Category Archives: Nails


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Peelable Base Coat Nail Polish Hack

Has this ever happened to you?

It would happen to me ALL THE TIME.

Whenever I would use a peelable base coat (like ÜNT’s Ready For Takeoff) I’d be lucky if my manicure lasted 8 hours, whereas with a regular basecoat I can get at least 2 weeks. I’d go about doing normal things and suddenly discover a thumbnail peelie in my dishes or pinky nail peelie in my sock. It was super frustrating so I looked it up and it turns out it wasn’t just me! While the ease of removal made it perfect for nail polish bloggers and reviewers, many people were complaining about the base not “sticking” long enough to make it worth it for regular use.

I’d written to my place of purchase and their reply was:

Your complaint isn’t unique. I have heard that some people’s problem with ÜNT’s peel off base coat is “that it works too well”. However, we can’t seem to discern as to why some people have such success with it, and others don’t. 

The conclusion the nail community has come to is that personal biological factors can affect a product’s success. Meaning, your body’s natural oils and your nail’s health may be the cause of a polishes’ or base coat’s success. The nail is often considered an impermeable barrier, but this is not true. In fact, it is much more permeable than the skin, and the composition of the nail includes 7–12% water. 

Following that I wrote to ÜNT themselves but their replies were unsatisfactory and seemed like a copy/paste:

We are sorry to hear that our product is not 100% satisfactory. I would like to further explain several possible reasons for this to happen:

1. READY FOR TAKEOFF or nail lacquer did not dry completely

2. Coat of READY FOR TAKEOFF not thick enough (if READY FOR TAKEOFF is applied very thin, it takes more effort to remove. We suggest applying 3-4 thin coats.)

3. If READY FOR TAKEOFF is applied unevenly, some parts of it may dry quicker than others, thus causing the issue. 

So in the end I decided to try and figure out my own solution. I know the exact ÜNT product I have is no longer available but they have a different peelable line and Holo Taco has its own Peely Base and I really wanted to make these products (and my existing UNT bottles) work for me.

After a bit of trial and error (note- do NOT try filing down the surface of your nails to make the base coat grip better!) I found a solution that actually made the product usable, and in honor of today being Nail Polish Day, I’m sharing it publicly. Bonus: it’s something I bet you already own!

Another base coat!

I use Orly’s Bonder as it’s what I have on hand but any clear base coat will work. (I don’t recommend a creamy base coat like a smoothing base for this).

All you need to do is apply one thin coat of the regular base BEFORE applying the recommended 2-3 coats of the peelable polish. The peelable polish will grip better to the base than to your nail surface, and the manicure will last much longer. It’s a really simple trick but it helps to make the peelable products actually work for those of us who have a hard time with them.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


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squee!

So excited! I’m going to my first ever ComicCon tomorrow, and I can’t wait! I’m not dressing up though I admit to trying on my neighbor’s Sailor Moon costume, just to see… LOL but I don’t have the guts. So my extent of geeky getup is my Nintendo remote necklace, my all-time favorite piece of jewelry I own. I bought it and matching earrings from an etsy vendor. I don’t remember her etsy username but her website is http://www.sweetappletea.com. I saw she did a set with the Super NES remote and I requested the original remote as a custom job, and she did such a phenomenal job! I wear it all the time and everyone comments on it.

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Yes, I did my nails to match. 🙂

The checkerboard cake was picked up this afternoon, and I think it was a big hit. The woman sent me an example photo she’d found online, and requested only one tier, no water/bridge/statue, icing grass, and said she’d provide the apple.

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That’s the example on the upper left, and the rest are the cake I made. I think she was really happy with it!

It was the first time I’d done a real commissioned cake. I’ve done my boys’ cakes for a few years now, and as each family member hits a special bday I (and sometimes with my sister) will make their cake. I made a cake for my mom’s best friend a few weeks ago, and while I guess technically it was commissioned, all I’d been asked was for “a scrabble cake”, so I had free reign on the design. This was the first time I’ve had to match an image and the thought of it being held up to scrutiny was so intimidating that I had knots in my stomach before starting the fondant work. I knew I could make it look like the photo, but I was afraid she wanted exactness and didn’t know if mine would be good enough. I MYCH prefer simply having to work with a theme, than having a sample to be compared to!!

I’m going to get an early night’s sleep now. I’m bringing Jakob tomorrow and he’s decided to dress as Super Tiger for the occasion. (That’s a tiger costume, topped with the superhero cape Maaike made for him. I don’t get it either.)


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i think i like it

What do you think?  I’m kind of annoyed that the navy yarn is reading so black vs the blue-toned ribbon, but I have no other yarn to swap and I’m just going with it.  If it fades at all in the wash it’ll be fine, and if it doesn’t, well, it’s my sweater and it’s staying this way.

ps No more zombie hands!

Since I change polish about every 2 days there have been a few manicures in between, but they were boring.  Look- bright and sparkly!  Also, my fingerless mitts are making an appearance!  (Edgewood?  Something or other, from Knitty, about 3 years ago).


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happy new year

Whoa.  2.5 months…did that really happen?

I didn’t think I’d been gone that long, though in truth for the last 2.5 months I’ve completely forgotten I even had a blog.

To sum up:

July: studying, studying, and more studying…a brief hospital visit when Henri limped for half a day, then more studying.

August: studying then final exam- I got the highest mark in the class, what WHAT! Knitting began in earnest for my magazine sample, slowed only by the need to write down everything I was doing.  It obviously wasn’t portable knitting, so a pair of socks was knit during wait times.  More doctor and hospital visits for Henri, including one with a specialist that I was hoping would give us answers, but instead just wasted our time.

September: more knitting for the mag, ‘cus a work-in-progress left unattended with young children led to a mishap that required a week’s extension on my deadline.  Once the knitting was done and the sample sent off I worked on writing up the pattern and grading the other sizes.  There was a brief respite for a long weekend spent at a lovely b&b in Woodstock (same place I’d gone with Maaike for Rhinebeck last year), this time done to celebrate my 5 year wedding anniversary, plus mine and Yannick’s early September birthdays.

And now…the pattern is sent (once I do some minor style corrections) and should be appearing in the Spring 2012 issue of the new online magazine called Clotheshorse, and my knitting nights are my own again.  All the old wips are still there, though there may be a few fos you guys haven’t seen yet, including one I whipped up mostly during the drive to- and from Woodstock for a friend’s newborn daughter.

I’m currently actively working on my sister-in-law’s 2nd pillow (my at-home project, ‘cus it requires designing and note-taking while I work), a pair of socks for Yannick with a random stash ball (my “on-the-go” knitting, ‘cus he’s worn through 2 of his knit pairs already), and a Linden for myself with handspun (not mine) pure wool sold to the knitting guild by a local woman, my project when I’m fed up with either of the other two.

One thing I’ve been keeping up with (unlike blogs…sorry) is nail polish.  In fact my trip to NY yielded little more than 20 bottles of random, not-available-in-Canada drug store sparkly polishes to add to my stash.  Yes, I’ve got a polish stash too.

I’m at work now and can’t share any knitting pics, but I can photograph my nails and share those!

Today’s themed manicure is for the current Jewish holiday- Rosh Hashana- the Jewish new year.  The Israeli flag is white and blue, so I went with those as main colors, only I reversed them.  (The flag is mainly white with 2 blue stripes and a blue Star of David).  On this holiday we eat and serve slices of apple with honey pots for dipping, as a way of starting off the new year on a sweet note (to foretell a sweet new year).  So I used nail polish and a toothpick to paint a bumble bee (for the honey…though now that I type this I’m wondering if bumble bees are actually the honey producers…drat), and an apple.

I’m actually really proud of how the apple came out!  It started off as a cartoonish blob but a little playing around with the drops of polish on a Kleenex gave me some darker and lighter colors, and a few jabs of the toothpick later I had a shaded apple!

Happy New Year to those that celebrate, and a big “hi, and thanks” to those of you that stuck around even though my posting has been rather sporadic.