A few weeks ago I asked you, the readers to let me know what your nail questions were. Today, Celebrity and session manicurist Trish Lomax will be answering them!
Ready?
1. I get little bubbles on the surface of my polish a lot. How do I avoid this?
Before your manicure wipe nails with acetone to remove any residue from the nail plate rather than using a remover as most contain conditioners that leave a film on the nail which won’t do you polish application any favours. Roll the bottle between the palms to mix the colour without getting bubbles in as from when you shake the bottle. Ensure you don’t have too much product on the brush then apply several thin layers rather than one thick layer of colour and leave each layer to dry!
2. What 5 items are key to nail care (aside from polish)?
A good nail file, cuticle hoof stick, cuticle oil, nail strengthener and blue sponge board.
3. I paint my nails A LOT… and now they’re yellow despite religious use of a base coat. How can I fix them?
Its important to have a weekly maintenance programme to keep up the appearance of your nails, another key is to gently buff nails and also changing your polish each week will eliminate staining.
4. I’ve always had really soft, flexible nails. They actually start to curve downwards as they get longer. Well, for our wedding this past August, I got acrylic nails. Well, now I’m try to find a good nail polish that will strengthen them to make them avoid being torn and bent back so easily–cause that is my new problem. They grow even just a little now, and they are torn, almost at the center of my nail. Is there a polish or a nail cream I could put on them to make them harder? They grow quickly anyways, so that isn’t an issue.
Firstly I would recommend removing the acrylic enhancements have a weekly manicure, use a nail treatment such as Mavaflex (£14.50), Mavala Nailactan (£15.36)or OPI Nail Envy along with nail oil to keep nails flexible – it can take a minimum of six months for your nails to return to their former state, so by keeping nails short will help and strict nail regime will speed up the process.
5. Is buffing good or bad? I hear it weakens them, but allows polish to stick better.
Yes I think buffing is good but no more than once a week as this is what weakens nails and only with a gentle buffer either use a 3 way buffer or a blue sponge board (www.biosculpture.co.uk), anything more than this will damage nails.
6. About nails, mine are quite strong but some time ago I got this whitish line in one of my nails, the tip cracks on the part the line is, my mom has a nail just the same, I wander if this kind of defects are caused by and infection or maybe its just in my genetic?
It sounds like it’s hereditary as both you and your mum have it! White spots are cause by trauma to the nail, usually just from banging your nails against something. This causes the nail plate to detach from the nail bed, the white patch is a void between the nail bed and the nail plate and will grow out. White spots are not caused by calcium deficiency as commonly thought and you can’t really do anything about the white spots, apart from not banging your nails!
7. Also, the edge of one of my toenails has gone dark, flesh, nail and cuticle, not nice, but since its just a little patch, and it doesn’t hurt, I just paint the nail and ignore it. What should I do about it?
No never ignore these things, without seeing your nail its hard for me to say but it sounds like you have had trauma to the nail either fron knocking your nail or dropping something heavy on it, the nail may have separated from the nail bed and it could have an infection/mould, this is where water gets in decomes trapped from where you have applied varnish, the water trapped in this warm and dark place is a great breading ground for baterial grows, check whether the discolouration has changed starting from a pale yellow to a dark green black, this usually grows out but to be safe I would recommend you vist your GP or a podiatrist.
8. When I use natural, French-manicure style shades, they often seem to go gloopy and ‘porridgey’ rather than smooth and sheer… but only on some nails. What am I doing wrong?
You may be getting too much air in the product it’s important to ensure the lid is on tight when not in use. I would suggest purchasing Seche Restore as this is the best thinner around (www.nailsbymail.co.uk) NEVER use nail polish remover or acetone as this ruins the varnish and you will have to throw it out! Apply varnish on in several thin coats rather than a thick one and be consistent on each nail with varnish application.
9. What are your favourite nail polish brands?
Both Essie and Mavala are top of my list, Essie because they have a vast colour range, great coverage and a good application brush. Mavala because they are 7 Free, the mini pots are great for travelling and if you are prone to getting bored of colours easily they’re ideal due to the size.
10. What do you think of Matte nail polishes?
Essie Matte About You was launched this Autumn and I was searching for this product for quite some time. I love matte nails on the hand but tend to alway use a glossy top coat on Toes, that’s just my personal preference.
Hope you girls enjoyed this Q & A Session, if you see some of Trish’s gorgeous work, visit her website here.
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Thanks (Trish) for answering our questions!
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