is needed. However, if you want to wear a matte top coat, I would recommend applying a quick-dry glossy top coat and then a matte top coat on top. This will give the best results for long-lasting. A matte top coat often does not contain the same ingredients as a quick-dry top coat. So, it’s not going to be as quick drying or going to have that glass sealing properties as a good quick-dry top coat. To get both, you have to use both.
Dry Time
It really depends on the top coat you are using. I can’t stress this enough. There are some top coats, which I have used from the dollar store, that basically never dry. Sometimes you can have a top coat that dries quickly to the touch, but it’s not actually properly cured. A good quick-dry top coat that I would recommend can be found here. 30 minutes will leave your nails touch dry, but waiting an hour to an hour and 30 minutes will help prevent impressions from ruining your manicure.