Friday, June 17, 2011

Skid Marks

Don't you hate it when you take off polish only to discover your polish has been working on an art project on your nail bed.  Here is what my polish has been working for the last couple of days ....

A masterpiece no doubt, but my nail beds are never this pink/red.  My nail beds are naturally pretty grey.  My mom is always asking me if I'm ill LOL.  Um, no mom sheeeesh.

I guess if I'm wearing darker colors no big deal, but eventually I need to straighten this business out, because every time I take off polish I frighten myself a little bit.










A few more pictures if your interested ...

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Now what?  How do you deal with the stain-age?  I have a very standard way of dealing with these kinds of stains ...
Buff that Motha Out!!



First I need to preface buffing:
Buffing is NOT for everyone AND like all wonderful things, must be done in moderation.  Occasional buffing can be done on generally healthy nails.  I buff because I am a good candidate.  First, my nails are not super thin and are fairly healthy.  Second, I don't use a rough file nor do I use it manically.  Everything in moderation is okay (except high fructose corn syryp lol)!  Third, I have ridges that only buffing can eliminate.  Polish looks way better when I get rid of them.  In my personal experience, ridge fillers are not as good as light buffing.  Ridge filler instead gives me more problems than solutions (bubbling, crap dry time, extra steps with each mani, etc).  Lastly, I have found light buffing is more effective vs. other chemical treatments.

With that said, if you have thin problematic nails you can avoid buffing altogether.

What I do and use:
I love my buffing blocks and this is the baby I used to fix my stain-age problem.  The grit strength is about 400.

If you are interested in my Nail File Series, that can be found here.











Here is the before and after picture of the buffing and as you can see the pinky is no longer stained.

The technique:
Lightly run the block vertically from cuticle to tip.

What is your method of choice for skid marks? :P

21 comments:

  1. YIKES...LOL :)
    Buffing is great but I think it really thins yhe nail. I use it as a last resort, first I use Orly "Cutique" on my nails and scrape it off, then I soak my nails in olive oil, warm water and lots of lemon juice, and then once dried, I buff if necessary.

    The price we pay for beauty *sigh*..good luck and great post!

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  2. I had the same problem with Zoya Faye.

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  3. Yeeeep, I'm a buffer too! But my nails are way thick and way healthy, and I also have really nasty ridges that make my polish look like poop if I don't buff them out.

    That being said though, I do wish I could find another good solution for when I don't want to buff. I dunno. I see people talk about using denture tablets. Maybe I should try that. >.<

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  4. a soak in warm water and a denture cleaner tablet

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  5. I just polish over the stains and wait for them to grow out. :)

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  6. Damn, you mean people actually have solutions to that problem and aren't too lazy to use them? Haha. I just keep polishing over them and on rare occasions when I go out of the house without polish on I hide my hands :P

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  7. "(except high fructose corn syryp lol)!"
    parks and recreation?? =D! <3

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  8. I don't have much trouble with staining. Don't know if it's because of the regimen I use b/4 polishing or the fact that I change my polish 2x a week, so I don't keep any one polish on that long, but when I do have staining, I soak with denture tablet and ****drum roll**** Buff!!! LOL! It only takes one mishap to learn how to not overbuff. LOL!

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  9. @Jackie - haha curse you beauty!!!

    @Une Ruxi à Paris - 0.o wow really, never would have guess it just by looking at it.

    @Noelie - I hate when my nails look like poop :P
    Yea the denture tablets seem to be a popular option. I need to check the ingredients to see what makes them work, hmmmmmmm

    @melldot - a yes, sounds like I have a project on my hands.

    @KarenD - haha, ah yes, deny deny deny lol

    @Maribeth - *high five :)

    @Erin - LOL! You leave the house WITHOUT polish?! O.O OMG shame shame shame lol

    @Sher - hahahaha I'm glad someone caught that. That was hilarious and it's still seared in my brain. And then there are the commercials *ugh
    "Whats wrong with HFCS?"
    "Well you know what they say about it." .... LOL

    @For Me, It Works - I usually don't either, but once in a long while I will come across certain polishes (especially ones I never expect) and bam, punch in the face lol. I think it's official, I am interested in denture tablets :D

    OH man and I've only ever over buffed when trying to get rid of a peel :-/ and that sucks cause shorties are inevitable.

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  10. Hmmm....I use denture tablets to get rid of odors in my coffee thermos. Maybe I should give them a try for my nails.
    My nails look like I smoke or something...I just cover them with a new manicure. Once in a great while I bite the bullet and leave the polish off for a while until my nails are once again the color they are supposed to be. But I hate that.

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  11. This happened to me with yellow polish a few months back. I hated the yellow and removed it only to find my nails stained even after a good basecoat. Why that mudder**cker. I didn't do anything about it but I remember in beauty school when our nails were stained, we would put a low dose of hair bleach on our nails to whiten them up.

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  12. "Well you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup"

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  13. Mix a T. of whitening toothpaste and a T. of lemon juice...till it forms a thick paste (may need a little extra toothpaste).

    Paint a thick layer with a small paintbrush on your nails. Leave on for 15 minutes, then scrub with a nail brush, wash in warm water, dry and moisturize.....Good luck Anna!! :)

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  14. @Shieldmaiden96 - out of curiosity I want to try it too, only after I inspect the ingredients :)

    @Olivia - oh yea I have heard this on the MUA nail boards too. And you know how much I like chemicals so this is so up my alley.

    @GothamPolish - hahaha, did you see the SNL skit about this!! teee heee

    @Lauren Schwartz - I have tried this before and although it smelled lovely I still buffed afterword lol. But then again I didn't leave it on for longer than 2 min max.

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  15. I use baking soda!

    I have eczema on my hands (not nail polish related) and I noticed when I did my baking soda paste to calm the itching, my free edge was whiter. So now, I do the paste when my nails are naked and use a nail brush to really scrub with it.

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  16. Cool! I wonder if it works as an abrasive (sort of like buffing) or if it's a chemical reaction? hmmmmm

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  17. hydrogen peroxide is the only thing that works for me.

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  18. Really?! I have tried it many times with out luck :(

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  19. Again an interesting post! My nails are often yellowish when I remove polish (I'm fond of blue, green, red, whatever bright and pigmented polish) and my technique is usually the same of Karen: new polish on! But recently a fellow italian blogger told me about dental tablets. I think I will look weird buying them at the store, but I'd like to give it a try!

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  20. Haha, pretend they are for your grandma. I kind of tried dental tablets, but I don't think I left them soak long enough. I just hate the idea of soaking my nails in water that long, they get so soft, weak, FAT and ugly looking.

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