I don’t know about acrylics, but there are colored gels. I have gel nails (a gel overlay over my natural nails, cured by light), and since I started having my nail tech use the colored gel, I never get chips in my manicure.
Actually, there’s a solution for that. Increased blood flow to the nail beds really does help your nails grow stronger and faster, but if you don’t want to rap your nails against something hard, you can just massage your fingers. Take 15 seconds to massage each finger (I switch hands each finger so the massaging hand doesn’t get tired) every day. I told Diosa about this tip and she loves it.
Woah, you gave Diosa - the goddess of all things makeup IMHO - a tip? :eek:
All hail zweisamkeit!
Humm - I was going to come in here and mention Revlon Colourstay nail polish 'cus it won’t come off even with polish remover (seriously - you’ll be scrubbing for an hour to get it off all nails) but apparently it’s been discontinued. Possibly because you have to scrub for an hour to get the stuff off.
Shame, 'cus it really did stay put.
Oh - I was also going to mention (sorry if someone else said this and I missed it) way back when in esthetician school buffing the nails was recommended as an excellent way to keep nail polish intact longer - I’ve certainly noticed it makes a difference when I do my nails at home.
Also, regarding polish - OPI is fine but I really have never noticed a difference as far as staying power using it or using the el-cheapo drugstore brands - as long as you prep the nails well and use a very good base coat and top coat they all seem to last about the same. I’m speaking for doing my own nails or other peoples as well. OPI Nail Envy does make a pretty fantastic base coat.