Indonesian Fashion Spot!

By Lena

I find that doing my nails is one of the most relaxing things I can do. In fact, that’s what I was doing on a lazy Saturday afternoon when the idea for this blog came up.

I had just bought my first bottle of Chanel nail polish, the Blue Satin. I’ve never had a Chanel polish before, so it took some experimenting before I nailed the most efficient way of applying the opaque blue liquid. I thought about the other polish brands I’ve used, and here’s what works for me in terms of polish application.

The brush vs the formula

The Chanel brush is thin and short, so with these type brush, I found that I need to have a completely wet brush to get good application. The Blue Satin is what I consider a medium thick formula liquid, so it does not drip, which makes it easier for me to take my time applying the polish. I found that one coat is sufficient for Blue Satin. I usually work on the toes first, then the left hand, and lastly the right hand. On the nail, I go from the extreme left of the nail towards the right if it’s the left hand/foot—I find that going the other way (the right of the nail to the left) increases the chance for smudging. Do the opposite (going from the right to the left of the nail) for your right hand/foot.

If the brush is thin and short but the polish formula is thin (encer abisss), then the best thing to do is to swipe some liquid off the brush on the side of the bottle, so that the brush is not dripping. In this case, it is best to do two, or even three, coats of nail polish to get an even coverage.

If the brush if thin and long, and the formula is thick, I found that it’s best to get only the bottom half of the brush completely wet, and bring it onto the nail. Why? Because if you get the whole brush wet, and you apply the polish slowly, by the time the liquid on the upper part of the brush get to the bottom of the brush, it’s already somewhat dry, and will cause uneven application, a nightmare if the polish color is dark. If this dry part is brought back into the bottle, well my theory is that it will cause thickening of the whole bottle of polish, eventually resulting in premature demise of said bottle. RIP.

Now here’s my favorite kind of brush: long and flat. In recent years this is the standard OPI brush. I love it because I find it easier to use. What I do is swipe one side of the brush on the bottle to get it free of dripping liquid, and bring the wet side onto the nail. I place the brush at the top center of my nail, and very slowly and carefully slide the brush left and right, keeping the brush on the nail (don’t take it off the nail), working my way down until the nail is wholly covered. Think of it as when you wipe the floor or clean the window (kayak ngepel gitu lho). If the formula is thick, I usually need just one coat; if it’s thinner perhaps 2 or more coats.

Doing the right hand

It’s hard to use your ‘wrong’ hand to do your nails, and all I can say is that it takes practice. Best to practice with a clear color nail polish to get used to it. But here’s why I like the OPI professional brush: it actually makes applying polish on my right hand easier. You just need to control how much pressure you put on the brush to ensure that the brush covers the whole nail. If you just place it lightly on the nail, it covers a smaller area of the nail. If you press down on the brush, the brush will fan out and cover the whole nail. By doing the latter, you can actually skip the side to side movement and basically cover the whole nail with one swipe from top to bottom by pushing down on the brush. Just make sure the brush don’t fan out too close to the skin. Leave a larger gap with the skin if the color is darker—don’t worry, only you can see the gap because most people won’t since they’ll be focused on the nail color. If your nail is wide (e.g. the thumb nail), than maybe one swipe won’t do it and you’ll probably need to do two quick swipes.

Whew, bet you didn’t know there’s rocket science to putting on nail polish did you?!