One minute the brush looks perfectly on target; then all of the sudden, the color is in your skin, a blob has formed on your cuticles, or polish is in the sidewalls. That can leave the overall finish of the manicure looking sloppy, even if the bulk of the nail looks great.
Flooding usually starts before the brush reaches the cuticle area. Overloading your brush is the most common cause. If there’s a large glob of polish on the brush, there’s enough product in the brush that when you set the brush onto the nail to apply, the product doesn’t stop moving right away. The polish continues to slide and move to the lowest area of the nail where it tends to pool, usually the base of the nail. The base of the nail is the place you’ll have the most trouble correcting polish if it floods. Wiping your brush on the bottle to reduce the product in the brush is helpful; however, your brush shouldn’t be wiped to the point that you can’t get enough polish to glide easily across the nail.
Positioning your brush also has a lot to do with whether your brush floods or not. Beginners are often too close to the cuticle line, because they feel like they must get the entire nail covered in one stroke. Instead, begin just below the cuticle line, then press down ever so lightly until your bristles just barely start to fanned out. Using your other hand, begin to move the polish toward your cuticles with control, then gently swipe down toward the free edge. Leave a tiny clean line and try not to put your product too close to the skin. Again, the margin doesn’t need to be very wide and visible, but it needs to look consistent and neat.
The pressure that you use on your brush is also a factor that will make a small to large amount of polish flood. If you press hard enough with your brush, it will fan your bristles out beyond what you want and push the excess polish to your sides. Having your brush too straight will cause the polish on your brush to pool at the end of your bristles instead of evenly across the brush. Try to angle your brush so it sits flush on the nail, then use the direction of your brush strokes, usually the base of the nail to the free edge. Having a place to rest your hand can also help you to have steady, consistent pressure with your brush strokes.
To help you understand the amount of product you want on your brush, practice applying one coat to one nail tip. Your only focus for this exercise should be the placement of the polish around your cuticle. Put a small amount of polish on your brush and apply the polish below your base of the nail. Next, move your brush up toward your cuticle line without actually touching your cuticle. Now, take the brush and apply some more polish below the base of the nail. Stop and check the polish you already applied. Then, apply it again, and repeat. Don’t worry about covering the entire nail at this point. You want to get the feel of how much pressure your brush needs to have so that the amount of polish you’re using will get where you want it without overflowing your brush on to your cuticle.
The more you check your progress as you apply polish, the easier the whole process will become. While you check the brush stroke placement, notice the space between your polish and the cuticle line to judge whether the area looks clean, jagged, too much space, or very close.
Cleaning up excess polish at this stage is important because as more product settles onto your nail, there will be more polish to remove. Any time you see polish at your sidewalls or skin, take a small detail brush and use a drop or two of polish remover to remove the polish. Try to remove any polish while it’s still wet, and be gentle with the detail brush as you don’t want to scratch the skin at this point. You want the cuticle area to look finished and neat, not to just be cleaned up roughly.
The key to not flooding your cuticle line is slowing down before you reach the area that’s most problematic. Use less product, position your brush correctly with a small gap near the cuticle, soften the pressure on your nail, and check your progress before going on to your second coat of color. The more you get in control with where you are applying polish, the calmer and more neat your nails look will feel with every swipe.