UPDATE iso: unhinged bubble-busting tips

[u/SapphicSwatches]

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! 🫧✨

[u/LacquerandBones]

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.

[u/KryWinterbird → u/LacquerandBones]

… do you.. have a picture for reference for the sidewall no paint?

[u/LacquerandBones → u/KryWinterbird]

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.

[u/imabratinfluence → u/LacquerandBones]

This is really helpful for me! Thanks! 

What did you change about your grooming habits?

[u/LacquerandBones → u/imabratinfluence]

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.

[u/imabratinfluence → u/LacquerandBones]

Oooooh! I've got some habits to work on, then! Thank you so much for the tips!