There are a lot of factors that can cause your nail polish to chip early. Here are the most common fixes:

• Remove oil from your nails (dab some pure acetone or rubbing alcohol onto a cotton round or a lint free nail wipe, and swipe it over your nails). Although, recently I've seen some people online discuss that it helps to NOT dehydrate your nails. Science doesn't back this up, but you can always give it a try if you're curious.

• Removing cuticle bits from your nail makes applying your nail polish easier and it will make your nail polish last longer.

• Make sure to wait 1-2 hours after long water exposure (such as a long shower) before painting your nails. Because your nails are sort of like a sponge; if you see that your nails are wider after a shower, that means all that water is now inside of your nails. If you were to paint your nails when your nails are still ‘swollen’ and wide, that nail polish will not bend back like your nails will. Nail polish is not flexible, it will chip or peel off.

• Base coats are made to make your manicure last longer. You can try to find one that works for you.

• Paint a few thin coats, rather than one or two thick coats.

• Try ‘wrapping the tip’ or ‘capping the free edge’. (Unsure what that is? In this FAQ page at the section 'jargon' I explain it.)

• Application matters too. Leave a tiny gap all around your nail, instead of trying to fill your whole nail.

• Avoid nail polishes with the ingredient PVB (polyvinyl butyral). This is a well known trigger for nail issues.

• Don’t use your nails as tools. With that I mean; don’t use your nails to open cans, packaging or peel stickers off of things. Even if you’re careful, the tiniest bit of pressure is very stressful to your nails. And like I said earlier, nail polish is not flexible, it will chip.

• And lastly, some brands work great for some, while they don’t work well for others. Just like how everyone’s skin is different, nails can be different too.

Try applying fewer thin coats instead of one or two thick coats. And there are quick dry topcoats, quick dry drops and even sprays available to buy and help you speed up the process.

Do you have to follow every single tip or ‘rule’ on this page? No, almost everything are just guidelines. For optimal results, you will want to use a base and a top coat. And a base coat will protect your nails against staining.

Instead of endless scrubbing, try the soak-off method; put acetone or nail polish remover on a cotton round, place it onto your nail, press down and HOLD! Do not move the cotton pad around, keep it there for 30-60 seconds if you’re wearing any polish without shimmer or glitter, and hold for 60-120 seconds if you're wearing glittery polishes.

Then only after waiting, push and pull the cotton pad in one swipe down and away from your skin. Your nail should be free from most or all polish. If there’s still a lot of polish onto your nails, then that's your sign to let the cotton pad sit onto your nails for a bit longer. A bit of trial and error may be necessary.

This method I just described is much more gentle and healthy for your nails than lots of scrubbing.

The reason why I suggest keeping the cotton pad onto your nails for longer if you’re trying to remove any type of glittery polish, is because if you scrub too much, glitter polish can easily damage your nails if you’re not careful (damage can look like tiny peeling strings or hooks onto your nail plate, which is different from ‘normal dryness’). Some people prefer using pure acetone for this reason.

In my opinion, it’s healthier to make your nails dry by leaving the cotton pad onto your nails for longer, than to scrub and cause damage your nails in the process! Because dryness can be fixed by applying nail oil after nail polish removal. Once damage has been done, you’ll have to wait until it fully grows out.

Your nail polish may be a bit old, or the formula is just thicker. You can thin it out either way.

First things first, NEVER use acetone or nail polish remover in attempt to thin a nail polish. You can get nail polish thinner at most drugstores. These work for standard nail polishes. But the safest nail polish thinner for any type of finish (including glitter and magnetic polishes), is thinner with ONLY these two ingredients: Butyl Acetate and Ethyl Acetate. For example, Kbshimmer, Holo Taco, OPI and Mavala sell a good thinner.

There are surprisingly a lot of reasons why this might happen.

Are you doing thick coats or using old/thick nail polish? Are you shaking your nail polish bottle a lot right before using it? Are you sitting near a window or fan while painting? Are you making sure you keep your hands still? All of these are factors to keep in mind. If your answer is yes to these questions, consider changing your routine a little, since these are things that can cause bubbles.

But things like the humidity in your area can also be the culprit, which is out of your control. Here's a little trick to turn the 'fail' (bubbles) into a feature.

Practice makes perfect, it's true! Go slow, let your hand rest instead of hover, and leave a tiny gap all around your nail, instead of trying to fill your whole nail.

Something that helps me a lot, is to make sure there are less stuck cuticle bits on my nail, this makes the nail surface smoother and thus easier to paint. Some people like to use a small brush and acetone to clean your skin and the edges around the nail after painting. Or if you're more experienced with doing your nails, this technique might be helpful too if you really need perfect edges.

Keep them upright, out of sunlight, ideally in a room below 25°C (77°F) and above 15°C (59°F).

Make sure that you’re keeping the neck of the bottle clean by cleaning with nail polish remover/acetone and lint-free wipes. Don't keep your bottles open if you're not actively painting your nails.

And NEVER use acetone or nail polish remover in attempt to thin the formula!