Tips & Techniques Looking after your natural nails.  Dry Nails The natural nail can have problems with dryness just like the skin or hair. If you are having trouble keeping on polish it could be due an overly dry nail plate. Signs of dryness are: • the nail is stiff and inflexible • the nail has superficial white spots • flaking or separation of the layers of the nail plate An overly dry nail plate can be caused by excessive use of products designed to prevent chipping. If the nail is dry and separating it is important to buff out the separations before applying polish or the nail will flake apart and the polish will chip off with the flaking nail. Brittle Nails When a nail is extremely dry it can become very brittle which means that it will break off very easily. If your nails are already brittle, using a hardening product will only create more problems. The brittleness is due to a lack of moisture and hardening products are designed to harden the nail by drying it out - this makes the nail even more brittle and creates more breakage. Products designed to prevent chipping will also make the problem worse because they are also designed to dry the nail out, as will polishes with active formaldehyde. Some type of hydrating product such as a cream or nail oil would be best for strengthening very brittle nails. Cracking Cracking is different from brittleness in that the nail doesn't actually break off it just cracks, usually on the side of the nail where it is under stress. The most common cause of cracking is incorrect filing. The natural nail should always be filed from corner to center in one direction on one side then from corner to center in one direction on the other side. A one directional filing motion should also be used when filing the nail down from the center. If a back and forth sawing motion is used to file the natural nail it will create tiny stress breaks in the nail that will lead to cracking. The back and forth sawing motion of filing should only be used on artificial enhancements. Oily Nail Plate Some people have the problem of their nail plate being too oily, just like their hair or skin. This can lead to problems with their polish staying on because the oil is lifting the base coat off the nail. Some technicians believe the dryer the nail plate, the better the polish will adhere and so they over use product and end up over drying the nail. If the nail plate is stripped of moisture it will trigger the production of more oil, which will only make the problem worse. Plus over drying the natural nail will make it brittle and more prone to breakage as well as flaking, which will cause the polish to flake. The best solution for an oily nail plate is to clean off the nail plate before polishing without over drying it by using an acetone based polish remover. In addition a base coat that can adjust for moisture and bend with the natural nail will adhere best and be less prone to lifting. Lack of Growth Many people will say that they cannot grow their nails naturally. This could be because their nails actually do grow slower than average or it may be that they just keep breaking or are very weak. The Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator has active garlic enzymes and amino acids that work with the nails natural process to hydrate, strengthen and keep the nail in perfect balance. The average rate of growth is 3mm per month but a bio-stimulant may speed up the rate of growth to 6mm in just 14 days.     Different skin tones reflect the same nail polish shades differently? With all of the beautiful colour choices around how can you possibly choose which ones are best for you? If you choose your nail polish colour according to your skin tone, you always make the proper choice. Here are some tips for selecting the correct shade of nail polish by. FAIR SKIN - Fair skin has blue undertones. Use sheer colours in light pinks and ivories such as Zoya Heather (the palest mauve) or Blossom (a pale skin tone with metallic pink highlights). If you want a little drama try, Diana or Sasha - blue based reds. OLIVE SKIN - Olive skin tones look great in rich colours. Try bright orange based pinks such as Kali (bright crimson) or rose pinks such as Eva. PEACHY SKIN - If you have a warm peaches-and-cream complexion, most colours look great on you. If you have this skin tone then consider any of the following Zoya Nail Lacquers - Poppy (a soft orange with silver highlights) or Kate (dark terracotta pink). BROWN SKIN - Bronze skin looks best in bold, warm colours. We suggest Kara (bright tangerine) or Kaufda (coppery brown with golden metallic highlights) would be suitable colours for this skin tone. DARK SKIN - Rich skin tones look great with bold, vibrant hues which pick up the warmth in dark skin tones. To suit this skin tone try Carmen (a bright pillar box red) or Kierra (a dark plum with metallic highlights). MORE INFO ON ZOYA LACQUERS BUY NOW