Friday, February 12, 2010

Lessons From the Looney Bin- Lesson Three.

Lesson Three: Visible Nail Line No More! 

A lot of us polish people really hate Visible nail line or VNL.  I'm guessing we all hate it for different reasons. My reason is that I have super short nail beds. Like TINY nail beds, because I am a reformed biter. I think most of us just totally avoid polishes that we know will show VNL altogether. This totally sucks because ya'll are missing out on some killer polishes!  I'm not missing out though because I'm a rebel and I just wear sheers anyway and tell the world to eff off.  But recently this plan was thwarted by horrific stains that now keep me from wearing ANYTHING sheer, ever.

That is, my stains kept me from wearing anything sheer until I tried this.  This is the simple trick I use to hide my stains and VNL so that I can wear whatever I want, playa.  For this you're going to need to find yourself a nude polish that matches your nail beds as CLOSE as possible.  This polish also needs to be mostly opaque in ONE COAT.  It's gonna take some trial and a lot of errors but it's worth it.  Since I cannot even follow my own freakin rules I am using Orly Country club khaki with a thin coat of Misa high waist Hue over it.  I'm SUPER fair skinned so it's really hard to find a matching shade. Another good nude for fair skin is China Glaze great barrier beige.
Paint your nails in your opaque nude shade and let it completely dry.  Normally I would not let my polish dry before adding a second coat but this is different.  Once this is dry we are going to treat this just like we would our bare nail.  Yeah, there isn't a whole lot to this trick people.

Now, we apply our sheer polish or any other polish that normally would have shown VNL.  Because we chose a nude shade that matches our nail bed, the color of the polish we apply should not be altered in any way.  This trick also allows for more coverage in less coats, bonus! There are basically 3 types of polishes that give the worst VNL.  Jellies, glitters, and sheers.  Here are some before and after photos of these 3 types of polish with and without our opaque nude base coat.
Here is 4 coats of a sheer polish. Nail glossies 221 on my bare nails. Notice how you can clearly see my nail beds.  
This is only 3 coats of the same polish over our nude shade!  No VNL, no stains.  Awesome!  You can clearly see why we needed a nude polish that is opaque in one coat.  If we have to apply 2 or 3 to get the nude to be opaque then our final result is going to be chunky, way too thick and totally unnatural looking.
GAH!  Here is 3 coats of a glitter on my bare nails.  China Glaze Atlantis.  Would you look at the GROSSNESS.  Stains showing through, and really bad VNL.
Here we have Atlantis with only 2 coats over our nude polish. Much better! This needed a topcoat, but most glitters do.
Now for a Jelly.  EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! I cannot believe I'm posting this!  This is 4 whopping coats of Lippmann Rehab.  HOLY STAINS BATMAN.  I am taking one for the team to help you out here people!
Ok, *whew* this is only 3 coats of Rehab over our opaque nude.  Do I even need to comment on how much better this is?  I can't see a visible nail line, can you?

32 comments:

  1. This is such a great post! I appreciate you "taking one for the team" as you put it. I struggle with stains as well. Nail Tek Foundation II has helped a lot!

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  2. Looks beter with the nude underneath it..
    Great tip!

    I've always done that to my clients who had tiny nailbeds and wanted a light french manicure...
    Works like a charm!

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  3. That is a great trick, thanks for the idea!

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  4. Great post!! I cannot believe that you are a reformed biter! I am an (almost) reformed biter - I have to have a file with me all the time, because if my nails aren't perfectly smooth, I will start to gnaw on them, and once I bite one, I have to bite them all. How on earth did you go from a biter to your current state of nail gorgeousness?? I'd love to know!!

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  5. Somebody linked to scrangie one day on a forum im on, and i read her whole blog. Then I just stopped. I dont really know how I managed to do it. I just *stopped* now having all this nail polish around makes me not want to bite them.

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  6. What an awesome post!!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. An awesome trick! Thanks for posting!

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  8. awesome trick, I'm fair skinned too, thanks for the polish recs.

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  9. rock on with your bad self!! awesome!

    NanRx

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  10. Amazing tip! Thank you. I think your nails are beautiful!

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  11. The best ideas are often the most simple! This is amazing. Thanks

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  12. I do this! It all depends on my mood, sometimes I want to show the VNL (Don't ask me why) other times I use a nude polish and then just use the semi sheer polish over that. Such an easy trick! Love it!

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  13. Ok, NOW I'll give in and go with the mannequin hands trend but ONLY because of THIS TIP! Thanks!!!

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  14. Wow...I dunno if I'd have ever thought of that! Brilliant!!! Do you know what shade you are in MAC? I need to find my perfect nude nail color :-)

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  15. Cool trick! Now I just have to find a nude nail polish.

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  16. What a great post! Thank you for being willing to show your VNL for the greater good of polish-lovers everywhere!

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  17. I love this post. I do the same thing alot, but with straight white polish. And about the stains... soak your nails in water with a denture tablet. Weird, I know, but it totally works! I love jellies and I wear them with no shame. VNL doesn't bother me like most bloggers

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  18. I hate VNL, and whenever I up for it (laziness ...) I do the same thing. Totally works! Great post. :)

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  19. I hate VNL as well. Thanks for the tip!

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  20. Awesome tip!! I wonder what nail polish would be right for me, I'm mixed so I need some sort if nude caramel, hmm.

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  21. Zoya Neveah is my fav for this. It works great.

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  22. I really appreciate you doing this! What a fabulous idea. I am fair so I will need to check out the CG polish you mentioned!

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  23. Good morning
    Super great tip! but "nail bed" is the flesh beneath the nail???...
    Thankas

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  24. Great tip!!! I sure could use this. Thanks double thanks!

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  25. love your blog! came here courtesy of dr. frankenpolish's shoutout on her blog. your nails are awesome. thanks for the tip!

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  26. OMG This is like the BEST tip EVER!

    P.S. I just found your blog and I'm already drooling all over your nail pictures! :)

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  27. I am also a reformed biter, or at least in rehab. Is this why my nail beds are so tiny?

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  28. This is such a wonderful tip. I hate sheer polishes. I also love glitter polishes. When my nails show through I get very annoyed. I love Atlantic but was annoyed that it was a bit sheer. Now I have a solution to this. Now I have to find the right polish to work for me. Thank you so much.

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  29. My name is Julia, and I'm a Nail-biter. Seriously, I always get flack at salons cause my nail beds are so small, "cute" even. And I hate that when I finally give up the habit long enough to polish my nails like the diva I am, I always get the fugly VNL, even at a salon! I’ve tried it myself, applying a peachy basecoat that matched my nail bed color, or so I thought. I have to apply 3 to 4 coats of the stuff before it even begins to serve its purpose, and by then I am usually so tired and high off polish fumes that the mission for gorge nails is usually abandoned and I'm left with a semi-sticky blah mani that I am not happy with. Can you recommend any other one coat polishes for this purpose? Thank you ever so much!

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