Help with nails for professional setting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you seek a very elegant look, you need to have smooth skin on your hands, pay attention to nail shape and health, and highlight that lovely shape and natural healthy pink by polishing with a transparent gloss that will simply make your nails glossy. Sleep, good nutrition, protection from cold, dry air, moisturizer and perhaps supplements like biotin and keratin will do a lot for your skin, hair and nails.

If you are cursed with nails that can't quite get to that level, you can polish with something that is adjacent to natural.

If you just want put-together, not necessarily always ultra-elegant, you can pick whatever color that you feel compliments your skin tone or colors you habitually wear. You can change color palette with the seasons, and signal holidays with subtle glitter (large glitter pieces are more for parties, not work).

I don't know anyone who wears truly transparent gloss. Even lip gloss nails have a hint of color in them.

Agree that you should pick a color compliments your skin tone. I have dark skin and richer colors look much better than neutral/nudes.

[Anonymous]

I don't get a manicure ever. (I would never do gel because they're bad for your nails.) I slap on some clear polish once a month or so. My coworker/friend who is very into nails polishes hers at home either black or navy blue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really like the dip - it last forever - in a neutral color. Agree that OPI bubble bath is always a classic.

So, dip nails do indeed last forever -- longer than gel. But the finished product is thicker (yes, even if you get someone who knows what they are doing) than a gel manicure, and I just don't like the look or even the way it feels. They are also even harder to take off than gel. Takes forever!!!![/quote]

Do you go to a place that removes them like gels? With cotton balls and foil? If so, yes it takes forever but that's a terrible place for dip! If you remove by soaking directly in acetone and swishing with a paper towel it is max 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you seek a very elegant look, you need to have smooth skin on your hands, pay attention to nail shape and health, and highlight that lovely shape and natural healthy pink by polishing with a transparent gloss that will simply make your nails glossy. Sleep, good nutrition, protection from cold, dry air, moisturizer and perhaps supplements like biotin and keratin will do a lot for your skin, hair and nails.

If you are cursed with nails that can't quite get to that level, you can polish with something that is adjacent to natural.

If you just want put-together, not necessarily always ultra-elegant, you can pick whatever color that you feel compliments your skin tone or colors you habitually wear. You can change color palette with the seasons, and signal holidays with subtle glitter (large glitter pieces are more for parties, not work).

I don't know anyone who wears truly transparent gloss. Even lip gloss nails have a hint of color in them.

Agree that you should pick a color compliments your skin tone. I have dark skin and richer colors look much better than neutral/nudes.

It's also called a top coat. On my naturally pink nails, it looks great. Makes them shiny, but you can see the pink underneath.

[Anonymous]

I spend most of my day on the computer so I keep my nails rounded and relatively short. When I polish it's usually a pale pink or neutral, my favorite is Essie's Sugar Daddy.

Occasionally I'll do a more fun color but because I think chips look awful I end up removing it as soon as the first chip happens. I treat myself to a manicure a few times per year for the pampering but since I end up taking polish off after the first few days it isn't worth the money to do it regularly.

[Anonymous]

I do my nails on Sunday night immediately before bed. That way they can cure all night without getting smudged. I reapply top coat on Tuesday and Thursday, and remove the polish on Saturday or Sunday. Usually I don't have any chips and can go a full week.

I use neutral/pink/beige colors for weeks when I have a professional event, but more vivid colors like brick, olive or navy for normal weeks. I don't do sparkle during the week, but will add it as a top coat for a weekend event.

I keep my nails a medium length with a square-oval shape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always worried about tasteful nails, tasteful hair, and tasteful clothes but a coworker with long, rhinestone-bedecked talons and waist-length fake hair is the golden child at work getting promoted. She even got caught smoking indoors and she's still the favorite. So I wonder these things matter at all...
I think it's just having the personality that people enjoy. I am business-like and not bubbly/effusive and the higher-ups seem to prefer bubbly.

Charisma and results.

[Anonymous]

If women put the effort into equal pay and climate change as they do into their fake hair and nails that kill the planet, we'd all be better off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If women put the effort into equal pay and climate change as they do into their fake hair and nails that kill the planet, we'd all be better off.

And what shall men give up to help the planet? Endless hours wasted watching sports and filling landfills with dud jerseys?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If women put the effort into equal pay and climate change as they do into their fake hair and nails that kill the planet, we'd all be better off.

And what shall men give up to help the planet? Endless hours wasted watching sports and filling landfills with dud jerseys?

Men are already in control. And they are the ones destroying it and killing people.

[Anonymous]

Yikes, getting back to OP:

DIY your nails, any base coat on absolutely clean nails+ color coat+ Seche Vite quick dry top coat

I do my filing/shaping the day before. I remove polish and apply cuticle remover, then push back cuticles in the shower.

Teak Rose by Revlon is my favorite. Personally I have slightly yellow undertones, so warm shades look much better. Ballet slippers and other pale pinks don’t look right on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's DCUM so they're going to tell you that you should only do light pink, nudes or neutrals. BORING...Do what colors you like!

+1 I get complimented on my nails constantly. Sometimes they’re shorter and rounded square, more commonly they are a little longer and oval shape (this is what’s actually currently in style). Your skin tone will dictate a bit of what you might pick. I’m olive skinned, tan in summer, more pale in winter. Colors that look good on me are a bloody blue-red, burgundy, eggplant, mannequin beige that’s similar to my skin tone but slightly more pink, milky white, very dark navy, lavender. I sometimes get designs, stripes, glitter (thoughtfully applied in small intentional doses), ombré, etc, but I’m not in a serious work environment. Colors I avoid are frosted anything, most greens, most corals, gray, metallics, really bubblegum pink, and super sheer pinks. I only get gel because chips look absolutely horrid.