I got my first “dip” manicure a few weeks ago and there are some things I really love about it and some things I wish I would have known before I took the plunge.
Or the dip, if you will.
When you receive a dip/powder manicure, the technician preps your nails, applies a liquid to your nail bed, then literally dips your nail into a small container of powder, shakes off the excess, and repeats this process on all the nails. During my service the technician dipped my nails 3 times each, so there were 3 rounds of liquid then powder applied to my nails.
After the nails have set, the technician may take an electric tool to buff the nail surface to smooth it out. The service is finished with what looked to me like regular top coat and that needed to dry for 5 minutes before I headed out the door. I tried this because I was continually disappointed with gel manicures at salons in my area. I used to do my gel nails at home, which I still can do, but I wanted to find someone that did a good job to do that for me to save a bit of time. I got it down to a pretty quick science when I was doing it myself, but going to a nail salon is something I like to do during my “free” time so I was looking for a good, clean salon.
Many recommended dip powder manicures and while I had looked into them a little bit I was skeptical about how smooth the finish would be. A bumpy finish would have driven me crazy so I avoided it for a long time.
When I finally tried it, I f...