We’re not sure about you, but our nails get painted at least once a week. Whether we’re going to the nail salon or doing an at-home manicure, it’s more rare to find our fingers without polish than with. So, with all of this nail painting, we’ve seen just about every problem possible on our hands. To help you get (and keep!) the best manicure you can, we broke down how to fix every single nail problem in the book. From removing gel Nail polish to fixing broken nails, we found the solution for everything.
1. Smudged Nail Polish
Try as you might, smudged nail polish happens. When it does, the earlier you catch it, the easier it’ll be to correct the lacquer. Simply lick your finger tip and with that finger, wipe the polish upwards towards the edge of your nail. A simple, quick fix and you’ll be good to go!
2. Chipped Polish
If you can avoid getting chips by applying top coat once every three days or so, you’ll save yourself major stress. But, chips happen, and if you can’t fix with the same color polish that’s already on the nail (read: you got your nails done at the salon and you don’t own the polish), paint a top coat of glitter over the nail. You can paint the same nail on the opposite hand for an accent nail effect, or cover up all 10 fingers for a like-new manicure.
3. Polish on Your Cuticles
We can’t all be Picasso. When you get stray marks on your cuticles (or anywhere else on your fingers), the optimal choice is fixing with a polish remover pen. But, if you don’t have one at home, simply dip a cotton swab in nail polish remover and use to remove the excess polish from your skin.
4. The Brush is Stuck to the Bottle
Nail polish that’s been around a while tends to get polish on the bottle that makes getting the brush out of the bottle a bit sticky. Put nail polish remover on a tissue and use it clean the opening of the bottle. To get things in tip top shape, put the tissue on the edge of the bottle, put the brush in the bottle and close so that the nail polish remover gets into every nook and cranny.
5. Removing Glitter Nail Polish
Every time we paint our nails with glitter nail polish, we love it until it comes time to remove it. To save yourself frustration and hassle, try the tin foil trick. Cut a cotton ball in half, apply a generous amount of nail polish remover and place it on your nail. Then, take a square of tin foil and wrap around the nail to seal in the cotton ball. Let the cotton ball sit for about 5 minutes, then remove. Glitter polish will lift off immediately.
6. Nail Polish That Won’t Dry
When you’ve got no time to spare and your nail polish just won’t dry, submerge your fingers in cold water for about three seconds. When you pull your hands out, the polish will be rock hard.