AF Blog

Spending time doing your nails can be a great way to practice self-care, but how can you enjoy the fruits of your labor for longer? We’ve rounded up our favorite tips on how to prolong your mani.

Nail Prep

The key to a good, long-lasting manicure is the proper prep.

Use An Orange Wood Stick Or Cuticle Pusher To Push Back Your Cuticles

Pushing back your cuticles will help the nail polish adhere to only the nail plate. This will prevent lifting and peeling in the cuticle area.

Gently Buff The Shine From The Nail Plate

Much like sanding before painting wood, gently buffing the shine from your nails with a fine grit buffing block or nail file will provide a grippier surface for the polish to stick to. Be careful though! A light hand is best as over-buffing can remove too many layers and damage your nail.

Remove Natural Oils

Use nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol or a nail dehydrator to remove any natural oils from your nail plate. This will help the nail polish to stick better and prevent peeling and chipping.

Manicure

During the manicure there’s a handful of things you can do that will prolong your mani.

Use A Good Base Coat

A good base coat will provide a sticky layer, like paint primer, for the nail polish to stick to. Try our Foxology Base Coat  that will set the stage for a polish that lasts and is formulated to work with our Foxology Nail Polish.

Apply Polish In Thin Layers

Apply your nail polish in thin coats in order for your nails to dry more thoroughly. A quick drying polish like Foxology Nail Polish can help speed up the process. Using multiple thinner coats also gives you more control over the polish and will help prevent flooding your nails and cuticles. Nail polish should only be applied to the nail plate in order to prevent peeling and lifting. 

Use A Good Top Coat

A good top coat, like our Foxology Top Coat, prevents chipping and protects the nail. It contains Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Argan Oil, Aloe and Biotic to provide strength and hydration to the nail plate.

Apply All Layers of Polish On the Free Edge 

The free edge of your nail is the edge of the nail that extends past your finger. This area gets a lot of wear so protecting it will extend the life of your mani.

Allow Nails to Fully Cure

Your nails may appear to be dry to the touch, but they are not fully cured underneath. Avoid soaking in water or other activities that are hard on your hands for 1-2 hours until fully cured.

Post-Manicure

After following the above steps, there are a few things you can do after your manicure to help it last as long as possible.

Avoid Soaking Your Hands in Water or Using Harsh Chemicals

Soaking your nails can allow water to seep under the layers of polish and damage your manicure. When cleaning, harsh chemicals and repeated water exposure can also break down the polish. Wearing cleaning gloves when cleaning can help!

Reapply Top Coat

Your top coat can wear down over time with everyday use. Reapplying every few days can add extra protection and shine to your mani. Be sure to thoroughly clean the nail before reapplying your top coat.

Keep Your Nails Moisturized

Apply cuticle oil daily to keep your nails moisturized and prevent breakage and cracking.

Avoid Biting or Picking Your Nails

Biting or picking at your nails can chip your polish and damage your nails. Avoid doing this, if possible

Our Foxology nail polish launch event was better than we could have imagined! We were so happy so many of our Fox Fam got to not only try the new polishes, but got to enjoy custom cocktails, receive custom aura readings, throw in a fun AF dyed extension in their hair, eat delicious food from Vegan AF, and get REAL tattoos while they waited to freshen up their looks with our bold and bright polishes!

Our Fox Fam getting real tattoos while waiting for their manicures. A surprise hit!

Lots of cute photo moments and custom aura readings. Why not match your aura to your nails?!

The talented Liz Vargas adding pops of color to everyone's hair.

 Refreshing cocktails and Vegan AF food truck gave everyone bright and tasty meals. Can we talk about how delicious Vegan AF's lemonade was?! I definitely took a bottle home with me!

Of course we can't forget how gorgeous everyone's nails looked. The manicures were certainly the star of the show and everyone couldn't stop talking about how rich and vibrant the colors were. 

We try not to wait until the holidays roll around to show our gratitude for the Fox Fam. You mean the world to us 365 days of the year. Not only do we love your love for color and self expression, but we’re obsessed that you share our love for animals. One of our rescue partners, Viva Global Rescue, shared a 2022 update with us - and since you help us help them, we wanted to be sure we shared with you! 

In case you’re new here, Viva Global Rescue is a women-run, LGBTQ+ animal sanctuary in Southern California that works to create a more compassionate world through permanent, innovative sanctuary care for animals in need. 2022 was not an easy year for Maya and Kalli and their team at Viva, but there were so many highlights, especially with their recent rescues.

Meet Peanut, a six month old goat who recently came to Viva completely unable to walk or stand. After a trip to Viva’s vet team revealed that Peanut had a broken shoulder with pieces of bone detached from the healthy tissue, it was determined that Peanut’s shoulder had to be amputated immediately. After a successful surgery, Peanut is on the road to recovery as he learns to walk with a wheelchair, hopefully leading to walking on his own one day. The Viva team says he is silly, joyful and sweet and is besties with Bambi at the sanctuary. 

Peanut

Bambi, also known as the miracle lamb, is the only lamb in existence living without a fully-formed cerebellum. She was born missing ⅔ parts of her cerebellum and a portion of her skull, which ultimately compresses her spine and inhibits her ability to walk unassisted. It took extensive hospitalization and medical care to properly diagnose this sweet lamb that most others would have given up on. Bambi is sweet, but a fighter who requires several mobility aids in order to thrive and live her best life at the Viva sanctuary. She loves cruising around in her wheelchair that allows her to walk and live her best life!

Meet Peaches, Posie, and Penelope! Viva got a call one afternoon about a baby goat who had a cleft palate and desperately needed to find replacement in Viva’s cleft palate program, the only cleft palate program that exists for ruminants in the country. Peaches was rushed to Viva as her health was declining rapidly. On the same call, Maya and Kalli were told that Peaches had a mom and sister who were going to be dropped off at auction because the farm had no use for them anymore (WTF!) When they arrived, all three were filled with external and internal parasites. Thanks to Viva, Peaches, Posie and Penelope were able to receive necessary, critical medical care and most importantly, stay together and heal together. 

Peaches

Peaches, Posie, and Penelope

We are so thankful that we get to work with organizations like Viva Global Rescue, and none of this would be possible without the Fox Fam. Viva takes care of animals that never have to worry again and because of that, we will continue our mission in remaining vegan, cruelty-free and donating 15% off all net profits to help prevent animal cruelty and promote animal welfare.

So you’ve finally caved and purchased our new Foxology Gel Nail Strips and don’t know where to start? Don’t panic! We’ve got your back 💋  Follow along for our step by step instructional PLUS some helpful tips below 👇

What comes in the Foxology Gel Nail Strips?

• Gel Top Coat
• 30 nail strips (in 11 different sizes, so there is a fit for everyone)
• Nourishing prep pad
• Instruction manual
• 1 nail file 
• 1 cuticle stick

*LED lamp sold separately*

Prior to application, you’ll want to: 

• Wash your hands to remove any dirt or oil prior to application ✨ Tip: Any residue, moisture or oil on your nails will reduce/break down the adhesive, so we highly recommend this step

• Prep cuticles by pushing them back and file your nails to your preferred  shape and length. ✨ Tip: If you’d like to add your own nail extensions (such as acrylic nails) for a longer look, you are welcome to do so, as these gel nail strips can be stretched to fit multiple nail sizes. Kindly note, any nail extensions will need to be purchased elsewhere, as this is not part of our Foxology line

• Wipe nails and cuticles using the Foxology nourishing prep pad

• Choose a strip that fits your nail size 

• Remove the protective film

Once you’ve done this, we’re ready to apply the strips with these 6 easy steps: 

1. Center the sticker to your nail and press down in the center of your strip/nail and then press the sides to your nails. 
2.  Using the cuticle stick, press down the edges of the strip to seal the edges
3.  Cut or snip off the edges (can use small scissors or nail clippers for this part) ✨ Tip: Be sure each strip is properly trimmed down, as any overhang can cause chips and cracks
4. Cure for 45-60 seconds using the LED lamp 
5. File down the excess nail strip
6. Apply the Foxology Gel Top Coat and cure again for another 45-60 seconds. This will also help to prevent any possible chipping or annoying hair catching.

💅  There ya have it! A fresh AF manicure 💅  

For a video instructional on this application process, the Foxology Gel Nail Strip Tutorial can also be found on our YouTube channel. Check it out! 

The Fox Fam was born out of a love for animals and color. We’d be remiss if we didn’t continue to deliver on our promise to give you a place to be yourself with products that are high quality, DIY friendly, and obviously… colorful.

The first ever Foxology by Arctic Fox nail polish collection is here to offer the same vibrant, long-lasting color of our iconic hair dye. Our Colorful AF collection pays homage to our best-selling shades, with each nail lacquer syncing up to one of our beloved hair dyes. We’re giving you the chance to mix and match with long lasting color for your hair AND nails.

As always, our nail polish is vegan and cruelty-free.  Its 15-Free Formula contains five key nail enriching ingredients: Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Argan Oil, Aloe, and Biotin, tackling day to day issues like weak, brittle, and yellowing nails. 

We’re here to be your one stop shop for all things color. We love watching you express yourself with Arctic Fox and allowing us to continue our mission of donating proceeds to help prevent animal cruelty. Once you buy your favorite polish colors, don’t forget to show off and tag us @arcticfoxhaircolor <3