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We have already told you about our love for Color Street nails, but now we share our best Color Street tips and tricks. These are the tips you NEED to know that will help you keep your nails healthy and your Color Street lasting longer than ever!
(THIS POST PROBABLY CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY IS LONG & BORING BUT, YOU CAN FIND ITHERE.)
Prep Tips to Make Your Color Street Last Longer
Do you love the look of Color Street nails but are having trouble getting them to last? There are things you can do to help that beautiful manicure last so you keep getting compliments way past day 1. Here are the Color Street tips you will need to prepare your nails to have your manicure looking fresh for days.
- Make sure your Color Street nail strips and hands are the right temperature. If your nail strips are too cold or hot, they won’t adhere as well. Too cold and they will be brittle. Too warm and the adhesive will be gummy. Make sure they are room temperature. Also, make sure your hands are not cold. You need the warmth of your hands to warm the adhesive on contact (but not before).
- Wash your hands with dish soap. This may sound strange, but dish soap is the best thing to use to wash your hands before application. Regular hand soaps often contain oils or butters to keep your skin soft. The problem is these oils will keep your Color Street polish strips from adhering as well as they could. Dish soap often has a degreaser in it. This will help break down any oils on your nails and hands. My personal favorite is Dawn. The degreaser works well without killing your skin.
- Take care of your cuticles. Make sure your cuticles are pushed back from your nail. The adhesive on your nail strips was made to stick to your nail, not anything else. If you have your nail strip touching your skin or cuticle, it makes a weak spot where it will be easier for the strip to come up off the nail. A great tool to have is a good cuticle pusher.
*Learn how to make homemade cuticle oil for soft, healthy cuticles and strong nails.
- File and Buff your nails before using the alcohol wipes. When you file and buff your nails, it can leave “dust” on your nails that will come between your nail and your nail strip. Do any shaping, filing, and buffing before you use the alcohol wipes. I like to use a good nail file to shape my nails, and the a nail block to buff them. This gives me a good starting foundation, so it is less likely I get a break while wearing my Color Street.
- Use the provided alcohol wipes. You will get alcohol wipes that come with your Color Street nail strips, use them right before application. But do make sure you let the alcohol completely dry before you proceed.
Color Street Tips for Application
There are things you can do even after your prep to make the application process smooth. Here are our Color Street tips for great application.
- Don’t open your Color Street strips until you are ready to apply them. Make sure you have enough time to finish your manicure before you open that air tight seal on your nail strips. The more air that gets to your nail strips before application, the more brittle and dried out they become.
- Make sure you have enough cure time. Not only do you want enough time to put on your nails, but you want to leave enough time after application for them to cure properly. One way to do this is to put them on before bed. But if this timeline doesn’t work for you, then make sure you are staying away from lotions, oils, and hot water for at least a few hours after you put on your strips.
- Give your strips a little stretch. Make sure you stretch your nails downward a little before pulling off the excess. This makes it so you are less likely to pull or file off too much.
- File Downward. Once you have removed the excess strip, if you need to file any ragged edges, make sure to file in a downward motion, never upwards or from side to side. This will help keep the nail file from catching part of the adhesive and pulling the strip up off the nail.
Color Street Tips for Easiest Removal
Nail strips can do damage to your nails if not removed in the right way. Here are our Color Street tips for the easiest, healthiest removal.
- Use an acetone free nail polish remover. Color Street nail strips are made well, and made to stay put, so it can take a lot of remover to get them off. Nail polish remover with acetone can be very drying to your nails. We recommend you go acetone free. Mineral Fusion would be our first choice.
- Nail clips are awesome. Using nail clips can save the skin on your finger tips, and your nail polish remover. They hold remover in place right on the nail, so you don’t have to sit with your nails in a whole bowl of remover, or so you don’t have to spend your precious time holding remover on one nail at a time.
- White felt sheets work great with nail clips. Why pay for nail polish remover pads? White felt sheets can be cut to size, and work great for holding your polish remover with your nail clips. You can get individual sheets at craft store, or get a set of sheets that will last you a LONG time here.
- NEVER peel off your nail strips! As stated above, Color Street nail polish strips are made well, and made to really stick to your nail. This means you never want to just peel it off. If you do this, you will most likely pull off some of the nail as well, and your nails will get brittle.
Color Street Tips, General Tips,Tricks, and Information.
There are lots of things we have learned since our first Color Street post. Besides the information we already shared above, here is a list of Color Street tips that just don’t fit into any category.
- You can use a base or top coat. Color Street nail polish strips are made of real nail polish, so if you want to use a base or top coat with them, you totally can. If you have very thin or sensitive nails, then a base coat is a great idea for you.
Just make sure you give it plenty of time to dry before trying to apply your Color Street strips. And also be aware, that having a base coat on makes it harder to readjust the nail during application.
Using a top coat is great for making your nails last. You can use a regular bottled top coat, or you can use another clear nail strip on top of your designer one.
- Do not keep your nail strips in a hot place. The adhesive in your Color Street nails strips can get tacky, or gummy if they get too warm, and they will not be as effective at staying put. So please don’t forget your nail strips in a hot car.
- Glitter nails are great for toes. Glitter nails tend to really stay put. This makes them especially awesome for your toes. I have had a glitter Color Street pedicure last for over a month on my tootsies.
- Non glitter nails take special care during application. The non glitter nails are a little thinner because they lack that layer of glitter. They are still wonderful, but just keep in mind that they are a little more delicate when applying them.
- Saving some strips is not impossible. While you will always get the best results with a fresh pair of Color Street nail strips, it is not impossible to save the extras to mix in with another future set. If you do want to save leftovers for a future day, make sure you keep them away from air.
I have used my hair straightener to reseal the plastic the strips come in. And while it is not impossible to save them for a little while, I do recommend using them pretty quickly. I have successfully used the strips after a few weeks, but have been less successful after a few months.
- Get a manicure and pedicure out of one set. If you want to get a mani and pedi from the same set then check out this tutorial HERE. We’re using a Lily and Fox nail set in the tutorial but the steps are the same.
