Dressed Up Nails

Anonymous asked: I just discovered your blog and I am in love. I recently got into nail art myself and although I am no where near as good as you, I still love it. My question was if you use acetone or non-acetone nail polish remover? I heard acetone is bad for your nails but its so much easier to remove and I find the polish lasts longer. Also the tips of my nails tend to flake, any suggestions for that? Thanks!

Thank you so much! I’m lazy and impatient so I use 100% acetone exclusively. You can literally see it sucking the moisture from your skin and everything will be all dry and pathetic-looking afterward. But never fear! Just wash your hands really well and pay special attention to your nails and the surrounding area - make sure you get all the acetone off, and then moisturize. I use a thick moisturizer and then immediately apply polish but this usually results in my polish peeling off in one clean sheet after a couple days. I like that, but if you don’t, you can use either a thinner fast-absorbing moisturizer (OPI AvoJuice is AMAZING for this), or swipe your nails with rubbing alcohol (which I believe isn’t nearly as drying as acetone) before painting.

For peeling/weak nails, I can’t recommend OPI Nail Envy enough. That stuff CHANGED my nails. They used to be peely and thin and fragile and sad but a few months with Nail Envy and they were happy again. I’ve heard good things about other strengthening base coats like Duri Rejuvacote, Seche Restore, and a bunch of the Sally Hansen nail strengtheners as well so you can try a couple out and see what works best for you - just remember to give it a couple months to work. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work immediately. Also, my nails peel FAR worse when they are square than when they are round! So you could also try going round-nailed for a while if you’re a square-nailed girl and see if that helps. :)