You've sacrificed a Nando's dinner out and splurged on a manicure for the first time in months. And what happens approximately 3 and a half hours later? You chip them. Probably taking out the bins or something. sob
Model is wearing Maybelline Color Show in Urban Coral, £2.99
Well instead of spending your cousin's wedding sitting on your hands and using only your mouth to drink from your wine glass, take the advice of Michelle Humphrey, the nail art genius and all-round babe who’s worked with the likes of Lily Allen, Lana Del Rey and Miley Cyrus.
'If you’ve got chips there’s a quick 2-step short cut to fixing your nails without having to do it all over again yourself. Wonderful when it comes to saving time for us lazy girls,' explains Michelle.
Here's how:
Step One: Resist the urge to just paint over the entire nail in the hope it'll cover any imperfections
Because, as Michelle warns, there will still be an obvious dent where your chip has been painted with one layer of polish when the rest of your nail will have had more. Instead, take your polish brush and with a steady hand fill in the chip alone by dabbing the chip – like you’re poly-filling a hole in a wall. (Nope, us neither). To make this easier you can use a super fine nail art brush (you can buy these really cheap on Amazon, and Model’s Own have thisgreat set) and pour a small amount of the polish onto a paper plate or piece of card. This way you’ll have more control over how much polish you’re working with. Go in slightly thicker with the polish than you would when painting the whole nail – you’re looking to achieve a smooth finish with no lumps and the whole nail needs to be the same shade.
(Side note: check out Michelle's hands at work below with the tie-dye swirls. Thems are some nails.)
Step Two: Apply another top coat
It’s very important to make sure that your repairs have dried before adding the all-important topcoat, otherwise your repairs will just be dragged away and you’ll be in an even bigger mess than when you started. 'The top coat is key,' explains Michelle. 'I like Essie’s Let it Shine because it has a formula similar to a gel polish, so it’s really good at smoothing out any remaining kinks.'
Look at that - once your topcoat is dry you’re good to go, without smelling of nail polish remover having started all over again. As Michelle puts it: 'It’s kind of a little secret, you’re wearing a chipped manicure and no one else will ever know.'
**Michelle is the brand ambassador for Maybelline.****You can follow her on Twitter, Instagramand Tumblr.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.