Why does nail polish bubble after application: the gel swelled after drying, top coat and shellac the next day

Why does the top coat swell after application and what to do about it

Bubble formation can accompany any stage of the nail coating procedure. The pros and cons of Max Factor lipsticks are revealed here.

Let's summarize the probable reasons why nail polish bubbles after application:

Insufficient or insufficient nail preparation. Before coating with gel polish, the nail plate needs careful preparation: sanding with a buff or nail file, and treatment with a degreaser.
Coating with a thick layer has a lot of negative consequences, including bubbles. To avoid their appearance, the varnish should be applied in a thin layer in 2-3 passes. When applying, the brush should be pressed tightly against the nail; after application, carefully hold the manicure with gel polish under the lamp for the required time.
Improper storage of manicure materials. Store bottles of varnish away from sunlight and heat. After coating, screw the lids on tightly.
Expired product expiration date.
Hard brush.
Incorrect mixing of varnish. Do not shake the bottle of product with vertical movements, as this promotes the accumulation of air inside. It is better to rub the bottle between your palms and warm it slightly in warm water.
Moisture gets into the bottle.

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Poor quality treatment of the nail leads to its bumpiness and roughness, and violations in the treatment with dihydrate (degreaser) lead to subsequent deformation of the coating.

Application errors

Carefully read the instructions for each product and follow these rules.

Most often, defects appear if the reagents are handled incorrectly during application. One reason is to shake the bottle before applying. Some carry out this procedure by analogy with regular varnish. This disrupts the uniform consistency and introduces air bubbles into the liquid, which appear after drying.

It is correct to hold the bottle in a warm place or in your hands until the composition becomes uniform.

Pay special attention to degreasing the nail plates, since cream residues and other components interfere with uniform coverage of the base. When it dries, such places will swell

The base must be of high quality, because it is what protects your nails from the effects of harmful components in varnishes.

Any master knows that two layers of coloring varnish are enough to achieve color saturation. Some girls believe that the more layers, the better. This is not entirely true. It is known that the faster the coating dries, the longer it will last. The multi-layer design looks rough and has a good chance of becoming covered with bubbles during final drying or falling off in the first week of wearing.

You risk ruining your manicure during application if there are droplets of moisture on the nail plates. To avoid such misunderstandings, it is worth using a special substance - a primer, which reliably degreases the surface. Make sure that all active ingredients are in closed packages, because a small drop of water is enough and the varnish will be damaged.

You should not apply gel polish to your nails immediately after a shower, bath, sauna or swimming pool. Nail plates absorb a lot of water, which even primer cannot displace. This gel will not last long and will swell in the first week.

To perform the job efficiently and achieve a decent final result, it is worth using a base, varnish, primer and other components from the same manufacturer. Products from different manufacturers may be incompatible with each other. You should not purchase cheap copies; their quality is questionable and can lead to breakage.

Store all components correctly. The jars should not be exposed to direct sunlight, the room should be cool.

After drying

It happens that the coating procedure is not accompanied by the appearance of bubbles, but they form during drying. This article will tell you whether it is possible to anoint your hair with sunflower oil.

What is the reason for this and why does nail polish bubble after drying:

Exposure to water and household chemicals. Shortly after the manicure there was contact with cold water and cleaning products. Hand washing and wet cleaning are prohibited for 1 hour after the varnish has completely dried. Otherwise, the manicure will be ruined.
Exposure to hot air. A strong stream of hot air (for example, when using a hairdryer) can penetrate into under-dried deep layers, thereby causing blistering.

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To avoid troubles with manicure, you need to use base and varnish from the same line of cosmetics, or (at a minimum) purchase products from the same manufacturer.

How to deal with a dried-on lid

Due to the contact of varnish or gel on the neck, the cap is firmly glued to the bottle. There are several ways to solve this problem.

Soaking in water

If the options for opening the bottle do not produce results, soaking the nail polish in a high-temperature liquid will help open the nail polish:

Pour hot water into a shallow container.
Place the bottle cap down in the water.
Leave for 5 minutes and remove the bottle from the water. Now the bottle will quickly unscrew.

Only the plastic part is placed in water, because upon contact with heat, the structure of the product changes, becomes sticky, and delaminates.

Dried particles of a cosmetic product under the lid soften using a simple method:

Place the top of the bottle under running hot water (the higher the temperature, the better).
The bubble should be rotated slowly.
The procedure takes from 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the water temperature.
Dry the lid from moisture so that it does not slip.
Under the influence of water, the material of the cap expands, the dried particles soften, try to unscrew the jar.

Important! Part of the bottle with dye must be protected from the stream so as not to spoil the contents

Available means

Increasing the grip force will help unscrew the bubble. To increase retention, an ordinary elastic band is used.

If you don’t have it on hand, use tape or a fabric bandage. Take adhesive materials with a minimum width of 1 cm.

A rubber band is placed on the cap of the bottle. It will take more than 3 coats to eliminate slippage. This will help grip the cap and make it easier to turn.

Application of tools

None of the methods helped to unscrew the bubble? Use physical strength

The most powerful life hack if the cap is dry is to use special tools, but with caution, because there is a risk of stripping the thread and damaging the bottle

Algorithm of actions:

Wrap the cap in cloth. Take pliers and grab the lid tightly. Turn the pliers carefully before the first movement so that the contents do not leak out. You can rotate the jar.. Instead of pliers, use any metal tool with a clamp - pliers, tongs, wire cutters

Instead of pliers, use any metal tool with a clamp - pliers, tongs, wire cutters.

You need to act carefully, without damaging the jar and preventing the contents from spilling.

After drying

Mistakes in a manicure performed at home can be attributed to a lack of professionalism. Moreover, a gel polish kit with a lamp can be stored in unsuitable conditions, due to which the products have become unusable.

Air bubbles can form after drying the gel in a lamp, which is due to the use of materials of different densities, for example, from different manufacturers of cosmetics. The base and top product from different brands may react with each other.
Conventional varnish can bubble if its storage conditions are not followed, which leads to thickening, drying out and other metamorphoses of this product. Before coating, you should wipe the neck of the bottle, removing dried fragments of the composition from it.

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The reasons why nail polish bubbles during forced drying carried out in a salon should be sought in the quality of the materials used.

The varnish is not shaken up and down, but rolled in the palms. Before a manicure, you can warm it up under running warm water.

Bubbles in bases and tops

However, most often bubbles are found in tops.

Recently, rubber bases and tops have gained immense popularity due to their special consistency and excellent durability of the coating. The consistency of rubber tops is thicker and more elastic. Rubber bases and tops have a thicker consistency and higher elasticity than classic ones, making them suitable for leveling the surface of the nail plate and giving ideal highlights. With most base and top coats with a classic formula, this effect cannot be achieved: either because due to insufficient viscosity and thickness, or due to the fact that some materials, when applied thickly during wear, can develop many small cracks, which spoils the appearance of the coating.

That is why many are looking for a replacement for classic tops, and find it in rubber tops. And they cope with their task like no one else: they fit easily, perfectly align the nail plastin, give a good shine and are worn without cracks or chips for up to 6 weeks! But bubbles easily form in them, and most often the reason is due to improper coating technique.

Why can gel polish bubble on nails?

Defects of this kind may appear suddenly the next day after coating. To avoid them, you need not only to trust the procedure to professionals, or to carefully monitor the quality and freshness of materials if the manicure is carried out independently. Why gel polish on nails cracks is described in detail here.

For the longevity of an ideal manicure, you need to use a fixer. It’s very disappointing if you’ve just learned how to do ombre on your nails, and such a chic manicure starts to bubble.

Poor quality materials

This is the first thing the master thinks about when he notices that the gel polish is swollen. Why do manicure materials have different prices? Because they are of different quality. You should not expect that the budget series will not differ in application and wear from the luxury series.

Experts say that cheap gel polishes, especially from Asia, are the first step towards ruined nail health. They can cause allergies and even more serious conditions, such as onycholysis. Working with them is extremely inconvenient: the material “runs off the end”, streaks, and wrinkles when dried. Bubbles are common with low quality materials.

Here, experienced nail experts give their young colleagues only one piece of advice: it is better to purchase 2-3 high-quality products than 10 cheap ones. Don’t chase a low price, otherwise you won’t really learn anything and ruin your nails. Pay attention to reviews. And if you want to save money, monitor sales and catch promotions that are often offered by reputable stores with quality products.

Is it possible to remove bubbles?

To neutralize bubbles, you can use special means. A familiar brand, decent quality - Maybelline lipstick.

Available, very popular and with many positive reviews options:

Avon, Smudge Nail Polish Corrector. Contains a strong solvent, helps to even out the coating, smoothing out blisters.
ProStrong, ProFix Smudge Corrector.

Avon, Smudge Nail Polish Corrector, cost – 320 rubles.

The action of these products is to dissolve the top layer of varnish, then self-level the coating and harden it. There is room to embody any image - the L'Oreal Color Riche lipstick palette.

Air bubbles can be removed with special cosmetic unevenness correctors.

What to do if the varnish starts to bubble?

So, we figured out the reasons. But what should you do if you've painted your nails and the polish starts to bubble? The only option is to wash off such coating and apply a new one. It is possible that during application you missed one of the aspects and when repeated, the manicure will be flawless. For example, you may not have dried and degreased your nails well enough or applied too many layers.

But there is an alternative option, it is good if you do not have time to renew the coating or have run out of varnish. Then stickers will save the situation - they can always be fixed exactly in those places where the varnish bubbles too intensely. If you don’t have such stickers on hand, then using a composition of a contrasting color you can depict a design, for example, chaotic abstract patterns with a wooden toothpick or a thin brush.

How to avoid the problem

To make your manicure more durable, just follow these simple recommendations:

Store varnishes in a dark, not hot place. Before use, warm it in your palms and warm it in warm water for a while. Remove dried fragments from the necks of the bottles.
Monitor the expiration date of products. It is a spoiled product that can cause harm from gel nail polish.
Use products from the same manufacturer for coverage.
Apply in layers, pressing the brush firmly onto the nail. Give each new layer time to dry.
Apply the coating to clean, prepared, dried and grease-free nails.
Use a fixative.

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Step-by-step application of gel polish.

How to hide the imperfections of a bad coating

Sometimes there is no time to fix a damaged manicure. Then you can use some techniques to hide imperfections:

a sticker or applique for nails will cover small errors or make them less noticeable, you can also use foil - ideas for such a design can be found here: Manicure with foil 2021-2022;
relief image - you can no longer guess the bubbles under it, and the appearance of the manicure will only benefit;
In salons, to correct such situations, they use special professional products that literally dissolve the top layer and level out the previous ones.

When correcting errors, it is important not to forget that even with a very attractive result, the wear of such a manicure will be much shorter. Therefore, you need to do a manicure only with high-quality gel polish and according to all the rules. You can learn more about types of manicure, methods of creating original designs with shellac and current trends in the nail industry on our blog. For example, read here about file manicure - the pros and cons.

Opening a new varnish

If the bottle has not been opened before, and attempts to unscrew the cap ended in failure, it is recommended to take the following steps:

Make sure that all protective and decorative covers have been removed from the bottle. Hold the cap with two fingers and pull upward with force.
If the top is difficult to grip and your fingers slip off the surface, you need to tighten your grip. Wrap the lid in a towel or wear rubber gloves. Turn the cap firmly counterclockwise and try to unscrew it.

If the methods are unsuccessful, try methods for opening a dried-on lid. Most likely, the difficulties arose due to improper storage.

Reasons for the formation of bubbles during manicure

Unsightly bumps can appear for several different and independent reasons. If you know them all and provide for them, then your nails will always be flawless.

To mix nail polish, rub the bottle between your palms

Shaking the bottle . One of the most common mistakes, not only in “home” manicures, is thoroughly shaking the bottle. Due to this procedure, air enters it, which is then transferred to the surface of the nail and hardens in the form of a bubble. Oxygen can enter the bottle even when the brush is sharply lowered, so your movements should be smooth and measured.

Each jar contains a metal ball designed for mixing the varnish. Therefore, simply rolling the bubble in your palms is enough for the ball to fulfill its functions.

Oily or damp nails . The presence of water or fat molecules on the nail plate will 100% cause the formation of bubbles when the varnish dries. Therefore, we carefully clean and dry the nails before painting.
Thick layer of varnish . Bright colors attract fashionistas, pushing them to apply thick and numerous layers. But this is another mistake. A thick layer of varnish takes a very long time to dry and does not dry well, forming hated bubbles.