Dip nails are a longer lasting type of nail polish, made with a powdery substance. They don’t chip as easily as regular nail polish, and they can retain their look and color for up to a month without you needing to touch them up.
The shiny nail look is beautiful at first, but it can fade over time. As you work with your hands, doing daily tasks, the polish can lose a bit of its luster. How to make dip nails shiny again?
Why Are My Dip Nails Not Shiny?
Has the shine gone out of your dip nails? They looked so perfect when you first dipped them, with bright, luminous colors, and now the luster has worn off. What happened?
It could just be time taking its toll on them. They are only meant to be on your fingers for about a month. After that, they start chipping, but they will probably stop being quite so shiny before then.
The reason they have lost their shine could be because of the way you treat them. You want them to stay looking bright and flashy, but that won’t happen if you do a lot of work with your hands.
The shine and the polish can wear off if you do hard manual labor. Washing dishes regularly or working with your hands will likely cause the shine to disappear after a while. You could protect the dip polish by protecting your hands with gloves when you work.
Any kind of harsh treatment on your hands can make the nails start to fade and go dull. Just be careful about how your hands are being treated and take extra special care of the nails. If you do, they should last longer.
How to Get Dip Nails Shiny
If the luster has gone out of your nails and they look dull rather than shiny, you may be wondering if it is time to just do them over. You could always take some nail polish remover to them and start fresh, and that’s guaranteed to give you a hot, new look again.
The problem with that is that it can take 15 minutes or so of soaking to get the dip nail polish to come off. You may not always have that kind of time to play around with, especially if you noticed the dullness at the last minute.
You could also try re-dipping the nails for a fresh second coat, which is an option, but that can make your nails feel a bit bulky.
You may just need to buff your nails, especially if you applied the dip polish but they don’t look shiny yet. Buffing gives your nails a vibrant, bold look, bringing out their true beauty that could be hiding.
To do this, just wait for the polish to harden. Then, use a grit buffer to make sure your nails are thick enough. Our recommendation is a 100/180 coarse buffer.
Afterwards, take a foam buffer and smooth the surface layer of the polish out. We recommend a 240/289 fine grit buffer for that step. As you buff the nails, they will become smoother and shinier.
There will be a flat, even layer for light to reflect off of. Getting all the grit and imperfections off the nail polish so they are perfectly smooth can make them shine like the noonday sun.
Finish things off with a Step 4 Sealer. This keeps the nails looking vibrant, preventing the polish from fading or coming off as easily. It adds a protective, thin layer that is really good for maintaining the look of your new nail color.
If you are wondering how to make my dip nails shiny again, we think it’s possible you either skipped these steps in the application process or rushed through them and maybe didn’t do them properly.
How to Keep Dip Nails Shiny
If you want to make sure the nails stay shiny once you have achieved the perfect look for them, then there are some tricks and tips we want to share with you. We talked about how to make dip powder nails shiny, now let’s talk about how to keep them looking that way.
You want to keep them clean. Keep them free of dust, dirt, grime, oils, and especially any substances.
Something as simple as baking soda, lime or lemon juice, and various household cleaners can peel nail polish away. If you’re doing any cleaning, you should wear protective gloves to safeguard your nails.
This is a good idea whether you’re wearing dip nails or not. You want to keep your nails looking perfectly manicured and not allow them to get chipped, so any cleaning should be done with the protection of some sort of gloves.
Be careful about what you do with your nails when you first apply the dip polish. You want to make sure it dries and hardens completely before you wash your hands or really do anything with your hands at all. Try to plan your schedule around the application of polish that you don’t have to use your hands for a while.
You also want to make sure that if you’re putting on multiple coats of dip nails that you are timing your coats and spacing them out a little bit. Give yourself a few minutes between each coat application so that every layer can harden like it should.
If you just put on another coat or try to touch up the coat of polish you have once yours is chipped, dull, or faded, then your second coating is not going to last as long. It’s better to simply start over to get yourself a long-lasting coat of dip nail polish. If you try to keep touching up or adding coats every week or so, you’re going to be fighting uphill battle.
Dip nail polish can look really beautiful and very shiny, but you’ve got to apply it properly, taking your time and getting the process right. You also have to take really good care of it so that it will retain its shininess.
I’m Jennifer a beauty and wellness expert. I believe in promoting a sustainable and healthy lifestyle from within. Helping people feel good is my passion; whether it’s teaching yoga or offering skincare advice.
