My Manicure

For most people, the hardest part about working with complicated nail art designs is painting with your non-dominant hand. I’m right handed, and for me applying designs to my right hand takes twice as long to do as my left. There are a few techniques you can try to make painting with your non-dominant hand a little easier and more successful.

- Be prepared. Take a few minutes to set up your polishes, nail polish remover, paintbrushes, etc, before you begin. The quickest way to ruin your manicure is to dig around while your nail polish is still wet. Setting up everything beforehand doesn’t necessarily help you paint with your non-dominant hand, but that’s already hard enough without ruining your work and having to start over because you left your cotton swabs under the bathroom sink. :)

- Go slow. Like I said, it takes me twice as long to apply nail art if I’m using my left hand. I take the extra time because I know my non-dominant hand isn’t as skilled as my right. Making slow movements somewhat makes up for the fact that my left hand isn’t as steady. Give yourself a manicure when you have plenty of time available to do it right. If all you have is 30 minutes you’re better off waiting until you can set aside enough time and avoid frustrating yourself.

- Get comfortable. Figure out what’s comfortable for you and go with that. A low table, a high table, arms flat or elbow supported, it’s all subjective. Personally, I sit in a chair with all my materials on a desk in front of me, and lay the hand I’m painting over my propped up knee. I prop up my other knee when I switch hands. It works for me because I can see things better when they’re right in front of my face, and I’m not saying it’ll work for everyone. Just get your arms into a comfortable position and your non-dominant hand will be much more likely to work with you if it’s not in an awkward position.

Along the same lines is how you decide to hold your brushes. When I work with a paintbrush I hold it incredibly low, right near the bristles because it allows me more control. Try different things and you’ll find something that works for you.

- Warm-up. I find that after I paint a few fingers with my left hand, things look better and are more even, but by then I’m finished and I hate the first nails I “warmed up” on. Now that I’m aware that my left hand requires a little warm up time regardless of what design I’m applying, I paint the shapes I’ll be working with on a piece of paper using my non-dominant hand. This allows me to make my early mistakes and start on my actual nails after my left hand has caught up to what the right hand can do right away. Most cake decorators apply a few dots and swirls of frosting on tin-foil before they hit the actual cake; this is the same system. :)

- Make mistakes. I always accidentally add little smudges here and there around my nails while I’m painting them. If you’re a messy manicurist it doesn’t mean you’re not good. Just dip a cotton swab in nail polish remover to clean up polish left on the skin around your nails after everything has dried. Knowing you can easily correct your mistakes after you’re finished applying your design makes it easier to focus on what your painting, and not on staying within the lines. Acrylic paint washes right off with soap and water, so after you seal your design in a clear topcoat and let it completely dry, simply wash off the mistakes and no one will know how messy the process was.

- Practice. I know this one is obvious, but you’re not going to be professionally ambidextrous right away. Use your non-dominant hand to paint your toes whenever you can, because it’s a great way to strengthen your skills. I was absolutely horrible at applying nail polish with my left hand when I first got into nail art, but after a couple of months of refusing to paint my toes with my “good hand,” I was set. You will get better, it just takes practice.

- Recruit help. Eventually your non-dominant hand’s skills will improve, but until then you might want to wear a fancy design on both hands. Have a friend paint your non-dominant hand and you can paint your friend’s. If that’s not going to work, try nail stickers. Nail stickers, nail decals, gems, etc, are a great way to add decorations that will look the same on both hands. I use little white flower nail stickers when I don’t have the time to hand-paint embellishments. This may be the easy way out, but it’s probably the fastest and quickest way to get both hands done identically. :)

Tags: Polka Dots

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under 3. Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.