My Dip Nails

Happy Sunday!!! Sitting in the airport and finally getting a few minutes to sit down and write this post out!! I switched over to dip nails a little over a year ago and haven’t looked back since! Talking the pros and and very few cons below!

Why I switched to dip over gel?

I switched over to dip around a year ago when my gel nails were constantly peeling off, chipping and honestly – barely lasting me over a week. Another blogger/friend that I follow on insta stories had been raving about them, Emily Gemma – so I decided to give them a shot!

Why I chose dip over acrylic?

I chose dip over acrylic for three reasons. I didn’t like how much they have to file down your nail before applying acrylic nails. I don’t like how thick acrylic nails are. And dip nails have zero smell during the process – even less than regular nail polish!

How long do they last?

My dip nails last me up to 3 weeks every single time. And to be honest – only two times in the past year have they chipped until I got the chrome done this last time (I will explain more about this down below! I had another nail tech doing them before and they kept chipping – so if yours are chipping, you need a new nail tech. Even if you love them! haha

How long does it take?

I feel like it takes the same amount of time as it does to get gel. A little under an hour.

What is the process?

If you have dip nails on already (or gel) see next question. But they start by removing previous nail/ see below.

1. They gently and BARELY file down your natural nail, my nails are SO strong and thick when they take them off. They are not damaged at all! 2. They then clean your nail, trim cuticles, shape, etc. 3. They apply a clear primer (looks like a thin nail polish) and let it dry. I usually put my hands in front of a fan. 4. One coat of bonder, then dip nail into powder per each nail. My tech will do 2-3 coats of this depending on the color and how many coats it needs to be the true color. Then one more round of bonder and dip nail into a clear coat powder. 5. He uses a the drill, but it’s a white tip and its smooth and it smoothly buffs and files down my nails until he gets them as thin as I want them. My nail (with the dip powder) looks completely smooth and buffed after this, not drilled down. 6. Apply a coat of clear regular nail polish. This is key (do not let them put gel here, it will peel within days!) and let it air dry in front of a fan.

How do they remove them?

Very similar to gel, he files off the top coat just a bit to break it up then soaks my hands in foil with cotton balls and acetone. It comes off within 5-7 minutes – it really doesn’t take long!

Glitter + Chrome

GLITTER: Okay, this is so fun for special events, holidays, or when you’re bored. The glitter was a dip powder and it was super fine and silver. He had two silver dip powders and I went with the finest one. It doesn’t look like your going to be able to see the color through it but once he outs the clear coat on it brings it back through! Make sure they only dip your nails in glitter ONE TIME! So he dipped in the color twice, filed them down a bit with the smooth buffer drill head I talked about earlier. Then dipped in glitter once (they can’t file it down to make it thinner after this step), then dipped in clear dip powder then as usual the clear coat of regular nail polish.

CHROME: The chrome was different, it was 3 coats of dip color, file down to the thinness that you like. Apply one coat of gel nail polish and let cure under light for 15 seconds, pull out and apply chrome powder with an old school cheap eyeshadow sponge then apply another coat of gel nail polish and let cure 3 minutes each hand. It took much longer for the chrome, cost more money and hasn’t lasted well on me at all. So as fun and pretty as this is – I don’t personally recommend it but I have only had one trial run with it so far.

Does it damage your nails?

Mine are not damaged at all after. In fact mine have gotten so much stronger over time!

What shape do you ask for?

I ask for a soft square or a very soft/shorter almond shape. I just personally can’t use my hands when they are too long or pointy.

Okay, so I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions! I will continue to update you guys on IG/instastories on new fun colors I try 🙂

This is an example of my black chrome nails. (looks navy in some lights once chrome is applied but it was a true black dip)

This is an example of my black dip nails with silver glitter on top. This lasted just as long as any of my solid nail dip colors did! Highly recommend this for a fun change, especially for holidays!

I think it would be fun to do a pretty blush color nail and gold glitter on top too!