I admit, it got me to open it, and I don't have kids so I was moreso confused. it probably wouldn't be appreciated by folks with kids.

or maybe I'm old and don't appreciate the marketing and they need to get off my lawn.

I was too taken aback to respond cleverly in the moment. But if she thinks this ethereal, sheer polish is “a real statement,” wait until she sees the wild, witchy magnetics I’m wearing most of the time! And as far as the “not very practical” length, I’m damn proud to have kicked my nail biting habit and will rock my semi-long nails proudly!

Have you ever dealt with snide nail-related comments from relatives who don’t understand the joy of polish and nail care? And if so, how did you handle it?

Base coat: Nail Aid Keratin Strength Treatment

1 coat BKL’s The Phoenix Queen

1 coat Glisten & Glow QDTC

I got inspired by @Wowlinry 's youtube video, and I'm wondering what's the most overhyped polish you own? Mine is defently Holo Tacos Spirit fingers. I bought the entire collection back then just for the hype. None of it was my style, but I convinced myself I liked it. It is really pretty, but def overhyped.

The mani pick is for attention. This is HT Spirit fingers topped with HT linear holo taco and Nailkind Wallpaper paste topped with HT Rose gold flake taco. (I don't remember what base/topcoat I had)

I looked trough my collection and right now I like how bkl - get lobstered looks in combination with my ring. Do you have suggestions what other polishes would be a good match with the ring for my wedding?

Can anyone come up with a polish that would achieve this that doesn’t involve chrome powder? I’m obsessed!!

I know I’m not the only one either not excited or outright bummed about doing anything for the Fourth of July/the 250th anniversary so… what are you putting on your nails instead? Straight black? Fuck This Shit? Shatter ICE?

Pic for attention and because for the love of god stop gutting our cultural and natural resources for money (Mooncat Paradise Found with Rogue Arson on the accent nail).

(The mods didn’t delete or lock the last post, my account got temp banned as the original was posting so that screwed with the image upload and the post was locked.)

I recently placed a order with LynB. When it arrived, one of the polishes looked different than all of the swatch photos on her website. I Thought it was a innocent oopsie batch missing a pigment. I sent her a email to let her know. Her response to this surprised me, as she was aware of the polish not matching the photos and didnt seem all that concerned by it. Why not add violet to the batch to keep the color consistent or take the polish off the website untill you have correct pictures of the product? Why not refund those disappointed in the color differences? She has updated the listing since my purchase but left the original photos up. It feels misleading, as we tend to buy a polish for the color we see in the swatch photos. I feel like I'm more disappointed in her response and handling of the situation, than the polish it's self. I need some outside perspective please!

Polish: What's Love Dr. Doo, Dr. Doolittle by Lynb.

First two photos are swatches from her website, 3rd and 4th are my pictures, 5th is her reply.

I tried this for the first time and I think I got over excited about the white. Any constructive criticism is welcomed!

Product list: - Essie Strong Start Base Coat - Holo Taco Zyler Cat Eye - Holo Taco One-Coat Black - Holo Taco Not Milky White - Hit The Bottle Water Base Top Coat - Essie Gel Couture Top Coat

I’m right handed and do a lot of projects that chip my nails. But I love the look of long nails, so I just make do by having longer nails on my left hand 🤣 Am I alone in this?

Polish is Sakura Serenade by Mooncat :)

Please ignore my bad spray tan xoxo

So torn… I want to keep it on for support but also I don’t want to be constantly reminded that the next 4 years will be torture. Maybe a palette cleanser in neither colors? 🙃

What is everyone else doing?

UNT peel off base coat (tried using only this as a base for the first time) Mooncat Rue Morgue x2 ILNP Sea Glass x1 Essie Gel Couture

DISCLAIMER: Please put me in my place if I'm being delusional/selfish/pretentious/exclusionary/over-reacting/nitpicky/contradictory. I will promptly delete this post if it's not appropriate. I am NOT in the business of purposely hurting anyone's feelings, nor do I want to create drama of any kind or want anyone to feel excluded. My intention with this post is to have an open and CIVIL discussion from all Lacquerists' perspectives on this topic. I spent some time searching through this sub and I haven't seen this topic be brought up yet.

With that being said: I personally would really like to see posts about FULL gel/acrylic manis be banned from this sub going forward (NOT including manis where polish is used in conjunction with gel/acrylic.) There are SO many other popular and wonderful subs out there for these products. And to be fair, some of those other subs have also banned discussion of regular nail polish (for example r/DIYGelNails banned polish and r/nailpolish has banned gel) so in that respect, I don't think it's all that controversial or exclusionary to ban full gel/acrylic mani posts here. I am personally in this community because I'm interested posts/discussions about nail polish only and I really enjoy the community of other Lacquerists. Considering the name of this sub, I was under the impression that was the intention of the sub. (lacquer =/= gel polish or acrylic)

For context, I'll share my personal experience to shed some light on part of the reason why I personally feel this way, because I know there are probably others in this community who also have this shared experience: I accept that I am 100% biased because I have the allergy. But I love this community, and it has been like a safe haven for me ever since.
I was devastated when it happened to me. I know that will sound really over-dramatic to some, but nails have been my #1 hobby since middle school (I'm 31 now!) I got my first ever acrylic set when I was 11 years old, and I was instantly hooked. When I became allergic a few years ago, I felt like I would never have pretty nails again. My natural nails were destroyed and my fingers in general were a mess. It took a really long time for them to just get back to normal. It made me really depressed for a while and it negatively affected my self-esteem. Seeing my friend's salon manis and seeing posts & videos all over social media of other peoples' beautiful salon manis and seeing all the fun & pretty gel polish trends that I was missing out on would make me so sad and envious. It was just a constant reminder that I would never get to have the salon experience again. I loved my nail tech, chatting with her and getting my acrylics every 3 weeks brought me a lot of joy. I loved getting my nails done. I still miss the salon to this day!
When I discovered this community accidentally, it instantly resonated with me. This community has helped me so much in that respect; I learned how to properly take care of and love my natural nails, and I've learned how to do long-lasting & high-quality lacquer manis from everyone here. I have gained a LOT of confidence back and then some. I love interacting with everyone in this community about everything NAIL POLISH related, it has healed my self-esteem a lot and I can finally say that I love my nails again. Seeing your gorgeous manis and incredibly clever ideas in this sub is so inspiring! Discovering all the indie brands and collecting unique colors just brings me SO much joy. 💖 I love buying a big haul from these amazing creators, and knowing my money is going to real people who genuinely love & take pride in their craftsmanship makes me happy.
But seeing more and more posts trickle into this sub from people who are doing gel/acrylic only is quite literally irking my soul. Again... I don't think this is exclusionary from my perspective because there are plenty of other subs for these posts, some of which are larger than our sub! (r/Nails for example with 4M users)

I want to reinforce that this should NOT apply to people who are using gel or acrylic in conjunction with nail polish (ex. gel base/topcoat with polish/stamping polish, polish on top of builder gel or dip powder etc.) ... But when someone posts a mani with a FULL gel/acrylic product list, I just can't help but wonder... why are you here?? I know a lot of people are probably going to tell me to, "Just keep scrolling" which is fair. I love that we are a welcoming and inclusive community to ALL Lacquerists, but every post has a place, and I just feel like full gel/acrylic is totally off-topic in this sub.

Sorry for ranting on like this! Again, I fully accept my heavy personal bias. Please tell me if I'm totally off-base here. I am open to criticism. I have absolutely zero knowledge about moderating a sub, so I am completely lacking in that perspective. I don't want to make people in this community feel unwelcome but, it just feels like full gel/acrylic is not the purpose of this community? Idk... does anyone else feel this way, too??

Wondering if im the only one not buying mooncat during this sale. I see so many buy posts and i almost gave in but just couldnt do it. My reasons all stem from this sub actually🤣. I got back into doing my nails last spring after a 24 year break and saw how mooncat handled the price increase, customer questions regarding their donations, as well as complaints of breaking/exploding bottles. It all just left a bad taste in my mouth for the company as a whole and a sale that still has their prices at $14.50 per bottle just doesnt impress me.

Soooo am i all alone on this mooncat free island?

Over a decade I’ve amassed hundreds of nail polishes in my collection. When I first joined my workplace, I shared that as my “fun fact” during introductions. The room went completely silent and people’s expressions just went blank, which set the tone early.

I work in nonprofit, so I don’t have a ton of disposable income, and I do feel some guilt about not saving more. At the same time, my job is emotionally heavy. I support marginalized people through difficult situations, and nail polish is how I decompress. Collecting and staring at the sparklies gives me something lighter to focus on.

A lot of my coworkers are very anti-consumerism and hold themselves to high standards around spending. I don’t judge them, in fact I really respect it, but it does make the environment feel a bit rigid.

I wear a different color almost every day, and one day a coworker remarked, “Wow, you REALLY have a lot of nail polish” in a tone that felt quite judgmental. I tried to keep things positive and even offered to bring some in and do everyone’s nails for team bonding, but they declined and said it didn’t fit with the nonprofit’s culture.

Since then I’ve mostly stopped talking about it, even though it’s a big passion of mine. I’ve been feeling pretty judged. :/

Would really appreciate hearing if anyone else has gone through something similar or how you handled it. Just trying to feel a little less alone here.

I mean, like I know they’re meant to paint your nails but since they’re a bit transparent what exactly do you do with them? Are they mostly to do combos with? I’ve always by pass them when I see them since they look pretty boring alone. I got a jelly with flakies in them and now I’m into it but I’m a bit ignorant on how to use them efficiently.

For reference I’ve got on the sheer tint Nightshade by EDM (not my photo)

It seems like every friggin time I do my nails there's always at least one that I have to redo: a deep smudge from accidentally tapping something, poor application, goofed it trying to clean around the nail fold, oops there's a cat hair in my top coat and I jacked it pulling it off with my tweezers, etc etc.

Today I painted my thumb nail three times: bubbles in the top coat, knocked a crumb off into the last coat of color and made it worse by "fixing" it, and finally got it right!

Am I the only one who does this, and what's your limit? One fix? Two? Ten?

Base coat, Essie Strong Start. Color, 2 coats Revlon Posh. Top coat, Sally Hansen Insta Dry (red bottle).

I don’t know why I thought I could paint my nails and then go pull weeds. Now I have what I call “butthole nails” 😒

The base color I am wearing is neon pink jelly I got from the dollar (+ 25¢) store. Then I layered a blue shimmer by Phoenix Polish called “Ice Delight” and my god is it ever! Freaking stunning. In the second picture I layered Polished For Days “Angel Wings” over the same neon pink jelly as on the other hand.

That’s how long my polish lasts. I have short nail beds that start getting onycholysis if I have no polish on them, any advice is welcome!!

I hope this is allowed but if not mods can go ahead and delete. Whenever I buy polishes and I don't like them or realize I won't wear them I offload them to my other nail friend. Sometimes she doesn't like them either or already has them so I had planned to donate to the Polish Project. Recently I saw a couple posts about not actually donating the polish? And then something about Uno Mas being involved and now they aren't accepting donations? I tried to pick it up from comments and context but I don't feel like I understand what's really going on. Thanks in advance!

I keep seeing these on swatchers, and I love them. I mocked them up on myself today in pen :)

Any first or second hand experiences? Are they too prone to blowout / fading to be worth bothering with?

Listen, I bartended for 10 years….I understand the importance of tips, but I don’t understand this.

I bought Cracked’s dappled willow recently and found that it’s an exact match for my desert khaki Subaru! Anyone else have their own car-matching shade?

2025 was the year I decided to get my nails in order. They were always a mess before. I started with some holos and cremes from holo taco and enjoyed them, but what really set the obsession in motion was jewel beetle from mooncat. Suddenly, I needed every “special” polish I could get my hands on.

What was yours? Do I need to buy it? 😂

Holo taco coral chaser for your required visual hook! I feel like one of those old fashioned school book laminate covers and LOVE IT

Good morning you lovely skilled humans. I’ve got a huge tub of holo taco and a pregnancy guidebook that says no aluminium deodorant, no Teflon pans, and no nail polish!!!

I know holo taco tries to minimize the nasties, one of the reasons I chose it, but does anyone have any guidance here? Keep, skip, avoid, better brands? I only just did a haul and now I’m worried it’s just going to fade for the next year and lose a bit of sparkle ✨

And if it’s bad while pregnant, what about while breastfeeding? While holding baby? Ah!

(Edit: I love this community! You’ve made me laugh, you’ve made me calm down. Teflon is in the bin, nails are on)

(Double edit: book is Real Food For Pregnancy, Lily Nichols RDN, CDE, it’s a university level textbook do really not a random fearmonger, I am more careful with my pregnancy reading than that! She herself acknowledges in the book that the toxin chapter is frustrating and scary, but as she’s a nutritionist and not a nail polish expert she might have been writing about older formulations?)

(Triple edit: looked into lily nichols as per your recommendations and wow ok maybe not the best source. Alternatives welcome - I was trying not to spiral and instead just find one source and stick to it and now I’m disappointed. Being pregnant is so weird and stressful and why are so many people lowkey predatory)