Practice makes it perfect. It makes sense, before you can reach perfection, you must struggle. My biggest nail art challenge used to be drawing long thin lines. One shake of the hand and nail design is ruined but after a few months of practice the tiniest and thinnest lines are doable.
But there is still one thing that occasionally causes problems. BUBBLES! Just imagine, you spent 1-2 hours to do your nails, perfecting a thin detailed nail design, you need to seal it and then bang. The top coat goes bubbly! ARGHHHH. Has that ever happened to you? Even the tiniest bubbles drive me insane. And, even the most trusted top coats do that to me from time to time. I’ve learned how to avoid bubbles, but still sometimes…. argh!
Now your turn guys, what’s your biggest nail art struggle?
– Maria, xx
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Nikita says
For me at the moment I’m having issues with any OPI top coats. The Rapidry got thick after a few uses and caused a major bubble storm on my first successful stamping attempt, even with a thin coat. And now my Matte top coat is putting white dots through some coats. I love OPI so it breaks my heart! But on a general art view, stamping and water marble have been my toughest challenges. Getting there now after months of practise, but some days they just don’t want to play! Oh and getting a sharp clear pic of it after hours of meticulous artwork.
Maria @SoNailicious says
I find OPI top coats are quite difficult to use. Never had any luck with them. But the same thing recently happened to me with one of my trusty Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coats. I wonder if it is something to do with the temperature change? It’s been quite hot recently in Sydney. Regarding photos, you need good light – try taking photos right in front of the window. Also, check your lens, esp. iphone. One miniscule piece of fluff or even worst, – a finger print on a lens makes photos look super blurry!
Renata says
i have just finished the nail design and now i really happy with the way it turned out. it looks perfect and all i need to do is apply my fast dry top coat and I’m done. But then there the top coat smudges the nail design. Arrrrhhhhhh!
but then i eventually learned to let your design dry for 30 mins and apply your top coat. but sometimes i still don’t have the patience.
Maria @SoNailicious says
Yes, it’s definitely better to wait 5-10 minutes before applying a top coat over nail art. But sometimes if you wait for too long then a top coat can shrink and it’s a kind of different problem :( But if instead of waiting you just try to apply a top coat slowly, without touching the nail surface you can avoid smudging your pattern and avoid any potential shrinkage. x
Christine Chipman says
My biggest nail art problem at the moment is Seche Vite top coat. It shrinks my polish, and builds up on the edge on my nails into hard ridges. I had stopped using it, but last week I had to do a review and swatches for a collection of 5 polishes in 2 days, so I had to use it. It wasn’t a problem with the manis that I removed pretty much as soon as I’d taken the photographs, but I left the last polish on, and voila! The same problem back again. The best top coat I’ve tried so far is OPI Top Coat. I have to be careful when I add it over nail art, but as long as I don’t do it too quickly, and don’t touch the surface when putting it on, it does a fantastic job, and my manis usually last for at least 5 or 6 days, and I had one that lasted for 9 days with minimal damage. So, Seche Vite is going to be a swatching top coat only in future until I’ve got rid of it all, then I’ll find something else.
Maria @SoNailicious says
HI Christine, did you see this post? https://sonailicious.com/avoid-top-coat-shrinkage/
It should help with shrinkage :) Regarding top coats, I don’t use Seche, even though so many love it and it is a great top coat but there are certain ingredients/chemicals in it that I just don’t want to inhale or have it on my nails. As far as I remember you have some serious health problems, so 5-free polishes and top coats would be a better option for you. Especially if you need a top coat just for swatching – there are a lot of great indie top coats. They are not fast drying like Seche but they’re super glossy and 5-free.
Yanira says
Dark nail polish flooding my cuticles! No matter how much I clean up, I still have some staining. ?
Maria @SoNailicious says
Oh I know what you mean, Yanira! You can try and use peel off base to protect your cuticles from dark nail polish when painting your nails. And there is one more, even more effective method but it’s hard to explain. I need to show! We’ll try and film a video tutorial sometime soon to demonstrate it.