Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Or You Could Do It Yourself

by Maggie Franklin | February 26, 2010 | Bookmark +

Personally, I think my polishing skills are fine. They may not be the best in all the land, but they are certainly competent, and distinctly professional.

 

Believe me! I have let clients polish my nails before. It was an eye-opening experience. One that left me wondering how it is that some people can watch a professional do her job over and over and over again, and yet never learn anything about how that job is done.

 

I learned how to polish nails by watching my own nail tech back in high school. So why do my clients still insist on dragging the brush across the top of the bottle’s neck in a fashion that not only takes ALL the polish off the brush, but leaves it dribbling down the outside of said bottle’s neck, guaranteeing that that bottle of polish will never be able to be opened by mere mortals again? Then they take that brush that has NO polish left on it and they dab at the nail in multiple mini-strokes.

 

Have they not seen me polish their nails? I gently tip the bottle to saturate the brush. Then I hold the side of the brush against the INSIDE of the bottle’s neck just long enough to keep it from dripping polish on the journey between the bottle and the nail. Then I place the brush lightly at the cuticle and drag a full glob of polish down the length of the nail. I do this a few times until the whole thing is covered.

 

Oh yeah ... and I leave space between the polish and the skin. Just a little space, but enough to make it look like you got your nails polished by a pro, not a 4-year-old. I try not to leave too much space, but I should reasonably be able to take the very tip of my polish-correcting brush around the perimeter of the nail — that means, what, all of maybe 1/32nd of an inch? I have a little ruler with inches in 1/32nds and 1/64ths — I can measure this. You know how small 1/32nd of an inch is?

 

So it never ceases to just make me chew a freakin’ hole in my tongue to keep from going off on some sort of reality-show-esque tantrum when a client demands that I "go farther back with the polish." Because "it makes the nails grow out slower" so it won't "look like I need a fill already."

 

Honey, it is not going to make your nails grow out any slower. Your nails grow at the rate they grow. It doesn't look like you already need a fill — it looks like you had your nails done by a professional who can stay inside the lines and not get polish all over your skin. Pardon me, but I sort of thought that's why you chose to have your nails done professionally?

 

Thank goodness I only have three clients left who wear polish!

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