We tried & tested a few popular nail polish hacks from Pinterest

Pinterest is a treasure trove for ideas, from interior design to healthy recipes to beauty tricks. I once had a serious obsession with the site, and I would spend hours upon hours just pinning and pining over well-photographed samples of well-manicured lives. The nail hacks were particularly addicting to pin as most utilize stuff that you probably already have at home. Most of them look like they’re too good to be copied in real life though, so I decided to give these easy ones a go. Are Pinterest nail hacks doable by an average person? Read on to find out!

The Band-Aid Doticure

I love polka dot patterns so this hack immediately caught my eye. Plus, I would have never thought of using a Band-Aid for nail art! The idea behind this hack is simple: the holes in the adhesive bandage act as a stencil. Simply apply the “holey” area on top of your set and dried base coat, and then brush on a different polish color for the dots.

It’s easier said than done, though. The adhesive was incredibly sticky! I also made the mistake of putting it on just several minutes after I put on my base coat, and the bandage just lifted the nail polish off. (Could it be a trick for easy nail polish removal?) I re-painted my nails and waited a little longer before trying it out again.

Much to my disappointment, you can hardly see the dots. The holes in the adhesive I used were too small for the nail polish to seep through. I actually already stretched the bandage a bit before application in an effort to make the holes bigger, but it didn’t help at all. This might work if you can find bandages with larger holes but for now, I'm sticking to using the rounded end of a hairpin as a stamping/dotting tool instead.

Using petroleum jelly to quickly clean nail mishaps

There are a lot of things you can use petroleum jelly for and that includes helping you achieve a flawless manicure! I’ve always used a nail pusher with the tip covered in a bit of acetone-soaked cotton to clean up excess polish. But since using polish remover can be drying for the skin, I decided to try this hack as it can actually help moisturize my cuticles in the process.

Use the tip of a cotton bud to apply petroleum jelly around the nail you are painting, avoiding the nail itself. When the polish is dry, just wipe off the excess polish and it should come off easily. The jelly will keep the polish from adhering to your skin, and moisturize your cuticles as well! I tried it and it worked quite neatly. Just make sure the polish is 100% dry before picking off the excess.

Refrigerating nail polish

Did you know that heat affects the quality of nail polish products? I’m sure you’ve already encountered a bottle of polish whose ingredients have separated. I saw a hack saying that you should keep your nail polish inside the fridge for 15 minutes and the application will be smoother. It’s true. Not only is the coolness of the polish a pleasant sensation, the product did glide on easily: not too runny nor too thick.

Do you go to Pinterest for beauty inspirations? Have you tried any hacks that actually worked for you?

Header image via sheknows.com