Orly Nail Rescue - 1½ months with the best nail repair ever!!

Today I have a post about Orly Nail Rescue (now with added photos and remarks on June 28th) - one of this worlds true miracles, at least seen with the eyes of a nail polish blogger ;)

Monday May 4th late in the evening I got a horizontal break close to the nail bed on my swatch hands ring finger. The nail bed is super short on that finger = the white is longer than on the other nails.

If it had broken all the way over it would have been painful, but worst of all I would have been out of swatching/taking photos for at least four weeks, a little less if I had shortened all the nails...

I was annoyed, but I knew I somewhere had a kit with resin, fiberglass and resin hardener, I bought it after the 1½ month of teabag repairs, posted HERE.

I immediately put some band aid around the nail and secured the entire finger tip, so that nothing more would happen during the night or in the shower the next morning.

I quickly realized that working with tiny pieces of thin fiberglass isn't easy, the pieces easily fringe and that is very visible under the polish.
To complete the "success" the spray with the resin hardener didn't work, so I had to brush the hardener on, with a probably less optimal result. I did however secure the nail, but I started looking online for better/easier to use products.
I do not have photos of the resin/fiberglass repair.

I came across Orly Nail Rescue Kit and after talking to Elena, who have been using it for years, I bought it from Ebay, hoping the resin would help me the next days, knowing that the shipping from US would be a week or so.
Already the next morning on the 6th I noticed that the break had opened, and even if it still was held together by the fiberglass I panicked a bit.
I decided to do another search to see if I could find an online shop selling Orly Nail Rescue in EU, and lo and behold, I found it right here in Denmark, that was a big and very nice surprise!
Luxbeauty.dk has it, go to the product right HERE.
Lennie from Luxbeauty.dk shipped it lightening fast, and it arrived the next day.
When I removed the polish the fiberglass also came off, so now I hoped that the Orly wouldn't let me down...

I found a suitable brush for the removal of the excess super fine powder, and after wiping the nails with propyl alcohol, I was ready to go!

The instructions recommend do put nail glue and powder on the entire damaged nail, but I wanted to see if it was possible to do a partial repair - large enough to support the break by letting the repaired area go up on the nail plate and a good part around the break.
That way I also hoped to achieve a smooth transition between the repaired area and the rest of the nail.

I followed the  instructions. The glue dries super quickly, so dip the nail directly into the powder!
This is my thumb after one and two "coats":

- and this is two "coats" on the ring finger after a very light buffing of the glued area:

I decided to do a lot of swatches over the next days to check how quickly the repaired area would get thinner, as I only have acetone-based polish remover.
ANY repair of a nail means a difference in height of the nail and the repaired area, and that is of course why Orly recommends to treat the entire nail.
For the first swatches I didn't do any buffing of the transition area, but I did use a good plump ridge filler base coat, as I always do.
They were the new Chanel polishes, post one HERE - post two HERE - look closely, can you see the repair on the ring finger, I couldn't?
Later on I used a coarser file for the transition area to smooth it completely, and I was VERY careful NOT to touch my natural nail with the risk of weaken it.

The repair of my thumb was a useful comparison in how well the repaired lasted in simply removing nail polish vs a lot of swatches (instantly removed after photographing) plus normal use/removal.

Below is my thumb after 4 days and two removals of manicures with an acetone-based nail polish remover. I didn't see any change:

Below is my ring finger after 4 days, 6 swatches and 2 manicures (removed with an acetone-based nail polish remover) and further buffing with a coarser file of the transition between the repaired area and the nail. Remember to be careful NOT to buff the nail plate. I didn't really see any difference, or at least maybeonly a minor difference:

Below is my thumb after 8 days and 5 removals of manicures with an acetone-based nail polish remover, I still do no see any real difference:

- and my ring finger after 8 days, 17 swatches and 5 manicures – all removed with acetone based nail polish remover. It's clearly time to refresh the repair; the break was still held together, but I could feel it from the underside of the nail, and the area under the break was no longer straight:

Here it is after two additional "coats" - ready for many more swatches and manicures!

- and below with a coat of ridge filler base coat:

The rest of the photos were added in the end of June where the ring finger break had grown out and I added some remarks to the Conclusion part!

In the beginning of June (2+ weeks later that the above photos) I decided to fortify the break with one coat of glue and powder UNDER the nail.

 - I took this photo after 2-3 days on June 1st. - if you click it you clearly see both layers of Orly Nail Rescue and the nail in the middle...

- a few days later the thumb showed the first signs of needing a redo, the first time in 3 weeks after the initial repair. I removed the old layer (foil method) and did one single fresh coat.

On the evening of June 26th the "under nail repair" came of because I picked it, and the next morning the tiny, tiny corner (here super enlarged) had fallen of....

- so I filed it down and when I removed my polish I soaked the nail extra long and removed the last of the "above nail repair"....

- and I also removed the thumb repair and replaced it with a new coat, in a short while this break also will have grown out...

Conclusion (now with added remarks): I love this product and will always have a kit ready to use!
If you do not swatch/just use nail polish the repair will last for many manicures, and if you do not use an acetone-based remover, it will last even longer.
Having used this product now for 1½ months I think:
- I in the future will use Orly Nail Rescue in one single coat, unless the break is a nail almost ripped off.
- before a redo I will remove the old layer (foil method).
- I did NOT notice any weakening of the nails in the areas where I used Orly Nail Rescue.

Important tips:
Please remember to repair a much bigger area that just the break - both to secure it better and avoid a "bump" where the repair is.
If you use a coarser file to smooth the transition area - do NOT let the file touch your real nail, it will cause a weakened spot in the nail plate.
If you have very long nails it is a great idea to make the repair under the nail!

If you made it to this final photo without falling asleep, I hope you liked the loooong review and got an idea of how great this product is...?

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