We ship a lot of sets, and we hear back about most of them. When a set lifts early it is almost never the nail. It is the prep. Here is the exact routine we send to every first-time customer, in the order we do it ourselves.
Size before you do anything else
Lay all 24 nails out and match each one to your own nail bed before a single drop of glue comes out. Start with the widest finger, usually the thumb, and work in. If a tip sits even slightly wide, the edges lift within a day because there is nothing under them to hold.
If two sizes both look close, take the smaller one. A nail that sits just inside your own edge holds far better than one that overhangs it.
The single biggest cause of a set falling off in week one is a tip that was half a size too wide.
Push the cuticle back, gently
The press-on has to sit on nail, not on skin. Push the cuticle back with the wooden stick in the box. No force, no cutting. If the tip lands on cuticle, the glue bonds to skin, and skin sheds.
Buff off the shine
A light buff, twenty seconds a nail, until the surface looks matte rather than glossy. You are not thinning the nail, you are giving the glue something to grip. Skip this and you have halved your wear time before you started.
Clean, and let it dry properly
Wipe each nail with the alcohol pad and then wait. Actually wait. Glue on a damp nail is the second most common reason a set comes off in week one, and it is the easiest one to avoid.
Less glue than you think
A thin line down the middle of your own nail, and a small dot inside the tip. More glue is not more hold. It is a bubble, and a bubble is a gap, and a gap is where a set fails.
Press for thirty seconds, each nail
Set the tip at the cuticle first, then roll it down flat and press. Count to thirty. Do all ten and then leave your hands alone for ten minutes before water.
What to do when one lifts
It happens, usually on the index finger. Take that nail off, clean both surfaces, one drop of glue, press for thirty seconds. You do not need a new set for one nail.
And when the three weeks are up
Soak in warm soapy water for ten minutes and lift from the side with the wooden stick. Never pry from the front and never use acetone. Store the set back in its case and it will go on again.
That is the whole routine. Ten extra minutes at the start buys you two extra weeks at the end.
Glue, a prep pad, a mini file and a size guide come in every box. Nothing else to buy.
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