I'm not a professional, but over the years I found ways to have my polish looking decent, as well as lasting at least 5 days for my nails (maybe 1 week if I'm not heavy handed). Nail polish on my feet last for about 2 weeks (without any chips or cracks). I refresh my nails for another week to tie in with my feet nail color.

Now I have tried nail stickers and finding them to be annoying to applied, and take longer to take off afterwards. The nail design plates on the other hand are durable, and are easy to apply once you get the technique down. Below is my "how to" for simple nail polish and stamping. There is nothing fancy or hard about this post. If you not interested in the nail stamping just do Steps 1-4 & Step 9. Make sure to check out the conclusion, which give the final advice for longer lasting color nail polish.


Material Needed
- Nail Clip & Filer
- Cotton Balls
- Top & Base Coat Nail Polish
- 2 or more nail polish color (depending on the look you going for)
- Nail Design Plate(s) ( Konad is the most popular brand)
- Nail Stamper & Scrapper
- Acetone (Nail Polish Remover)
- Art Brush (Optional)
- Paper Towers (Optional)

Start preparing your nail polish station. I like working off my dinner table, so having a paper towel, ad flyers, and towel is a must! Clean off your stamper and plate with acetone (even if they are new).

Step 1 - Clip and file down any nails that are uneven. I found if I file and buffer my nails, the nail polish is much smoother, but if your nails doesn't grow that fast, I suggest not filing or buffing your nails because they do get thinner. Just buy a base coat that is marketed for filling in the ridges.



Step 2 - Very important, using your nail polish remover, clean your nails of any debris, oils, etc. by swamping each of your nail with the acetone filled cotton ball. Once you are sure they are clean of all oils and debris, proceed to the next Step. Note: The reason you clean your nail out with nail polish remover is to have the nail polish adhere to the nail. Any oils or residues left will increase the likely hood of your nail chipping or not lasting.



Step 3 - You are then going to apply your base coat (1 application is all you need). I prefer applying my nail polish on my dominated hand first (which is my right hand). That hand tend to be the hardest to apply nail polish on, but I want that hand to be a little more prefect and be the fastest to dry. Note: Base coat supposedly helps strengthen the nails, restore moisture to the nail, and help polish adhere to the nail. I also found it help keep nails from being stained by the bright or dark colored polish.



Step 4 - Once the base coat has dry a little, usually you can start right after you have finish applying the nail polish on the second hand, you are then going to apply your main nail polish color of your choice (depending on the color, 2-3 application may be needed). This is were your art brush comes in handy. If you happen to get some nail color on your skin, dip your brush in acetone and clean the area. Note: If you find that you going to be doing your nail polish weekly, do not apply nail polish to the very edge of your nail. This allows your nails to remain healthy by breathing a little, especially if your nails do not grow as fast.








Step 5 - Before applying your design, your nail polish need to be semi dry (explanation is below). Just touch your nail after about 1-2 hour later, and see if they are dry enough to apply your nail design. Once you verify your nail is semi dry, take your nail plate with the design already pick out and apply your second nail polish over the design like shown below. I use a good amount of coat on half of the design if it a full nail design or a little amount of coat for single design, and then I proceed to the next Step. Note: If you don't want to apply any design, you can stop here, and read the conclusion.



Step 6 - Take your scraper (I used both an old gift card and the Konad official scrapper) and scrap the nail color over the design. You want to be firm and add a nice pressure by remove excess polish from the plate. Note: The best nail polish for the stamper is one that is thick and sticky. The light nail polishes (usually the ones that require more than 2 coats) do not work well with the nail stamping design).



Step 7 - Roll your stamper firmly (not to hard) over the design of your choice until you pick up the design on your stamper. Tip: I would start off with a simple single design, and then upgrade to a full nail designs and then do the French style design. Note: You don't need to press super hard to grab the design, a simple rolling over the design will do. If the first time doesn't get, clean and redo it again. I also like to test my design on a paper to see if the color and the design show up clear first.



Step 8 - I found if I hold the stamper downward, like the example below, the design get picked up better. I then roll my nail over the stamper. The key of nail stamping is to roll your nail over the stamper to grab the design. The left hand I could do it upward and downward and still pick up the design. It really depend on what you are comfortable with.



Step 9 - This part does get tedious, each time you apply the nail color on the plate, you going to have to clean it off with the nail polish remover. I like to clean both the stamper and the plate each time. Makes the design comes out cleaner each time. Note: If you can do this super-fast and RIGHT, you don't have to keep cleaning the plate, but for beginners, I highly recommend cleaning after each application.

Step 9 - Once you have apply your design(s) over the nails of your choice, you then going to apply your top coat to each of your nails. MAKE SURE your design is dry a little (5 -10 min) before apply your top coat to avoid smearing. Note: Top coat forms a hardened barrier for the nail color and nail design and helps prevent chipping, scratching and peeling. Some top coats are marketed as "quick-drying" but I found that not to be true for majority of them.

Conclusion: Use this time to clean around the excess nail polish you did (especially if you are a newbie at this). You can also just wait for the nail color around your skin to fall off (which will happen in a day or so). Now all you have to do is let your nails dry. When you are done applying your top coat (or even the design) your nail polish is semi dry at about 1-2 hours. In that time frame (if you don't use UV light to dry your nails), you can still can get clipping and smearing/smudging of your nail color. So if you want your nail to be as decent and prefect as possible, do it right before going to bed.

By the time you wake up in the morning, your nails will be completely dry, and that is when you can be assured that your nails will last at least 5 days (for fingers) and 2 weeks (for feet). Once clipping has occurred, the nail polish will come off. You can do fixes when that does happen, since you own the nail polish. Hope this post was helpful, because doing it this way has save me money, and frustration. Check out my review of the nail stamping here.