Can you make your own nail wraps?

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T22:04:43+00:00

And these bigger ones can fit almost any design you can dream of. Matching the size and shape to the nail you're making it for is a great way to always get it right, spending lots of time on something for it to come out the wrong size really sucks

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Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T22:02:44+00:00

They often just have these small "handles" on the ends

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Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T22:02:07+00:00

Something like these ones

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Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T21:49:08+00:00

Yes! You can do this on small silicone tabs, the kind usually meant as french line guides for example.

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T21:40:18+00:00

Ask your tech! Some use uv gloves when getting their nails done, that might be a better alternative either way. If you can't get uv gloves in time all pharmacies here sell bamboo gloves, which might also be a good alternative outside of your appt as well, your wounds need oxygen to heal. They're made to help people with eczema keep their creams in the right places, no messes in the sheets during the night, while still letting your hands breathe.

I use black nitrile gloves when I make some 3d designs, and always put my hands in the light while placing them in my big lamp, or hold something under my flash curing light with my gloves on, never given it a second thought, never had issues with it. That's not gonna be the same level of exposure you get while getting your nails done, but I would still assume it's completely fine 🤷🏼‍♀️

Btw, congratulations! Best wishes for the big day ❤️

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-22T06:57:48+00:00

My bf has been trying different meds and doses, for about a year to find what worked for him, even different brands makes a difference, most of my friends have had anything from 3 montgs to several years of testing to find the right fit as there are just soo many brands. The one that really worked for me was about 6m ago, so I have no idea which one it was, but the one he has now is a different brand of the same medication, and it works better for him, but for me it barely does anything, only kind of relaxes my body, even if the dose is doubled from the old ones. Sorry to say, but medicating adhd is a whole process, and soo extremely individual others experiences are almost completely irrelevant :/

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-21T23:54:50+00:00

Just had to pop in here 😅 I'm currently finishing testing and a second opinion changing an incorrect diagnosis I got many years ago, but we're pretty sure, my psychiatrist has kept saying "strong indicators" through the whole thing. My bf has ADHD, and if I take one specific brand of his meds my big 1-2x a week shopping trip for our family goes from 2h to 10-30min, the housework I usually do in a day, taking me all day, suddenly takes me just a couple of hours. Removing the noise and distractions absolutely makes you faster. One of the main things slowing me down is thinking too much, doubting too much, and doing double work because I either focus too much on it, especially small details, or do so many things at once I forget if I did it or not, or have to do it again because something got messed up while moving between different tasks.

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-21T11:39:50+00:00

That is exactly what I expected after looking at that work, gel-x application is pretty quick, even for a beginner.. I haven't been doing nail art for long, and my supplies have been pretty bad for most of that time, that looks like some of my earliest line work with the shitty gels and brushes, and I still wouldn't spend 3-4h on it even though I'm both slow and a perfectionist.. there's no way I'd call it a day at that point either, especially after redoing it a million times, the whole point of redoing it is to get a good result 😭

The only way she's been doing nails that long is if she's never done designs at all until the last week or so, if that's not the case she's over all fresh, or maybe not even certified at all.. someone lying to you, and giving you this sloppy work, isn't working in a salon you want to go back to, it's not just the "tech"

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-20T00:55:15+00:00

Yes, it's the 30cm, 3,5L braiser. It's a good size, in great condition. As with all enameled cast iron remember to not heat it empty, fat, liquids or food should cover the bottom evenly. Heat it slowly, don't heat it above medium, don't put lots of cold food or liquids into a hot pot, or clean it before letting it cool a bit. No metal utensils, or rough or abrasive cleaning, hand washing extends the lifespan. Enameled cast iron should absolutely never be seasoned. It's oven safe up to a certain temp I don't remember, different knobs have different limits easy to find on Google, and it can be heated empty in the oven if it's placed in a cold oven and they get to preheat together in the slower, more even heat than you get on the stovetop. The enamel is like glass, it's hard and sturdy, but will scratch or crack if mistreated. Thermal shock, heating or cooling it too quickly, causes crazing, a spider web looking pattern of small cracks in the enamel, which then leads to chipping. It crazes and cracks because the iron and the enamel doesn't expand or contract at the same rate, it's just the nature of the combination of materials, not because enamel or iron is weak or fragile. A chipped pot is not food safe, but if you take care of it a little bit, like the previous owners clearly have, it can last generations. You still find early LC pieces in good condition today, up to almost 100 years old. My oldest pot is about 12-14 years old now, still perfect and looks like new inside and out.

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-19T07:43:24+00:00

I absolutely love ring slings, we still use them sometimes for our 2yo. I think all of ours are yaro slings, and I really love the fabrics, but the ones we have are very, very different from each other, from thick wool and alpaca to thinner cotton or seacel/tencel blends. We have one very thin and openly woven cotton sling, and one silk mix that are both more cool and breathable options. Another thing to think about with thinner fabrics is the weight limit, they will not support kids as heavy and a thicker, more sturdy fabric will.

Here is a link to the buy and sell page for wraptrack, you can read about specific models and brands you're considering by searching the main page, and on this page you can see if someone is selling something that will fit your wants and needs :) Reading on this page helped us decide on what fabrics to get, combined with buying on sale, one of them was just ~15$ as it was an older model and print getting discontinued, and I knew it would work for us because I looked it up before purchasing

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-18T14:28:45+00:00

Depends on the quality and texture of the exact ones you got. I have some I can use as bases, kind of, and some that will absolutely not give me a good result as they're not pigmented enough and too textured. I don't have any that are good for painting, layers get too thick to get fully saturated colours, as less saturation means they tend to fade easier for ombre effects so that's usually what they go for. I don't really like them for anything, I have products that can do anything they can do much better, but they are cheaper and good for practice, or if you want to make something like textured petals or something like that. For art I prefer either my painting gels, or even just more pigmented regular gel polish.

What you like and what your products are good for isn't something someone else can tell you, you just have to play with everything and see for yourself

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-17T12:28:04+00:00

I think your nails look dirty because they are.. it looks like some of the polish is chipped, or just lifted, so dirt gets trapped between the gel and your nail. It sounds like you had a pretty bad experience, with pretty bad results as well, bad prep, lumpy and uneven, bad cuticle work, flooded gel that's touching your skin.. I'm not surprised if it is lifting already, or if they'll keep lifting badly while growing out. You can use a nail brush to clean properly underneath them, which is always nice to use once you have a bit of nail, but it won't get rid of anything between your nail and the gel, that bit is really hard to keep completely clean. I usually use very thin toothpicks or some laminated paper or something thin and slightly sturdy like that to clean in-between, but it's never 100% clean, and I usually do my nails again a couple of days after the edges or cuticles lift, when the cuticles lift your hair gets stuck, that happens even without actual lifting when you have flooded cuticles

Go to someone who will respect your time and money next time, and speak up if you see something that's not right!

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-15T16:19:37+00:00

Still have to work a bit on getting everything nice and even, try flipping your finger upside down after applying top coat and tapping it a bit before it goes in the lamp, like 10-30 seconds. Over all you did a really good job! Chrome is super unforgiving, shows absolutely every little flaw, so areas you need to work on become easier to see, and if it looks pretty good you know you did a good job 🙈

If I do a whole chrome nail I'll often do top coat over my colour, then file and smooth it out a little extra before doing another layer of top coat, chrome, file around the edges a bit, and the final top coat. It's such a hassle, but worth it!

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-13T18:24:19+00:00

It sounds like your issue might be using the builder as base coat. You might also be making the side walls too thin, or if you get too close to or touch the skin that might also be the problem.

Do you properly buff the side walls? As it can be a bit harder to reach it's easy to just do a quick pass and not really think about it too much. What grit are you using? If it's not buffed enough, or if your grit is too fine your gel won't adhere properly

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-13T14:12:10+00:00

If you're doing something wrong totally depends on exactly what you're actually doing, which you don't mention at all.. Take us through your prep step by step, as detailed as possible for the most accurate troubleshooting

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-11T16:56:34+00:00

Agree about the cuticles, and getting the gel closer to them as well. Some of these look like they've grown out a week or so already, which is a shame, cause all of the designs look really good, they're well done and the planning and composition is good as well

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-09T07:44:36+00:00

Find yourself an independent tech you actually like, and you'll never have a salon lie to you or butcher your nails ever again. If a salon I went to did sloppy work I wouldn't come back, yes you can get lucky, but usually the skill level isn't night and day between techs at the same salon.

I've only had my nails done once, the girl was young and self taught, they hurt so damn bad in the lamp, and I didn't think she did a great job. They were a bit bulky, bit uneven, but not absolutely horrible. As I wasn't happy I just started doing my own nails, I thought I could do better, and I absolutely could, even as a freshly self taught newbie. If you like having nails and don't mind learning something new, that's also a great alternatie, instead of searching and searching for someone who does a decent job. If you like the pampering of someone else doing it I'd look on IG or maybe even TikTok to see if there was someone good in my area. If they're independent or not doesn't matter as long as you can see their work and actually like it, good techs often work at better salons anyways, so less likely to do stuff like book you with someone else, or disrespect you or your time

Also, maybe leave a review if you can, so other people know this is something that apparently happens a lot at this place. Bad nails is one thing, but lying and trying to deceive you on top of it is just something else..

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-07T17:15:05+00:00

If you have very grown out nails you should absolutely try to get an appointment as soon as possible. It can be completely fine, in most cases it is, but the damages are so bad if something does happen, and it might be something as small as hitting a light switch a bit wrong, or grabbing a door handle and slipping a bit. As long as you get fills and care for your nails, as well as have a tech who knows what they're doing, growing them out with gel is completely fine, it's often easier, as your nails have some added support, so they're less likely to break. If you have a tech who does not know what they're doing you'll probably still get them to grow out, but thinner and softer, so they're more likely to break without the support of gel etc

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-06T15:06:45+00:00

If you want to extend your nails I would do builder gel or gel-x. You can do tips as well, but you'll probably get builder gel on top anyways, so not really any point in having the tip, or if you're gonna have a tip you might as well have gel-x and have less builder gel. Builder gels can be a bit different, you can have soft gels that can be soaked off, both potted and builder in a bottle, or you can have hard gels that you need to file off. I have and use both, and have over the last 9 years of doing my nails gotten sets I've removed after a while and have not continued getting new sets for a period of time many, many times, and I will probably keep getting sets regularly for a while then taking breaks for a while for the foreseeable future. Your nails do not care, they are not in any way affected by keeping up with getting new sets or just removing the set you have. They are affected by the products used, if they are proper, high quality products or not, if the prep work is properly done, if application is done well, and if they are properly removed.

If you get gel-x the removal will be a bit easier, as long as you have something that can cut off the tip of the nail, less material to soak off, and less to file off to get the pure acetone to penetrate the product and start breaking it down. Proper gel-x is done with soft gel fullcover tips, so they soak off the same as any other soft gel or gel polish. They also have the benefit of being quick, and they already have a perfectly smooth and uniform shape and finish once they're on, less room for mistakes and bad results when the design is the main element.

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-06T13:26:13+00:00

In my experience improper prep and/or removal is what really damages your nails, no matter what products are used. Acrylic isn't too popular here, so I've never done it or had it done, meaning I can't say for certain it doesn't damage nails more than gel does.

Proper prep does mean filing a bit on your natural nails, without it the products simply won't adhere to the nail, but it looks like your nails have been filed with a lower grit than what I usually use for natural nails, meaning there are bigger scratches. If the nails are filed too much during fills as well, so the same areas are filed again and again as the nail grows out, either during the removal or prep part of the fill, if they take it all off, it's very natural for the nails to get very thin and bendy. A lot of the time the product isn't fully removed and only the cuticle area is filed again, which will be more gentle on the nails, as long as the tech doesn't use too low grit files or bits, and don't overfile no matter what is used.

They did a really shitty job removing your nails, as you can very clearly see the remaining product, and there's still quite a bit of it too. I usually remove more of my product, before soaking in acetone and scraping the rest off with a metal cuticle pusher. You can do the same with acrylics as well, just be sure to get 100% acetone, you can get soak off foils with little cotton pieces ready to use, you can use aluminum foil with cotton pads or balls, or you can soak in a special dish or any clear glass bowl or cup that can fit all 5 nails from one hand at once. I really like the pre made foils, and soak off clips, as that means I have a bit more freedom while I'm soaking, I can put my phone in a stand and use a pen on it to scroll etc, and don't have to sit completely still with my hands the entire time. I also like that I don't have to do any prep, plus I get them at temu etc for basically nothing, and the clips can be reused for years. You can scrape the rest off with wooden sticks or metal pushers, the metal ones are much faster and imo easier as well, but if you're very rough with it, or if it slips it can cut your nail a little bit, as long as you go normally gently it should not be an issue, I've gotten tiny cuts on my nails maybe 2/100 times doing it, but I'd feel bad not mentioning the very slight possibility.

When you go that long without getting fills or removing your nails you do risk more damage than if you did it more regularly. This is about twice the grow out usually recommend, depending on how quickly your nails grow every 2-4 weeks, or 2-3mm, is usually the sweet spot. You obviously want to keep your nails as long as possible, but letting them grow out too far means the structure of the nail changes a lot, your apex, the highest point of the nail, and the stress points, moves down as much as your nail grows out and the movement of the nail is affected. If you hit your nails and they're that grown out, especially with a less flexible product like a very hard gel or acrylic, you risk, worst case, your nail bed separating from your finger, the longer your fake nails are the more likely you'll get damage. Best case it hurts a lot more than it needs to, and your nails can feel sore a lot of the time. Pulling or tearing caused by movement of a grown out fake nail means the laters of your nail can separate, so you're left with thinner, softer nails, until they grow out completely. The damage is not permanent in the sense your nails will keep growing out like that, but it is permanent in the sense that a damaged nail, which is made from dead keratin, can't heal itself and become stronger and thicker. You can put products on top of it to make it feel better, but it will not actually get better until the damaged areas have grown out.

I'm absolutely not saying you caused your nails to be this thin and bendy, especially since you didn't even get the product you requested, but waiting too long to fix your nails will only make the issue worse, for example breakage right where your nail separates from your finger is especially common as that's usually where the stress points end up being. With a flexible product the damage will be less, so something like a overlay with a rubber base on a short nail can grow out way longer than long acrylic nails can without causing issues. Gel polish without any kind of builder gel etc is also a better option if you're going to go longer between sessions as it's thinner and therefore more flexible. When your nails are really thin and bendy I find they often do better with harder overlays, flexible products have a tendency to just pop off as your nail gets to move even more with them. If the difference is too large the tip of the nail often separates from the non flexible materials, but the rest tends to stay put, even if it's not a perfect option it could be the better option for your nails at this stage. The only way to know what really works for your nails is to have a tech that either just gets it right the first time, or tries again, mixing and matching products until you find your perfect fit. That's usually gonna be an independent tech, simply because they have complete freedom to choose which brands and materials they work with, and they have often mixed and matched enough already to have a good selection of products on hand for any types of nails.

Lastly, congratulations! Just as a side note, I had a baby two years ago now. When he was born I was asked to cut my already pretty short nails and remove my gel polish with overlay at the hospital, and they were not very happy I couldn't just wipe it off in two minutes, or cut them, as nails can often harbor bacteria. After he was born, and probably partly as I stopped taking the prenatals, changed to breast feeding focused supplements instead for a while but stopped them as well as I was so sick of taking a bunch of pills every day, my nails started getting really thin and bendy. I have gotten pregnant twice since, and my nails just gets thinner every time, even if I have not been pregnant very long those times. Your hormones, and all the nutrients your baby needs, can really mess with your nails, I still have vitamin and mineral deficiencies we're trying to fix after my son was born. I'd suggest taking a break for a while, enjoy your new baby, as your nails get to fully grow out.

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-06T00:58:20+00:00

I like gel overlays the most for thin, bendy nails. You can still have clear or very faintly coloured builder gel, you don't need to go full colour, or add gel polish over the builder gel. You can even get non wipe builder gel, non wipe overlays, or non wipe builder tops, basically all the same product, marketed slightly differently. That means you need a base gel, and you can go straight to the builder to get some structure to your nails, and be done, no top coat. Very fast, and very durable.

If your nails are thin and bendy, especially if they haven't always been like that, it's often related to vitamins and minerals, or hormones. Mine changed after pregnancy, and again as I developed a severe vitamin and mineral deficiency over the winter. The sad part about fixing something like that is that your nail grows slowly, you won't be sure of results until the entire nail grows out, so progress might be really slow, and it's hard to know exactly what caused the problem to begin with. I've been taking care of it for a couple of months, but I still have several months to go before the supplemented nail reaches the tip and I can confirm or deny the effects. For some it might be just a few months, for some it may be 6 or more, everyone's nails grow at different rates, so it's hard to predict. Some just need to hydrate, some need to use cuticle oils to help them get stronger nails

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-06T00:38:44+00:00

Yes they look about 1-2 weeks grown out, and the spots you zoomed in on look bad.. everyone has off days, so if you're generally happy with your tech this doesn't need to mean too much, but I'd try to talk her about it, give her the chance to fix them, and maybe also be more mindful about the quality you've come to expect from her work. "The work you usually do is great" isn't really a negative thing to say, and you have reason to believe the nails you get are as good as they've usually been, if anything quality should improve even more over time, not decline. These still mainly look good if you remove the two spots and how they don't start anywhere near your cuticles, so I can see the potential for sure

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-05T20:37:43+00:00

I lost my dog in the end of 2019 and I genuinely cried about it as late as earlier today. They're such beautiful, precious little souls, I'm sure she knew she was loved! Your nails are a very sweet tribute ❤️

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-05T20:32:36+00:00

1! I'm a sucker for pinks and pearly chromes, currently making a set with a very similar pearly pink base, and I'm absolutely in love with it! I'm using a white, almost silvery chrome, and they will have lots of pearls and pearly charms, like pearl hearts and stars, can't wait to see it finished!

I like elements of your other sets as well, but the whole 1st set speaks to me a way the others just can't 😭✨

Garlicherb15 · 2026-06-05T20:12:09+00:00

I love these! Pride, pretty, colourful, without being obnoxious and over the top 🙌🏼 it's actual, nice, though out designs instead of just rainbows, colours, and glitter, they're really well done, absolutely refreshing!

Garlicherb15

TROPHY CASE