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I’m not proud of this, but there was this time I flat-out lied to my nail tech. You see, during a middle of the night fit of insomnia, I decided to try to give myself a manicure using dip powder. It didn’t end well.
I thought I had seen my nails get done enough times to know the basics of how to do it. When I told that to my 12-year-old later, she said “Mom, that’s like saying because someone watches a lot of free climbing videos on YouTube that they could go and free climb. Mom, they would fall off the mountain.” Ouch, but yeah, point taken.
Where was that girl and her skills of logic in the middle of the night, when when I needed her to stop me before I tried to give myself a dipped manicure?! Y’all. It was bad. Sooooooooo bad. So bad that I didn’t even take a picture, because I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which I’d show it to anyone.

The picture above is of my daughter’s nails, because like I said, I did NOT take pictures of the horror show of my nails.
When I went to the nail salon the next day to have my nails fixed, I straight up lied. Lied!!! It was the day after Mother’s Day so I told them I let me kids do my nails the day before. I am 99.9% sure she knew I was lying. And I knew she knew I knew, but we both just went with the lie. It was easier that way.
This might be where a smart person gives up and admits defeat. And I did for my own nails – I’ll keep getting them done by a professional. BUT, I was still going to figure it out how to do my girls’ nails.

Here’s what I figured out:
I keep the directions in front of me THE ENTIRE TIME, because I don’t trust myself yet. But the girls nails look sooooooooooo cute when I do them with the dipped powder. And it lasts for a few weeks!!!

I can not emphasize enough that I do not try to do it from the memory of getting my nails done. That didn’t work. It does seem to only work when I follow the directions, exactly.

Here’s the other stuff I used to do their dipped nails:
- The set of foundation and activating polishes – use these with dipping powder to make the polish set (includes instructions 😂)
- Dipped Nail Powders – a set of fun colors!
- Nail clippers – these are the best nail clippers I’ve ever used … seriously, love them
- Nail files
And FYI – we do normal nail polish on the feet. I make the teens do their own feet. It practices hand-eye coordination, right?! I love these pads to use with the nail polish remover I get from the grocery store.

Now I’ve done their nails a few times and it gets easier and better quality each time!
Have you ever tried something so adventurous? Does it get easer? Will I eventually not have to stare at the directions?!
From my home to yours,
Mary
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You’re such a cool mom!
That definitely seems like a nicer comment than I deserve, but thank you!
Well…this sounds about right! 🤣🤣
A few years ago I spent quite a bit of money on gel nail equipment so that I could do my own at home for cheaper. Despite following directions and watching videos and reading blogs, they always turned out terrible and/or peeled off right away. So now all that money’s worth of nail polish and LED lamp and other paraphernalia just sits in my office untouched…. and I go to a pro and pay to get the nail dip. 🤣🤣 Lesson learned.
Oh Rachel, I get it! I think that’s why I’m so determined to figure it out on my girls because otherwise why have I accumulated all this stuff?! lol