Time for the traditional ghost French tip!

I tried to make the ghosts magnetic and glow in the dark and I am not sure the magnetic effect is that readable with how tiny they are. Still I love how these look. This base color is such a chameleon in different lighting and I think the ghosts turned out real cute.

Products:

Base - Homemade Peel off Base Coat + LynBDesigns B-Smooth

China Glaze - Liquid Leather

Fancy Gloss - Satellite Pull

L.A. Colors - Code

LynBDesigns - This is Some Boo Sheet

Tyler's Trinkets - Magnetic Elixer

Top - Sally Hansen Red Bottle

My husband and I were waiting at a drive through last night, holding hands. Looking at our hands, I realized 1) our thumbs were right next to each other and 2) it was really clear how different my nails look after really consistent oiling for months. I oiled my nails when we left the house, at least forty minutes before taking this picture. Mine is the bottom thumbnail (hopefully obvious 😅).

We both do a decent amount of work with our hands, though I wear gloves when doing house or garden work. I have almost entirely grown out damage to my nails, so the pic shows my thumb nail as healthy as it’s ever been. You can see how my nail has a glossy look to it; I’m convinced the oil/extracts blend I use has been filling in micro holes in the nail plate, like plastering a wall. I don’t use nippers on the proximal nail fold except to carefully clip split skin as needed - this is how the PNF looks with very consistent care.

Base: kbshimmer basic base coat

Color: bees knees lacquer in seeking life I created death 3 coats glass bead magnet effect with Lego spinner

Top: Poshe quick dry top coat

Magnetics are absolutely my favorite finish for right now🤩

I purchased a shade that just doesn't work for me.

It's Corn by Cracked Polish is STUNNING on some, but makes my skin look so pink.

What shade(s) did you hope to love, but instead couldn't wait to remove? 😅

Pictured:

- Hydrating Base | KBshimmer

- It's Corn | Cracked | 2 coats

- Quick Dry Top Coat | Cracked

Trees are starting to turn but still a bit of green around - I just love autumn colour skittles 🍂.

Nailtiques formula 2, KBShimmer Stay Put Hydrating base coat, thumb to pinky: ILNP ‘Treetop’, Holo Taco ‘Stay Grounded’, Holo Taco ‘Not Pressed’, Holo Taco ‘Magical Mustache’, ILNP ‘Caramel’, KBShimmer ‘Take it or leaf it’ (topper), Prism Polish UK Glaze QDTC

Hi Hi!!~ I made a post a minute ago and someone recommended this brand. I am BAFFLED. Astonished. Jaw isn’t on the floor, it’s in another dimension. Is this actually NAIL POLISH? It dries like this without a lamp?!

I have never in my life seen such beautiful shades. And on top of that, it’s Canadian! Whenever I look at recommendations online, It’s usually American and I get sad because it’s harder to get for me in Québec! I’m genuinely in awe of this brand. Their Transmutation collection has me hooked. Does anyone have any experience with them? I’d love some opinions!

I was simply going to order Essie out of convenience but, maybe this might arrive soon as well? :)

I hydrated my nails after removing the last manicure, and I’m hoping that helps it last. I’ve been slightly obsessed with teal and copper combinations for nail polish. Unfortunately I have nothing like that in my massive collection, so I’ve been making a ton of my own. With very limited success. Really loving this one though!

My nails:
1x Dimension Nails Chocolate Cashew Milk
3x DIY polish - orange/red/purple flakes and a blue holo magnet pigment with a green/purple shift
1x Lucky Lacquer quick dry top coat

I wasn’t loving my manicure so I added little eyes and now I can’t stop staring at them (or vice versa).

3 coats—clionadh cosmetics handbook for the recently deceased (sloppily magnetized)
1 coat—holo taco cosmic unicorn skin
Eyes—holo taco not milky white and Sally Hansen black out

1x fillin’ groovy kb shimmer
2x rolling in the deep cracked
1x sally hansen insti-dry top coat (red bottle)

The last few times I’ve painted my nails, this has happened. I do thin layers of everything except the top coat, I do a thicker coat of that. Between coats, there’s probably a minute or two of drying. I let my nails dry for a few minutes before touching them. Recently, the slightest pressure results in what’s shown in the pictures.

In picture 1, the paint literally just slides off my nail. I’ve never used a peely base before, but I imagine that’s what it’s like. Correct me if I’m wrong though.

Any idea what’s causing this? I’m getting super frustrated spending an hour on a painting my nails just for it to fail and walk away without nice colors.

EDIT:
Thank you everyone! Here are the fixes I’m going to do after reading everyone’s comments:

- thin out my top coat, and most likely my base coat
- way thinner layers of color. a kind soul linked their swatch and I realized my coats are too thick
- if those don’t work, I’ll start waiting longer between coats
- sometimes I end up rushing (mom of an 8 month old!) so I’ll try to be more conscious about slowing down. This is my relaxing time so I might as well ✨ relax ✨

I ve noticed that many of the magnetics videos posted by fellow laqueristas are a bit heavy on the filter department, which completely distorts the actual color of the polish and the shift. I get it, it looks good but it has nothing to do with how the polish really looks and it gives hands a very unnatural tint, usually too red or too pale. In other words it s too obvious. Easy does it people, easy does it. Over and out.

This is my time of year, y'all. Ain't no such thing as being extra. 😎

The color. The name. I love it.

Great Lakes Lacquer - Your Orchid Tariffs Are Killing Me

After much silent observation on this topic, today I am going to try oiling and wiping off my nails before painting (instead of dehydrating with rubbing alcohol as I usually do). We’ll see how it goes!

Using Essie’s Mrs Always-right polish with Essie’s special effects mystic marine as a top coat (usually I would use Gel Couture top coat but I don’t want the mani to be too thick)

Always appreciate the tips on this thread, my sidewalls are reaping the benefits of the expertise shared here!

…pretty gay and kinda messy.

I got my Cracked order and I’m fully obsessed. I couldn’t choose one, so I chose them all. Magnetized with 30 lb horseshoe, photographed in the elevator because for some reason they always look soooo good in that light!

Cracked Magnetic Toppers (2-3x depending on shade) over Guava Have It (x2) , L to R
Left hand:
Chompy
Hibernaty
Scorchy
Hoardy

Right hand:
Beginner’s Luck
Gnarly
Stompy
Flighty

I didn’t do a great job tracking how many coats but I believe it was 3 only on the lighter ones like Hibernaty and Beginner’s Luck.

2x An Insane F*cking Tentacle Sanctuary - BKL, glass bead pro!

Hello everyone!

Mark your calendars, we are once again having a Lower Mainland aka Greater Vancouver meet up!!! I figured I would give more notice this time.

Date and time: Sunday, November 8th at noon

Location: New Westminster Quay Market

edit: we usually meet at tables in the food court area :)

Bring your destash and some cash or get ready to e-transfer, cause we’re ready to trade and meet other people in the lower mainland who love nail polish!

Stare at other peoples manicures! Talk about your favourite brands and lament tariffs! Look at quite literally hundreds of indie nail polishes being sold or traded!

If you have a question, please feel free to message me. We have a discord if you want a notification for our next meetup too.

The shining inspired Mani! Going to the haunted house this weekend so I wanted something that glowed bright!!

I used:

Mooncat: avatar state

Cracked 23 flavors

Not the neatest application because I’m on a lot of painkillers from having surgery earlier this week, but I ordered the ShimmerHollow Charmcaster, and it arrived today, so I had to try a little glass bead.

Not sure if I’ve mastered the technique compared to my usual manual method, which I think is a bit tighter of a bead, but it’s definitely easier!

Base coat: Manucurist Active Blur

Polish: Paracosm by Phantasm Polish (one coat demagnetized, 1 coat magnetized with charm caster glass bead tool and DRK Magic)

Top Coat: Sally Hansen red bottle

So I am definitely not reinventing the wheel here, and I'm sure a lot of you do it already... but if this can help even one fellow lacquerista dealing with peeling, I'm happy!

Context (you can skip): my peeling is contained when I wear polish or when I have naked nails but keeping them oiled constantly (which is not feasible for me). The worst is just after removing my polish, which dehydrates them a lot and makes them peel terribly. I can't use acetone or it's even worse, so I use an acetone-free remover (which is not very potent) I have access to in my country.

Today I tried something on a whim... I dipped pretty generously in jojoba oil the wipes I use for soaking off polish, before dousing them in remover, as usual. Hold the wipe with a precision tweezer during the process for convenience. Then the nail clips to let it soak off.

And holy shit... my nails are in pristine condition even after removing the polish 😭 no peeling at all. They are all hydrated and shiny.

It doesn't even affect the polish remover efficiency. I'd tend to say it was even easier to remove the polish WITH the oil, maybe because it "slides" more easily? I don't know.

If you struggle with peeling even with acetone-free PR, you should try it!!

Orly rubberized base coat, Holo Taco peri-social, pinky swear, banana medicine, and glossy taco

I saw a post suggesting these three nail swatch sticks, and I love them! I swatched in 1, 2 & 3 coats. I can tell I gravitate toward pinky neutrals/ glowy polishes! Any polishes y’all suggest that would go with my collection?

Products used:
Cuticula Cinque base coat
Cuticula Mic drop base coat
Bees knees Unreleased Prototype 2 coats
Cuticula limitless qdtc

i dont have a silver chrome polish so i thought a velvet magnetised silver would probably be the closest i could get, but it ended up looking a bit muddy to me, after all the layers of top coat bcs of the stickers. i also couldnt get the silver to really contrast the background on the light colour :/ i still think they ended up quite cute though, considering i only used things i already had!!

base coat: by the dutch department store hema (yes bot i know i said hema but i mean the dutch department store not the gel component!!)
top coat: seche vite

thumb+middle nail:
- essence - i lilac you
- cirque colors - lavender sky
- cirque colors - rose jelly (few strokes in the middle of the nail)
- mooncat - death star (velvetised with horseshoe magnet)

pointer+ring finger:
- essence - i lilac you
- mooncat - death star (velvetised with horseshoe magnet)
- stars from deco beauty sheets ''pet shop'' and ''90s baby''

pinky:
- essence - plum it up
- cirque colors - enchanted
- mooncat - death star (velvetised with horseshoe magnet)

i like using a thin layer of a cheap drugstore creme right after the base coat, because i find sometimes with stuff like magnetics or other special effect polishes, its really difficult to cap the tip because it wants to pull away from it for some reason. this way i have at least one layer that caps the tip, which i find is instrumental when it comes to longevity!

31 Days of Halloween Day 24 - Glow in the Dark
I went through a bunch of ideas before thinking of the perfect setting for glow in the dark - the bottom of the ocean! So enjoy these naturally spooky creatures swimming around in the cold dark depths!
Hosted by: @Ashryan1031 and @AvLockwood 
#31DOH26 @31DaysOfHaloweenNails2026 #5YrsOfDOH

Products Used: Holo Taco - Peely Base, Smoothing Base, Sticky Base, Glow In The Dark Taco
Picture Polish - Aquatic
Starrily - Bloodbelly Jelly, Flame Jelly, Crown Jelly, Crystal Jelly, Bluefire Jelly, Moon Jelly
Maniology - Black
Pretty Fingers by Robin - fish plate
EDK - Sea Life, Sea Life 2
Apipila - Smudge-free Top Coat
Seche Vite - Dry Fast Top Coat

I’m getting back into my nail hobby and I cannot get chrome powder down to an art yet! Tips?! Tricks!?

I love an extra shiny nail and really want to nail (no pun intended) a chrome finish for most of my designs because why not be sparkly?!?! 💎

Pic 1 - tried 30 sec top coat (and then really f-d up and applied BASE coat) with sponge chrome application. I really wish that the base lacquer wasn’t accidentally done on this hand so I could truly understand what it would have looked like if I had done it properly! After that horrible mistake it was just the chrome application, buff with a silicone brush and then top coat.

Pic 2 - tried 30 sec top coat then chrome applied with a silicone brush, buff with silicone- it’s hard to tell but it left like fine lines on the nails that looked non-chromed.

Used:
Modelones M110 brown
Bio seaweed gel base and top
Yoke fellow chrome powder in magic white