People might think that breaking a nail isn’t a big deal, either because it doesn’t really hurt or because they eventually grow back. But everyone knows the emotional pain that comes with it, especially if you spend months growing them, buffing them, filing them and taking supplements so they grow long and strong. Our automatic response to seeing that we broke a nail is to remove it and ignore it as it slowly grows to catch up with its other finger-sisters.
There’s a better solution, and it lets you keep your nail while making it look like nothing ever happened! In a handy video tutorial, Revelist shows us exactly how to do it. All you need is a tea bag, scissors, nail glue, clear nail polish, a nail file and a buffer. You should already have most of these items at home, and if you don’t, they’re pretty cheap at any drug store.
First, you start with clean nails by removing all nail polish, haywire cuticles and gently buffing the surface of your clean nails. Then, prepare the tea bag by emptying all the contents and saving just the bag. Cut a strip of the tea bag that matches the width of your nail and exceeds the length of it by at least one inch. You can cut it a bit longer just to err on the side of caution.
This is where the fixing part begins. Apply a thin layer of nail glue on the entire surface of your broken nail, then use a pair of tweezers to carefully apply the tea bag strip that you cut earlier. The teabag strip should be covering about half of your nail or a third of the way down. Let it dry for a few minutes before you move onto the next part.
Using the clear nail polish, apply a base-coat that covers the entire nail including the tea bag and wait for it to dry. You’ll notice that the strip will become transparent after you apply the coat. Then, cut some of the excess at the tip of your nail and file the rough edges away. The tea bag is so delicate and soft that it will come off with the filing in no time!
When you file your nail to get rid of the rough edges of the tea bag, do it gently and use a superfine file. Do it with the intention of blending the teabag with your nail, rather than sanding off the material. Once your nail is as dry as it can be, buff the top and apply a second coat of clear polish. You’ll see that even after a second coat, the nail looks a bit weird and textured. That’s why you can’t miss the last step.
By now, your nail should be smooth to the touch. This is when you take your favorite color of nail polish and paint your nails like you normally would. Apply two or three coats of polish, followed by a top coat and whatever designs you like to wear. In the end, the result should be a smooth nail that you can’t tell apart from the other ones!
