That time I was supposed to be taking down our Christmas decor but I did my nails instead. Hey, even though the Christmas tree is dying, at least I’ve got a killer (pandemic-friendly) French manicure. If you missed my reel yesterday on how to use Static Nails, you can hop over to my Instagram and check out how to get a near-perfect salon look from the comforts of your home…or you can just keep reading.
I hate doing my nails, mostly because they look good for all of 5 minutes before I inevitably bang them on something and they chip or smudge, or generally leave me dissatisfied. And while press-on nails invoke a sort of cheesy, plastic, talon-like image in my head from the 90s, they’ve come a long way.
You’ll have to excuse my incredibly dry hands in the photo above, that’s on me, not the nails. But, dang, don’t they look awesome?! My days of spending an hour trying to perfect a French manicure with tape or whatever other contraption I used to use are gone.
If you’re new to Static Nails, check out my tips below on how to use them for best results:
- Find the best size for each nail first and lay the nails out before you start gluing anything down.
- Start with your pinky fingers and work your way in, doing all of your fingers beside your thumbs first (it’ll make life easier since your thumbs are important to gripping the nails!)
- Less is more with the glue. I usually only place a small dot in the middle of the nail. The glue will spread out once pressed down. Try not to get any glue onto the nail itself as it’s difficult to remove and takes away some of the nail’s shine. The glue is important here as I’ve seen other tutorials where people cover the whole nail with glue and it ends up getting all around your finger and doesn’t come off. No bueno.
- File them down for a shorter look. Other than this French manicure, I like my nails SHORT. I usually buy the square extra short nails and file them down even further.
- If one of the nails starts to lift or pop off, just re-glue it. It’s that simple.
- If you want to take off your nails after a few days, soak your hands in as hot of water as you can tolerate for 5ish minutes and then lift each nail up carefully from the side. If it’s ready, it should just pop off.
- Once removed, buff off any extra glue from your nails. These don’t damage your nails like other types of manicures, but your nail may look a bit dull for a bit if the glue is still on there.
In other news, I am actually going to spend some time today in this living room taking down our Christmas decor. We spent a lot of time playing catch-up on some not-so-fun homeowner projects yesterday, so I’m looking forward to putting on Spotify and tucking away the ornaments later this evening. I’m wearing my favorite jeans and dressy-casual sweater today…because form and function can co-exist and I will need to be very functional to haul this water-logged tree out of here.
SHOP MY LOOK:
Nordstrom Rack Square Neck Top (my exact one is no longer available, but this is a very similar dupe!)
Banana Republic Petite High Rise Skinny Jeans
Static Nails French 75 Round Nails
I hope you all survived the Monday-after-the-holidays blues and settling back into your routines. While I love Christmas and New Year’s as much as anybody, I, for one, am looking forward to putting 2020 even further into the rearview, so bring it on, 2021.
xx,
Anna
“Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.” – Carlos Castaneda
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