A Note on Big 3 Free Nail Polishes

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Since I've recently decided to primarily use Big 3 Free nail polishes, with the "Big 3" being toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP (dibutyl phthalate), I've been paying more attention to them and how other people are using them as well.  I thought I'd pass on the results of some of my own experience and some research I've done on the topic in light of something I've observed.

I've noticed other ladies doing something which I've found does not consistently work: mixing Big 3 Free products with "regular" products, or those which do contain any of the Big 3 (in my experience, specifically toluene and formaldehyde).  By mixing products I mean combining a base coat and color, or color and top coat, that are not of the same composition.  What's happened to me with that is (i) using a toluene containing top coat over B3F color resulted in the nail polish coming off in large chips within hours, and (ii) using a formaldehyde containing base coat under a B3F color resulting in severe staining of the nails.  Mixing products may work for a given color, but odd results may also happen - it simply is not predictable, and is thus not recommended.

I'm not suggesting that one should necessarily stick to using the same brand for base, color, and top coat, but that one should be aware that B3F products are not intended to be combined with toluene, formaldehyde, or DBP, and strange outcomes can occur when they're mixed.  I do know that several of the B3F companies, notably Zoya, Nubar, and Carolyn New York, strongly recommend the use of their own base and top coats with their color.

To be honest, I've been mixing brands myself, using Nubar Nu Nails Nail Strengthener as a base and Nubar Diamont Seal & Shine Quick Dry as a top coat with Nubar, CNY, Orly, and Zoya colored nail polishes and have had fine results.  I just wanted to point out the companies' recommendations, as it's likely a "your mileage may vary" issue.

I just wanted to get that little product rant out there, Dear Reader.  Now that it's out I can say until next time, love and nail polish to you!

The Nailphile's Product Picks

Good afternoon, Dear Reader! I had a reader request that sounded like a great idea to me, so I thought I'd get about the business of doing it: a post about the nail products I use and why I like them. I expect this post to get long, for I am not married to any one product - I find that many serve different purposes for me for different reasons. We'll look at them in the order I'd use them doing a manicure.

1. Remover: I use two. First, I use pure acetone to remove the polish using one cotton pad's worth per hand, then I use a third cotton pad with Studio 35 Salon Formula Nourishing acetone-based remover (blue) to go back over all ten nails. The reason I do it this way is that although pure acetone is faster and more effective than remover, it also tends to deposit dissolved color on my skin and nails. The remover does not, so I use that to clean up after the acetone. I use Studio 35 from Walgreen's because it's the cheapest and most effective I've found.

2. Cuticles: Most of the time, I push my cuticles back using my thumbnail. I never use metal tools on my cuticles, and the only time I use a cuticle nippers at all is if I have to trim anything around my cuticles (never the cuticles themselves). Every week or two, I'll use a cuticle remover with a worn (thus not sharp) orange stick to clean my cuticles up a bit. My preferred product is SpaRitual's Cuti-Clean, which doubles as a stain remover. I like it best because it's quick, effective, and painless. My second choice is Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover, which also works well but causes my cuticles to sting a bit. I follow the directions on the bottle for both.

3. Base Coat: Here, there's much more variety. Depending upon what I'm doing, I use a different base coat. My everyday product is Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth Treatment, but I believe that's being discontinued, so I'll have to find another everyday base coat. It allows the polish to go on smoothly and does a great job of preventing staining. If I'm swatching, I use Precision Base Coat because it dries the fastest and provides a smooth base - by the time I've painted the fifth nail on my left hand, the first is dry and ready for polish. Also, I've found certain brands of polish to be chippy unless I use the same manufacturer's base coat. That applies to Chanel, Essie, and Zoya, and I use those for those brands. For a long lasting manicure, my favorite is SpaRitual Lacquer Lock Colorstay Basecoat, followed by Zoya Anchor.

4. Color: My overall favorite brands of polish for application and wear are Rescue Beauty Lounge and SpaRitual. Since RBL costs exactly twice what SpaRitual does, SpaRitual gets the number one spot. I like both because my nails are quite curved over the nail bed and they flatten out a bit when wet, which can lead to chipping with many other brands. These two seem to have an elastic quality to their wear that allows them to stay on my nails for days - when travelling, I've gotten up to five days without a chip out of both, and only changed polish because I felt like it when I got home. For color, though, I'll use any brand that has colors I like, since I generally change my polish daily - I can love a $0.99 Wet N Wild as much as a Chanel. Color Club, Misa, OPI, Sally Hansen, CHI, Precision and Zoya are other favorites for color selection (in no particular order).

5. Top Coat: My very favorite top coat is SpaRitual Tout de Suite Quick Dry Topcoat. It dries polish faster than any other, has an unbeatable shine, doesn't cause "shrinkage" at the tips, and it prevents tip wear. My second favorite is Precision Quick Dry Top Coat because it also leaves a great shine and does the job well without shrinking the polish beneath, also preventing tip wear. The down side to both is that they cost a little more than others and are less available. I also use Seche Vite, avoiding its shrinkage issue by applying it around the edge of my tips. SV has a great shine and works well, but I get tip wear quickly with it. Poshe is another good one that I have on hand, which works faster than SV (especially on harder to dry colors, like some from Chanel), but doesn't shine as well as SV. I apply Poshe in the same manner as I do SV, but the tip wear isn't as bad with it as with SV.

6. Konad! I've been using the Konad for every mani lately, and am just beginning to try polishes other then the Konad Special Polish with it. [redacted]

7. Post Konad Top Coat: If I worked quickly and my base polish isn't totally dry, I've found a thick coat of Seche Vite will not smudge the design. The other options, if the base polish is dry, are Color Club Art Club Sealer (first choice, less likely to smudge) or Sally Hansen Megashine (second choice). Whichever I use, I use a thick coat to ensure that I don't smudge the stamped design. When I use something other than SV, I follow it with SpaRitual's Andale Dry & Shine Drops, which are magical. They really do work, and the polish is smooth, shiny, and dries quickly.

Then I'm done with products! I'm sure you see a theme here - I'm a huge fan of SpaRitual products. I love them. But since I change polish most days, I don't use them every time because they're a bit pricier so I have the others on hand. If you're a once-a-week gal like I used to be, they're well worth the extra money.

I'd love to hear additional product recommendations and experience from you, Dear Reader, so please feel free to chime in with a comment. While you're at it, why not enter the Get In-Spider-ed Giveaway? It's open to readers worldwide through the sixth.

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Love and nail polish to you!

Mastering the Konad

[EDIT: Since I wrote this, I've modified the routine in two ways. First, I use pure acetone as the remover (it dries immediately, eliminating the step of drying the plate), and I use felt rather than cooton pads, which leave no lint. Otherwise, proceed...]

Good afternoon, Dear Reader! Today I thought we'd spend a few minutes going over precisely how one goes about using the Konad. I took as many pictures as I could, but without a third hand or a photographer, I couldn't get one of the actual stamping of a nail. We'll use what I've got, and please post any questions you have and I'll try to answer them.

You'll need to start by doing a mani or putting a coat of clear polish on your nails. That's Step Zero. From there, we can start to Konad! I usually wait about ten minutes after finishing my mani with quick-dry top coat to begin stamping.

1. Start with the image plate on a flat surface.

2. With a cotton pad moistened with polish remover, clean the plate.

3. With another dry cotton pad, dry the plate.

4. With your chosen Special Polish, paint your design lightly, making sure that you get polish in all the grooves.

5. Take the scraper (I prefer the plastic one) and set it just to the right of the polish (assuming you're going to scrape right to left) at a 90° angle to the plate, and firmly scrape the polish you've just applied, holding the plate still with your other hand.

The scraped plate will look like this:

6. Take the stamper and put the bottom edge of it just in front of your design and roll the stamper over the design to pick up the polish.

The rolled stamper will look like this:

7. Line up the pattern with your nail, and using the same rolling motion, apply the pattern to your nail.

Repeat steps 1-7, including cleaning the plate, remembering that speed is the key once you've started Step 4. If any polish remains on the stamper, use your polish remover pad to clean it, and wipe off the scraper as needed.

I stamped this pattern, then my tips, and this is what they looked like:

I waited about five minutes for the Konad polish to dry, during which time I used acetone to remove the excess black polish from my fingers, then added a thick coat of Seche Vite to the mani, and here's the finished product:

It takes practice to master the Konad, but this is how to do it. Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

How I Do My Nails

Hello, Dear Reader!

I've had a few reader requests asking precisely how I go about doing my nails, and so I thought, "I have a little light, I have a little time, I'll explain it now."

I start by removing my old polish, using a total of three of the textured round cotton cosmetic pads. I use the the first to remove the polish from my left hand using pure acetone, the second to do the right, and since pure acetone has a tendency to redeposit dissolved polish, I then go over all ten nails with the third using Studio 35 (Walgreen's brand) acetone remover. While I'm doing the remover tidy-up, I also push back my cuticles with the wet cotton pad. I'm now ready to apply polish.

I always start with a base coat, but am not married to any particular one. Sally Hansen Age Correct is good, as is NailTek II Foundation Ridge Filling or Nutra Nail, for general use. For Essies I use Essie Ridge Filling (otherwise Essies are chippy on me), and for Chanels I use a Chanel base coat for the same reason. The two I don't like are Orly Bonder and Creative Nail Design Stickey, as I get major staining of my nails when I use either of those. I apply one coat of whatever base coat, trying to fully cover the nail while not getting any on my cuticles. I dip the brush and wipe off the back of it inside the bottle to remove excess for each nail to apply. Once that's done, it's time for color.

For this example, I chose the potentially steakiest polish I could, which is SpaRitual Steel Magnolia. On the first coat, I don't worry about streaks, only placement of the polish. I start out by applying a small drop near the cuticle.



Rather than stop and take a picture of it, I normally immediately use the brush amost parallel to the nail to push the polish close to the cuticle, then up the length of the nail in as straight a line as possible. With only one free hand, I used paper to illustrate the position of the brush below. I first do the center of each nail, then the left side following the cuticle line, then the right.



For the second coat, I simply have to follow the placement of the first coat, and I do pay attention to streaks. Holding the brush as shown above, they're minimal and can be prevented using thin coats of polish, but if one appears I lightly brush it out immediately.

Immediately after finishing the second coat, I apply quick-dry top coat, either Seche Vite or Poshe. Each has advantages and disadvantages, which we'll save for another post because both are good enough to own. In applying the top coat, after applying it to the surface of each nail, I apply it around the edge of the nail as well to prevent it from shrinking the polish back.

That's it! The mani's done. The process usually takes me 8-10 minutes total. Here's the finished product:



Love and well-applied nail polish to you, Dear Reader!