Jun 9, 2010

Nail Blogger Crisis!

Nail Bloggers of the world... UNITE!

I am suffering from a frustrating dilemma... Tip-pull ! ! ! Insane amounts of tip-pull. Within hours of a fresh manicure, I'll have tip-pull already starting on my nails. Most of my upcoming pictures (which I'll be posting over the next few days) were taken the day after changing my polish and you can already see a perfect paint-less line on the tip. This tip-pull is driving me crazy. This didn't happen before and I haven't really changed my polish routine.

At first I thought it was because my Seche Vite topcoat was getting low and thick from having the bottle open over time. So I bought thinner. I added the thinner and my topcoat was no longer a goopy mess. That didn't solve the tip-pull problem.

Then I thought it might be because my bottle was getting old. So I refilled with new topcoat... That didn't solve the tip-pull problem.

Then I thought that it might be because I was using too many coats of polish. I only apply however many coats are necessary to avoid VNL. But I've noticed that the tip-pull happens regardless of whether I have 2, 3, 4, or 5 coats of polish on.

Then I saw a blogger post about painting the edge of the nail in order to help make your polish last longer. I did that last night when I changed my polish. I thought that was working. It didn't. If anything, it took about 4-5 hours longer before tip-pull started to happen.

I don't know what to do. My usual routine is:
OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy Hardener (1 coat)
Nail Polish (however many coats necessary)
Clean the polish off the edges and cuticles.
Seche Vite Topcoat (1 coat. If I stamped, 2 coats - one before the stamp and one after.)

My next experiment will be to apply the topcoat and THEN clean the edges. Maybe the polish is drying too much while I clean and then the topcoat makes it shrink even more. Although, this never happened before.

Is it possible that I'm putting too much topcoat within that 1 coat? 

In the meantime, do any of you wise polish lovers have any advice? Any suggestions? Any tips? Anyone suffering from the same frustrations? Has anyone been able to conquer this annoying pest that is tip-pull?

I am begging the Polish Gods for some guidance! LOL!

10 comments:

Jean said...

Well, Seche Vite in general causes major tip pull. I used to use it, but got sick of the tip pull. I ended up switching to Poshe, which is basically the same thing, but without formaldehyde and toluene. I've been using it for months, and haven't noticed any tip pull at all.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is: try switching up your topcoat and see if that fixes the problem. :]

jaljen said...

I'd go with a change from Seche Vite. I have never used it as I have read so many reports of this kind about it.

Enamel Girl said...

I love SV and I also have tip pull. It's to the point where it doesn't bother me anymore since I change polish every couple of days.

I forgot to paint my edges yesterday so I have pull today but it has worked in the past for me.

I'll be reading the other posts. I've tried Poshe and it just doesn't compare to SV.

Polish Hoarder said...

How long do you wait for your polish to dry before adding Seche Vite? I get tip pull sometimes. I "think" (not 100% positive) that it might happen if the polish is not completely dry before adding the SV top coat. I used SV over a Zoya this morning and have no signs of tip pull.

Susie said...

I use Seche Vite on my wet polish. I have tip pull once in a great while.
Some say to use another slow drying top coat first and then Seche Vite. :)
Susie

Unknown said...

I rarely have had issue with shrinkage and I do use Seche Vite,but a few months ago I started having this problem. I changed to Barielle camo base coat and it stopped and has not been an issue since.

paintedladyfingers said...

Try wrapping the tips on the first coat. I use CND Air Dry (the larger ball size, the brush in the small size is lacking). No tip pull. :)

amusedPolish said...

maybe try put a coat of clear polish first, then seche vite- I heard that this might help minimize the tip shrinkage

Arrianne said...

I usually apply it over my polish when it's still pretty wet. Try another top coat that doesn't shrink over first, then do the Seche.

~Elizabeth aka Lacquered Lizard said...

I see this all the time too. But I rarely have an issue with it. I keep it super runny (10 drops of thinner every 2 weeks - sometimes every week depending on how many manis I've done.)
I wrap my tips in the color and also in the seche vite. I apply the seche vite right after the last nail is polished, (I don't wait for any dry time between any coats). I rarely experience tip pull.
Poshe works fine too.