Tutorial: Orly Nail Rescue

Well, I keep getting a break on my swatch hand index finger in the exact.  Same.  Spot.  It is infuriating.  I'm having to interrupt a wear test to patch it, which is annoying.  I'm still going to finish the wear test, but I'll just have to note that my index finger was redone on day 3.  Anyway, since I'm having to patch my nail tonight, I thought I'd post a tutorial on how to use my favorite patching tool - Orly Nail Rescue.  The break and photos are from a thumb break just before Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately, I broke it too badly, so the patch only held for about 3 days.  I have, however, successfully patched my index finger for over a month until the damaged part grew out.  I really like this Orly product.  It's pretty simple to use, and it actually helps.  The only negative I have is that it dissolves in acetone, and since acetone is my preferred method of removal, I have to redo my patch each time I take off my mani.  Let's take a look at how to use it.

Here's my break from a few weeks ago.

First, remove any polish on the nail with the break.  Be careful when you remove it so you don't make the tear worse.  

Next, gather your tools.  

You'll need the Orly Nail Rescue kit, which comes with a tiny buffer, the Nail Repair powder, 

and a brush on glue.  

My glue glued itself shut, so I purchased this ibd 5 second glue from Sally's for replacement.  Try to store your glue right-side up to ensure that it doesn't glue itself together.  You'll also probably need another buffer since the one it comes with is flimsy and doesn't have much grit.  I use a medium / fine from Sally's.

Brush on one thin coat of glue.

Try to push the split pieces together for just a second so that the two pieces adhere to one another.

Next, while the glue is still wet, dip your nail down into the powder.  Press it in to pack the powder onto the nail.  Shake off the excess powder into the little tub.

Once it's relatively dry to the touch, wipe off the excess powder from around and on the nail.

Repeat the gluing and powdering steps once more.  The break should be repaired at this point, but repeat again if you feel like it's still flimsy.

Next, take your buffer and buff the patch down until it's smooth.  Don't over-buff or else the patch will be too thin.

Lastly, swipe a little bit of remover over the nail to remove any access powder and debris.

There you have it!  That's how to use the Orly Nail Rescue kit.  It's seriously a life saver for me since I tend to have flimsy nails due to my thyroid's never ending revolt against me.  I purchased my repair kit from Sally's for about $8, but I'm pretty sure it's also available at Ulta as well as other online retailers.

Do you patch your nails when they break, or do you cut and file them down?

It's ok to peel off your polish!

As I mentioned over the weekend, I gave the ole Elmer's Glue trick a test drive.  However, I wear soak off gels, so I wasn't really sure how this was going to work.  I finished my gel mani, which I'll show you on Wednesday, and went in search of an empty bottle.  I added my glue to the bottle and got my polishes all ready to go.  Now, let's see how to use a glue base coat on top of soak off gels.  [WARNING: This post is very pic heavy!!!!]

First, apply your glue on top of your gel top coat (I use Gelish Top it Off).  Try not to get it too thick or clumpy.

This is what it looks like once you've covered your whole nail.

Next, make sure you let it dry completely.  Here, you can still see a bit of white on the tip.  Don't apply your polish until the white is all gone.

See how my nail is matte now without any white?  This is when you should apply your polish.  

Make sure that all of your nails are ready to go before you apply your polish.  That way you won't have to skip a nail or stop midway through and wait for it to dry.  Here, you can see that my ring finger isn't quite ready.

You guys all know how to apply polish, so I won't bore you with those details.  Just apply as you normally do.  I used Hare's Dog Day Dream, which is a raspberry based polish with red, purple, and fuchsia glitters.  I really wanted this polish when I first saw it, and it did not disappoint.

It applied very evenly with the glitter spreading out without pooling up on my cuticles.  I didn't really need to do much cleanup on my left hand, so I was pretty pleased by that.

Check out a closeup of the glitters.  It looked really great on top of my gel mani (Progel Flaming Poker, which is a red glitter polish).

When you're ready to remove your polish, all you need to do is wet your hands in warm water to get the glue a little malleable   Start to pick around the base near your cuticle careful not to grab the gel.  You can also try to pick around the free edge if you think you can get a bit of the glitter polish/glue base without ruining your gels.  Then, gently peel the polish off.  You can do it with a cuticle stick as shown here or with your fingers, which is how I actually did it myself.

Your polish should pop off all in one sheet or in a few sheets.  Although, sometimes you may screw it up by grabbing the edge of your gel mani instead of the top coats...

While having to redo that particular nail sucked, attempting to scrub glitter off of my SOGs sucks more.  With this method, all you need to do once you remove the glitter regular nail polish is scrub the SOGs with your cleansing solution to make sure you've removed all of the glue.  And, voila!  Your gels are back to pristine condition!

Sorry for the wonk.  My patches aren't very great, but I just can't let this guy break yet.

You can purchase Hare at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  She won't be restocking either shop until mid-November, so check her Facebook page often for the details of her next sale.  Also, be advised that her polishes all sell VERY quickly, so be prepared for cart jacking and super quick sales.  I purchased my Elmer's Glue at Michaels.  Make sure you get the white school glue!  (I'm sure you could get the clear school glue, but I like using the white, which stays white when wet and turns clear when dry.  That way, I won't paint my nails before the glue has completely dried!)

Also, before I go...  Which polish should I wear over my red gel mani tomorrow?  Here are my options:

Dollish The Many Shades of Mr. Grey, Lynn Shape Shifter, Nail-Venturous Crawfish Boil (I may wear this on Wednesday since I have a networking lunch), Dollish Vampire's Coven, or Dollish Spectral Pup?

Do you use the glue base coat trick?

Zombie Nails with Tutorial!

Man, this week has been crazy.  Friday night we hung with my parents who were in town from Florida.  Saturday night we attended a friend's annual Oktoberfest, which had AMAZING Brooklyn Oktoberfest and Spotted Trotter Knockwursts (this party's legit, y'all).  Sunday was my nephew's second birthday.  Monday night we went to the Shins concert.  Tuesday and today, the hubs is home sick with a fever.  Holy wow.  Way too much going on!  I did, however, have time to complete my zombie nails for the Polished Zombie's 200 Reader Giveaway!  If you participated, post your manis on my page!  I'd LOVE to see what you've done!  If not, then get on it!  The giveaway ends on October 26th!  Now, onto the tutorial!!!

First, gather your polishes.  I really wanted to go for a fetid decaying flesh look, so I grabbed black, a few greys, a blood red, and an army green.  You'll also need to take a makeup sponge and tear it up into smaller pieces.  Some people like to use tweezers for sponging, but I find it easier to do it with my fingers.  You'll also need a brush with acetone to do the final step, a paper plate to drop your polishes onto for the sponges, and a paper towel for blotting your acetone brushes.  Lastly, you may want to tape up your cuticles to help with cleanup, or you can use your brush with acetone for cleanup.

Essence Fateful Desire, Elevation Tindur, Elevation Ridnitsohkka, OPI At Your Quebec and Call, China Glaze Recycle, and China Glaze Liquid Leather

Next, prep your nails for polish by shaping them and removing the cuticle.  Apply your black polish normally.  You don't need it to have full coverage, so just one coat will be fine.  Let it dry a little until it's tacky to the touch but not completely dry.

Next, drop a bit of the green polish onto the paper plate.  Take your makeup sponge and dip it into the polish.  Sponge the green onto the entire nail.  I did two coats to get it bright and saturated.  This layering is important for the last step.

Drop your darkest grey onto your paper plate and dip your makeup sponge into it.  This time, don't cover your entire nail with the grey.  Just go around your nail haphazardly and put the grey wherever you like it.

Do the same polish drop and makeup sponge technique with the remaining greys, red and black.  You don't want do completely cover the nail with just one color at this point, so make sure that you can see bits of each color on your nail.  Don't go too heavy on the red or black, so it looks like rotting open wounds.  I use the plate to blot the red and black a little so they don't go on too thickly.  The idea here is Zombie, after all!

Medium Grey

 

Light Grey

 

Blood Red

 

Black

 

At this point, you can go ahead and do some cleanup with your brush and acetone.

ROFL!  My cleanup brush has seen better days...

Once all of your nails have had the sponge treatment, wait a few minutes to let the polish dry enough so that you won't smear it when you do the next step.  Intentional smearing is totally different from smudging the polish all the way to your nail, which I did at least twice, lol.  Grab your brush and acetone.  Dip your brush into the acetone and blot it on a paper towel.  Next, LIGHTLY swipe your brush across your nail.  Do this two or three times until you get a look you like.  It's ok if you wipe off down to the black or green in bits, as it looks really cool like that.  The point is to try to blend the colors together while you're swiping the brush across.

Once you're done, you can apply some fimo slices.  Here, I'm using slices I purchased from Dollish Polish in one of her Halloween restocks.  You can look up how to slice and use fimo sticks on youtube, which is what I did, but here's a quick how-to.  Grab your slice with some tweezers.  Make sure your polish is still wet, and place the fimo slice onto your nail where you want it.  Press it down into the polish with your tweezers.  

Now, apply a few layers of topcoat to seal it in.  

As you can see, I applied WAY TOO MUCH Seche Vite, so I've got some serious shrinkage going on.  Check out how they look up close.  I really love the look of fimo slices, but I hate how they stick out.  Seriously, I felt like I had to use a million coats of SV to get it all to stay down.  I probably didn't need to use that much, though.  You live and learn!

After that, you're done!  Here's the finished product!

(Extra huge pic so you can see the details a little better.  Excuse the shrinkage...)

Here is a closeup of the blending.  See how the green and black poke through a little?

So, there you have it!  Those are my zombie nails!  It takes a little bit of time to do, but I think it's pretty worth it.  Although, I won't use too much Seche Vite next time.  I purchased the OPI, which is discontinued, from a salon near my house.  The China Glazes are still available at Sally's and ULTA.  I received the Essence from a friend in a swap, but you can find Essence at ULTA.  Lastly, you can purchase Elevations here, but they're currently closed until November.

What do you think of my Zombie nails?  Good for Halloween?  Did you participate in Jen's themed giveaway?

Game-Day Nails: Vanderbilt and Florida Atlantic

Well, despite our seriously lackluster performance on Saturday, I still love my Dawgs.  I'm shocked that we're still in the top 25, much less ranked number 11.  That, ladies and sirs, is insane.  Anyway, I'm so far behind on my game-day nails that I have 2 of them for you today.  I didn't take pics of my nails from the South Carolina game since I kinda smudged them all up, which is a total shame because I had on OPI La Boheme.  I hate being in a rush when I paint my nails.  Ugh!

UGA v. Vanderbilt

I wore a franken that I made for the Vandy game.  I'm not a huge fan of it.  It's a ruby based polish with large black hexes, fine black hexes, red hexes, and holographic silver hexes.  I added way too many fine black hexes for my liking.  If anyone likes this polish and wants it, it's yours for the taking.  Just shoot me an email, lol.

Hunker Down Hairy Dawg! 

Macro shot of the bottle - it has promise...

See, too many fine black glitters.  Just too busy.

I love the holo silver hexes, but I definitely would take out 3/4 of the small black hexes.

UGA v. Florida Atlantic

This mani was one of my favorites!  I'm not very great at nail art, but I thought I would try the braided/fishtail trend that's been gaining popularity lately.  I used this tutorial:

The three polishes I chose to use were China Glaze TMI, Nfu Oh 61, and OPI My Private Jet.

Holy holographic!!!  I couldn't stop staring at my nails the entire day.  I even had guy friends compliment them!  Seriously one of my favorite game-day manis to date.  I think I could do a better job the next time I try a fishtail mani, as it takes a little bit of practice to get it down right.  

Check out a closeup in the sunshine.  I seriously love holo polishes!

Don't forget about my Halloween giveaway!  Check it out here!  Also, I'm looking forward to announcing another massive giveaway that I'm going to take part in with another blogger.  Stay tuned for that announcement, too!  I just love Halloween!!

Have you ever done a fishtail mani?  I'd love to see your pics on my Facebook page!