Christmas Nails 2016

Merry Christmas,  What better way to relax after having surgery than to do your nails.  I tried to sculpt my nails but my nails are too short and it was a complete fail.  For my Christmas Nails I decided to add tips to give a little length and add a little structure.  

Since I just had surgery and didn't wanted to work to hard , I used my electric drill with a coarse file . I started with pushing my cuticles back and lightly filed my nails with my electric file.   I then cleaned my nails with paper towel with alcohol on it.  I sized the nail tips and clued them to my nails.  I cut my nails down to a preferred length ( I like to keep them short as I can't do anything with them when they are long).  I filed the nails with my electric file to blend the tips to my natural nail bed.  Then I took a regular nail file with 180 /100 grit side and shaped my nails into a nice square shape and cleaned them with an alcohol wipe. 

Next I did the gel application.  I used IBD builder gel in pink.  To begin the gel application process I applied IBD Bonder to my nails and cured for one minute under a UV Lamp.   Then I applied a thin layer of IBD builder gel and cured for one minute under the UV Lamp.   I dipped my gel brush in the builder gel and picked up a nice amount of gel .  I applied a thicker amount of gel to the middle of my nail bed and worked the gel from my cuticle to the free edge.  I kept the gel thin close to my cuticle and thicker towards the free edge.   Once you have a nice C curve and are satisfied with your nail you can cure for three minutes.   After curing for three minutes I wiped off the dispersion layer (stictky layer) with an alcohol wipe.  I took my nail file and filed the sides and free edge of my nail keeping the sides slightly rounded.   I than took my electric drill and used a lighter drill to smooth out the nail.  I then took a white buffer and buffed my nails , then applied IBD Intense seal to the nails and cured for three minutes.   After curing for three minutes I took my nails out of the UV Lamp , there was no need to wipe off a dispersion layer as IBD intense seal is a UV top coat. 

After the gel application process I add cuticle oil to all of my nails and massage the oil into my cuticle .   I wipe my nails with a clean paper towel and chose my nail color.   Because it is Christmas I decided to use a nice classy red color and a festive green.  I love Sally Hansen nail color and decided to use Bordeaux Glow and Combusteable for my colors .  I used Combusteable on my accent finer and used Bordeaux Glow on the other four nails.  I then decided to add a fun full cover nail stamp to the accent finger using Konad nail art stamps with silver stamping polish .  I finished the nails with Sally Hansen top coat .  


I don't really like to use gel nail polish as you have to file your nails to remove it or soak your nail in nail polish remover damaging your nail bed.   Using regular nail polish allows you change your color as often as you like , and having the gel overlay on the bottom of the polish allows the color to last longer with less chipping from my experience.   I have been doing my nails for years now and never had my nail color chip.    Lets see how long these last , I am hoping that I finally learned how to do them correctly.   I will be back to do a new years design if I have time next week.  Merry Christmas !!!