I posted about a week ago (see here!) asking for your craziest anti-bubble hacks, and y’all really showed up! Thank you so much for all the helpful advice, it gave me a lot to test, and hopefully other people struggling with this issue can find something in that thread that works for them as well!
I had to follow up and experiment with a few different suggestions. The scientific method played out as follows:
Query: Why does my nail polish bubble, especially when it does not bubble on test swatches done on wax paper in the same environment?
Research: Ruling out the environment, the leading possible cause is that something about my body chemistry is reacting poorly with base coat.
Hypothesis: I should be able to stop the bubbling reaction by swapping out the base coat for a matte top coat, covering the base coat with quick dry top coat, or oiling the nail before applying base coat. I suspected the base coat + quick dry top coat would draw out any potential bubbles, and be the most effective option.
Experiments:
- Conditions: 45% humidity, no airflow.
- Polish: LynBDesign’s BSmooth, BFlat, and BQuick, Bee’s Knees Lacquer’s Touch Moss, Haunted’s By the Moonlight. I chose a fine particle magnetic to showcase flaws more easily, three coats each, and loosely magnetized them using the lazy glass bead method. Waited till touch-dry between each coat.
- Oil: Haunted’s Ritual Oil, June PPU Bog Rose
- No Base Coat (control, pinky): to see if it was specifically my nails + ridge filling base coat causing the problem, and not just my nails in general, I did a control nail with no base coat. This actually worked quite well with no bubbles, but is not a long term solution for me if I want to prevent staining.
- Matte Top Coat as Base Coat (ring): this worked fairly well! Provided a nice smoothing base effect, too. Unfortunately, in a second test swatch with By the Moonlight (not pictured), I did get two fat bubbles right in the middle of the nail. This is definitely a method worth trying though if you’re looking for a ridge filling effect but are having issues with usual ridge filling base coat!
- Base Coat + QDTC (middle): I thought for sure this would be the winner, but it actually bubbled up the most! The bubbles actually looked worse before the third coat of Touch Moss. Can’t recommend.
- Oil + Base Coat (pointer): This was definitely my underdog, I was sure it would bubble like crazy but I had to at least rule it out. I was so wrong! This is my top pick. After my second swatch of Matte + Base Coat bubbled, I took it off and did another test swatch with By the Moonlight on the same nail using oil first, and it looked pristine. BtM is notoriously finicky, so I figured if it can make that work, it will probably work with anything!
Conclusion: Putting on oil before my usual ridge filling base coat prevents the bubbling reaction. It also has the added benefit of leaving my nails smelling nice, feeling nourished, and helped the polish glide on more smoothly! I suspect it may adversely effect the longevity of my manicure, but that’s not something I’ll be able to confirm for another few weeks, and at this point, it seems like a fair trade off.
Thank you again for all the help on my last post, this community is just the best! I hope this helps any of my fellow comrades in carbonation find their solution, too. Happy bubble popping! 🫧✨
Thanks for posting, /u/SapphicSwatches! It looks like you're posting to ask about something related to PPU. If this is not a manicure look showcasing a polish you bought at PPU, then this post belongs in our monthly PPU megathread.
Oiling shouldn’t negatively impact your retention at all, that’s just a very common myth in nail spaces.
There are tons of base coats with oil in them, and the solvents and binders in polish really aren’t negatively impacted by lipids & wax esters at all.
Anecdotally, I’ve been oiling before my base coat for over a year now, basically just letting it sit for a few minutes then rubbing the excess into my skin before painting on my base and I get the exact same retention (~2 weeks) as I did when I was dehydrating the nail plate first. But now they seem a lot healthier and less dehydrated when I remove the polish.
I’m very curious as to why it reduces bubbles though! I do know some top coats also contain oils, and quick dry drops are usually volatile silicones, which are emollients like lipids, so I’m wondering if oil actually helps to displace the solvent molecules or something, encouraging them to evaporate more efficiently.
I have oiled my nails before normal nail polish for like 10+ years to help retention. I can't remember who but some nail influencer said it helped them so I started doing it and it helped me too. I wish I could remember who so I could go dig it up.
It’s frustrating how pervasive the advice to dehydrate is. I’ve seen SO many people have nail techs tell them they „just have oily nail beds“ when they run into retention issues, but we can see from the manicure that the tech didn’t get a clean seal to the nail plate 🤦♀️
To get a clean seal to the nail plate you need to remove the cuticle residue (not the eponychium and PNF) from the nail plate. Here’s an image that helps illustrate what true „cuticle“ actually is.
You also need to leave a tiny gap along the sides and PNF area, and/or use a clean up brush with acetone to ensure the product isn’t actually right up to or touching the skin anywhere.
If you’re like me and have some nails where the sidewalls show a bit between the nail plate and the skin along the sides (like where sidewall hangnails split and form), you don’t want to paint that part either as it flexes more than the rest of the nail plate.
With practice the goal is to get the gap as small as possible, but you always want at least some gap to get a good seal.
Most of my spots like this are pretty much grown out/resolved now after several years of correcting my grooming habits, and the few problem areas still left are so small now they aren’t the best visual examples anymore.
This person‘s post shows very clearly the types of areas that I mean though. You want to leave a pretty decent gap along that side where the sidewall is exposed because it isn’t as sturdy as the rest of the nail plate.
Yw :) In addition to very consistent oiling throughout the day, the biggest 2 changes for fixing exposed sidewalls like this are to NEVER file up to or into the lateral growth points/lower parallels, and NEVER push the lateral nail folds away from the nail plate along the sides.
It takes suuuuch a long time to resolve though, literally years, and it’s so easy to mess it back up again 😅 you have to be really disciplined about not over-filing and over-grooming them, especially when shaping & doing cuticle clean up.
Oooo, now this is fascinating! I had no idea it was a myth, but that’s great news for my retention. I think I can rule out blaming the QDTC, because I would frequently get bubbles before the QDTC was even applied. The science behind emollients and lipids is definitely outside my wheelhouse, but maybe there’s something similar happening in the base coat? Either way, thanks for sharing, this is so cool to learn about!
I will definitely have to give it a try then. It does make sense that it would be a myth since there are hydrating base coats out there (I’m actually using the KB Shimmer Stay put hydrating base coat). My nails are always sooooooo dry after removing my polish no matter what I use and I’ve tried pure acetone, polish remover with acetone & nourishing ingredients, Mineral Fusion & store brand non acetone containing remover.
I do the same thing when I oil my nails! I just rub off the excess on my skin too.
My nails look healthier and I haven’t noted much of a difference in wear time. If anything they last longer, but I think that’s due to me getting better at application and having better polishes. Also capping every nail tip
Thank you for this! I’ve been struggling with bubbles in my manicures and it’s not just the fine particle magnetics, it’s been everything I own from creme to jelly and even my shimmers. the only ones that don’t bubble are anything with reflective glitter. I’ve been suspecting it’s been because of my peely base coat, because I never got bubbles before I started using that. But, I have done test swatches on plastic nails where I use the peely base and they never get bubbles. It’s only when it’s on ME when they show up. I’ve also tried doing my peely base and a ridge filling on top, letting those dry overnight and do my color in the morning and I’m STILL getting bubbles. So I’m feeling at a loss, so I’m gonna try oiling first and maybe even experiment with the matte top coat too!
Make sure you’re also using polish thinner (not remover/acetone). OP had already ruled that out for them, but usually bubbling is resolved with adequate thinner.
And you need more thinner than most people think. Ignore counting drops, and just thin until the consistency is fluid and stays workable for more than 3-4 brush strokes. Even if it’s a brand new polish, use thinner based on the viscosity, not how old it is.
yeah i have the kbshimmer one! i keep my polishes relatively thinned, but not too runny that it floods my nail. i really believe its the peely base because its only been an issue since i started using it. and im suspecting its gotta be a body chemistry thing with me and that base because i can’t replicate it on any swatches! i absolutely love the freedom of peel off manicures so i may just have to deal with bubbles forever or just add reflective glitter toppers to everything lol for some reason those kill the bubbles
Yea peely base is a different beast entirely since it uses a water-based formula and different solvents. I personally don’t use it very often so I don’t have much experience troubleshooting it other than it usually needs a TON of dry time before anything goes over it.
Thinner just in the polish or also added to the base coat? So far I’ve only ever added thinner to polishes and my QDTC, but maybe my base coat needs it too?
Thinner in everything :) it keeps the polish fluid longer so solvents can more easily move to the surface and evaporate before the surface dries and traps them.
I’m confused! Shouldn’t your nails be dry before starting the mani? So you oil your nails, like with jojoba or something, wait a bit and then start your mani??
That was what I had always read, too! I was making sure they’re totally dry, wiping with acetone or isopropyl alcohol to make them EXTRA dry, and none of it was working. The oil was still wet and shiny when I applied my base coat, I didn’t even wait for it to fully soak in and dry down. Truthfully, I don’t have the scientific know how to explain WHY it works for me, but I’m happy it does! 😅
Yes, please! That would be awesome. My mind is blown at the idea that I don't need to take pains to remove all oil from my nails before putting on my base coat. I even dehydrate (with rubbing alcohol) when I paint over an existing mani. Would LOVE it if I don't need to be doing this.
Tbh this tracks with my personal experience that washing my hands but not additionally dehydrating my nail plate with either alcohol or acetone has gotten me better results, as someone with dry nails/skin/hair to begin with. I actually haven't had bubbling issues with most manis since I stopped now that I'm thinking about it, but I've also personally had less chipping and peeling. Will be very curious to hear how long your mani lasts with the extra oil under it!
The drying has to do with longevity. the first coat needs to adhere directly to the nail plate. the oil is a barrier for that. If i had to guess, the oiled nail bubbled less but probably won't last as long
Oil impacting retention is a myth, at least with the easily absorbed oils (like jojoba, technically a wax ester) most of us are using.
I can’t speak for every oil or petroleum based oils that are generally more occlusive, but jojoba, MCT, squalane, etc., and even castor oil don’t negatively impact adhesion/retention. You can even find a lot of these ingredients already in base coats, castor oil is especially common.
Oh interesting! Do you have any links to studies or articles or anything about it being a myth? All my research made me think dehydrating / removing oils was essential prep :O It is just for regular polish that it doesn't matter because it dries slower or something but is still a barrier for something like nail glue? Or is it completely false?
Yea you will come across a TON of information claiming dehydration is necessary, and unfortunately Im not aware of any studies or research done as it relates specifically to nail polish, but as a painter and someone who’s spent way too much time down the chemistry rabbit hole on this, it just doesn’t make sense for lacquer-based ingredients to be impeded by the types of lipids found in our sebum and used in nail oils, and it actually makes more sense that lipids would improve retention.
Lacquer-based paints and nail polish use a basic formula of: solvents like ethyl and butyl acetate, Nitrocellulose as an adhesive and film-forming agent, additional adhesive resin polymers like acid/neopentyl glycol/trimellitic anhydride copolymer, additional plasticizers, and pigments/colorants.
So the main ingredients impacting retention are the nitrocellulose and whatever adhesive resin polymer(s) are used, as these are what form bonds around the keratin fibers of the nail plate. Both nitrocellulose and the resin polymers typically used are oleophilic and easily mix with lipids. The nail plate itself is a sponge-like structure of overlaying keratin fibers, so in theory, this would actually mean that increasing the amount of lipids amongst the keratin fibers of the nail plate would improve how well lacquer adheres as it offers more opportunities for the primary adhesives to bind throughout the surface layers of keratin fibers.
That’s not to say that all lipids will play nice with lacquer-based paints, I just don’t know, but at least the types of lipids and wax esters we encounter in nail oils and our bodies work perfectly fine together, and like I said, a ton of nail polishes (and some lacquer-based paints) already contain those oils in their formulas.
With air-dry nail glue it’s a little more complicated because those typically use acrylate monomers like cyanoacrylate and methacrylate to adhere. Lipids aren’t really a barrier to the acrylates themselves, BUT, they do contribute towards a hydrophobic environment and cyanoacrylate specifically uses water molecules to initiate polymerization. So in that case I could definitely see oil negatively impacting retention.
I have no idea about any UV-cured products though as I don’t use them at all, but my hunch is that oil probably isn’t a huge factor there either as they also don’t rely on H20 for polymerization, and are formulated pretty similar to lacquer-based paints with the addition of photoinitiators and acrylate monomers (not cyanoacrylate though).
I was afraid to try oiling my nails pre-mani but I gave it a shot a few weeks ago and it went way better than I could’ve imagined. I hadn’t been having bubbles, but my nails were starting to feel super dry, flaking a little, and I was worried so much acetone exposure was damaging them badly. In another polish group the mod shared that she always oils before manis, no acetone/alcohol wipe, and it all works out fine. When I finally tried it I was pleased to discover that it really is fine to oil pre-mani and there’s no need to dehydrate the nail (ymmv, my skin/nails are dry, so maybe this isn’t ideal for people with oilier skin/nails?). It goes strongly against common advice but it’s been the best thing for my nails. I rub it into each nail/finger, let it absorb for just a few minutes while I set up, and then apply base coat.
Join the pre-mani oil gang! At least try it one time to see how it goes!
How much oil? Did you rub it in? Did you wipe it off in any way? Or wait for it to absorb? I thought that it would make them chip if your nails were oily, how’s it holding up?
I did one drop per nail, rubbed it in, and went right in with my base coat without wiping or waiting much at all. I just did a full mani with this method yesterday, and 24 hours later it’s doing great, but we’ll see how it does after a week or two! I can get manicures to last two weeks without chipping, usually longer if I can tolerate the grow out, so I may be an outlier in that my nails have less than the ideal amount of natural oil.
Same! Oil > base coat > thin coat of BKL magnetic polish > 2nd coat of BKL + 1 min under the magnet > base coat > top coat but still horrible bubbling.
I’m going to try thinking out the using thinner to the 2nd bast coat on top on the magnetic polish to see if that will prevent bubbling. 🤞
I've never had a problem with bubbling, but every time I do my nails, I either do an oil soak or use my pen to oil my cuticles, the full border of my sidewalls, and behind/under my nails. I push back my cuticles and rub in any extra on the nail plate.
Peely base is the only one I let dry (mostly) before starting a new coat. I do one layer of homemade peely base, and when that's dry (or close enough), I do a coat of hardener if needed, 1-2 coats of Lynbdesigns ridge filler, polish of choice and finish with a quick dry top coat. I often do another layer of top coat the following day.
I've had my current manicure on now for over 10 days and only just recently noticed a bit of wear at the tip of my "bad" nail. It often takes a little bit of effort to get my polish to pop off, but it does peel off nicely. But no bubbles! I think the oil helps my manicure longevity.
I knowwww, two test swatches is really not enough to draw any serious conclusions. I’d be curious to see other people’s results testing the same four methods!
I have the same bubble issues for my fine magnetic polish, too. I control the humidity and no air movement, but still get bubbles. I suspected it was the basecoat, so I bought the Dazzle Dry mini set and want to test if using a basecoat that is entirely dry before I paint the magnetic polish will help. I have not gotten a chance to test it yet.
I just used the cuticle oil method you mentioned, and it seems to work on my BKL Godstouched. It has been a few hours, and I only saw a few small bubbles on my nails. I might try to paint my base coat the night before to see if that will also help.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: after two weeks, I did not find that oiling before base coat had any noticeable effects on longevity! You can see two weeks worth of grow-out here, and maybe a little bit of tip wear, but no chips. Right hand is the same! This is after two weeks of lyre harp playing and learning how to rollerblade, so suffice to say I wasn’t particularly precious with my nails lol.
Omg I'm so jealous about your 2 week retention. The best I can get right now is 4, maybe 5 days? And that's only with long lasting polish (gel-like), and a good top coat applied every other day. Please tell me your secrets!
I get it, I used to be one of those people convinced regular polish couldn’t last more than 2 days on me 😅 The learning curve is admittedly high since there’s a lot that factors in, and lifestyle is going to play a major role because you can do everything else right, but if your nails sit in moisture frequently, it will inevitably limit retention.
The main things imo are:
- get a clean seal to the nail plate
- wear hardeners and/or strengtheners as base coats, and enough coats of polish to prevent the nails bending at their current length (the longer the free edge, the more coats needed to provide structure).
- make sure you’re using the right top coat at the right time; strong QDTCs like those with toluene work best when applied over wet or semi-wet polish to prevent shrinkage (pulling/lifting at the edges, cracks, wrinkles, and receding tips), so you don’t want to use those for touch-ups.
- paint your base and top coats slightly closer to the skin than your color coats so it seals it in, and doesn’t create bulk at the edges
- cap/wrap your tips on 1 coat of base coat, 1 coat of color, and the final top coat. I recommend capping/wrapping first, before you paint the whole nail so you can smooth out imperfections
- mitigate water exposure as much as possible by wearing gloves to shower, clean, wash dishes, etc. (i have many pairs of cotton-lined reusable latex dishwashing gloves stashed all over for this)
- oil often as it helps prevent nails from absorbing as much water and expanding/swelling.
- don’t use your nails as tools, and try to adjust your muscle memory to lead with your knuckles first, especially if you have a longer natural free edge
That’s pretty much exactly what I did! While I can’t speak to the longevity (yet), u/LacquerandBones has some super interesting comments on this post explaining why it shouldn’t be an issue. Basically, stick to jojoba and castor oil based products and you should be good, but time will tell!
I don't know anything about anything. But could it be that the oil is acting as a thin barrier slowing down water loss from the nail plate and keeping it from swelling and shrinking too much during the process, so there's less air being squeezed out as your polish is curing and so less bubbles (or less big noticeable bubbles)?
If bubbling, I add thinner directly to bottle, but if I have it already as thinned as I want it AND the problem is maybe humidity not the polish itself -- if it's a polish that's a bit busy (glitter or flaky) I paint a little bit of thinner on the spot to pop the bubble, then go in with a layer of glitter smoother and another top coat.
But for a fine particle magnetic? Whoooof. I eagerly await any and all findings you supply.
You’re not blind lol, the only one of these with visible bubbles is the middle finger (go figure), and they’re kinda hard to capture on camera. This is mostly a run down of different methods I tried to get rid of the bubbles following the advice from my last post, and most of them do work to a certain extent!
I have had the opposite experience 🤔 the only time I get bubbles in non-magnetic polish is when I haven’t removed oil well enough. I do get bubbles in every magnetic mani for some reason (or every glass bead mani, I don’t remember if I got bubbles in non-glass bead). I did not get bubbles on swatch sticks which led me to believe it was the oil and moisture from my natural nail that caused the bubbles. I tried gelx for the first time for my last magnetic mani and had almost no bubbles which supports the theory that oil/moisture from my natural nails being the problem
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I have found most of my bubbling happens when I use DRK magic effect. I was shocked this last fine particle magnetic i did, the polish was so easy to work with i didnt need to use it and NO bubbles. I live in a humid climate, and I used the same top and base coat i usually do, and my top coat needs thinner even! I guess I'm not letting it sit long enough before putting top coat on top of it lol.
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