- Today we're gonna be looking at all things nails.

Nail care, nail polish, nail polish remover,

and what products are right for you.

I'm Jessica, your unofficial but official beauty expert

with my best friend, my beauty microscope,

and together we will create science.

[upbeat music]

Okay, let's take a look

at my bare nails under the microscope.

There's glitter, there's still glitter from the last video.

Is my finger sweating?

I just saw glistening, okay, everyone relax.

These two little things that look like fish scales

that you see and a lot of this stuff right here,

these are hangnails.

Hangnails are loose skin caused by trauma around the nail.

Nail biting, doing a lot of physical labor with your hands.

My hangnails are caused from gardening

'cause I love plants.

See?

Sweat, what is that, sweat?

Look at that, do you see it, what is that?

You know what?

You're getting a little embarrassed, it's okay.

I love you no matter what you look like.

[optimistic music]

Check.

Up next we're gonna do a little bit of nail maintenance.

The purpose of your cuticle

is to create a seal between the nail plate

and the rest of your skin.

That seal keeps out micro-organisms, fungus's, and viruses.

We're gonna start with pushing back one of my cuticles.

I just let the weight of my hand glide the cuticle back.

And wherever it stops, I just let it stop.

That's probably really horrifying to see up close.

Okay, now I'm gonna trim a little bit of my cuticle,

but before I do that, I just wanna say

the more you trim, the more your cuticle will grow.

Your body wants there to be a cuticle,

so it's going to make it grow more and more and more

the more you cut it back.

[lively music]

There you go.

[gags]

Look at that little piece of cuticle.

[squealing]

That's so gross.

[laughing]

Wow, I feel like I'm beheading my friends.

I like the bare nail push.

It looks more moisturized, it looks healthier.

The trimmed actually kind of looks like I caused

a little bit of trauma on my nail.

Moving onto bitten versus cut nails.

And biting your nails includes not just the nail plate,

but also the skin around your nails.

By biting your nails,

you're causing tiny fissures in your skin

that allow micro-organisms in.

[gags]

That being said, I do wanna see what

a bitten nail looks like under the microscope.

I literally cannot bite because mine are too strong.

So, we had somebody else come in

and bite their nail.

Oh, that nail.

Looking at this, you can see the jagged edge,

and another thing that happens when you bite your nails,

because it's uneven, that leads you to continue

to bite to try and even out the nail.

Let's move onto trimming, let's do it.

Side.

Side.

Top.

Let's look under the microscope.

You guys can see here that it's a lot smoother

than the bitten nail,

but you still have those two points

of raggedness from the edge of the clipper.

So, we're gonna move onto filing.

We're gonna start with your standard drugstore nail file

and then we're also gonna try out a glass one.

Drugstore and we're gonna do under the microscope.

As you guys can see, as I file,

I file in one direction.

You don't wanna saw back and forth

'cause that can further damage your nail.

You can see the black or the little pieces

of the emery board which leads me to my next fact.

Emery boards sometimes are made of cardboard

or styrofoam, they're porous.

So, sometimes bacteria can get in them

and they're not the most sanitary thing to use.

Now we have the glass file

which we're gonna check out underneath the microscope.

Okay, now we're gonna file this down.

And this is a really fine file,

so you're not gonna see as many particles

flying around as we did with the last file.

It's like powder.

Looking at both of the nails,

I can see the coarser file, there's way more debris.

Honestly, not as smooth of an edge

as the glass file gives you

and the particles are much finer with the glass file.

Once you put it in glide,

your nail kind of does all the work for you.

Hydration is very important.

Creating science.

Next we're gonna try on some nail polish.

First I'm gonna put on base coat so my nails do not stain.

Done.

We are gonna go with the affordable brand first.

It's kind of a streaky formula.

I also love to paint my whole finger

because I am a slob and then I like

to go in with nail polish remover

and then clean up my nail, that's how I paint my nails.

That's the truth, that's who I am, it's a safe space.

It's very shiny, you can see some of the streaks.

It almost looks like there's texture on my nail,

but that's really just the streaks.

Okay, I'm gonna put on another layer

and see if that helps.

I'm gonna do it really quickly.

It's a little bit better, more shiny.

So the key is two coats.

Now we're gonna do the expensive nail.

This one is a much more runnier formula.

No streaks.

And because we had a finer brush,

it was a lot easier to not paint on the sides.

It's much cleaner edges.

Thinner formula but a better color payoff which is wild.

I think both of them are really great.

The more affordable one dries faster,

but you need two coats to get that desired color payoff

and the more expensive one gives you

a really nice shine and a great color payoff

with just one coat.

Oh, sorry.

She gets very hot.

Oh my god, oh speeds, that's ridiculous.

We're gonna do some fun nail art.

First thing I'm gonna check out is this Crackle polish

and we're gonna watch it dry under the microscope.

[groaning]

- [Woman] Oh no.

- Oh no, that's disgusting, looks like rotting flesh.

I'm not gonna say his name 'cause brand,

but it's that guy's face.

And you know what guy I'm talking about,

it's that guys face.

So, this has more alcohol in the formula,

causing it to dry and separate.

Next!

Stickers.

No, roses.

[gasps]

Cacti!

Aw, little plants.

Oh my god, I gotta do the plants.

Oh my goodness, this one looks like she's crying.

I get it, so I'm gonna use her.

Here she comes.

Oh wow, I'm having the time of my life.

Oh no.

I just folded her in half on accident.

Hi!

Oh my goodness.

Look!

Look at the little cacti.

And to keep the stickers on,

you can just put a top coat on to seal it.

[upbeat music]

Am I going to be able to do it?

Now to the fun section.

[trilling]

Those are special effects.

We're gonna try out two nail products.

One of them is a matte coat

and then we're gonna try another nail polish

that's a fun, glittery, holographic polish.

So, this is a top coat that matte-ifies.

It's gonna take out all of the shine.

So I only painted half the nail.

You can see this looks a shade lighter,

almost pink-like, versus the high shine of the red.

If we could get even closer

on a super, super, super microscopic level,

we wouldn't see a flat, smooth, shiny surface,

we would see tiny little divots, right?

Because there's texture or pattern on top

that makes it matte.

Now we're gonna try the fun, shiny holographic nail polish.

I'm really excited for this one.

Fun!

Oh, yes, come through party.

Actually, you can see a little bit of my nail

through the nail polish.

I wanna say it's a more natural look, but it's not.

I already told you about how I do,

I just paint my whole finger, girl.

Paint the whole finger, girl, let it dry.

And you know what?

I'm telling you that you go back

with nail polish remover and clean it up,

but I just take a shower

and it peels off in the shower, okay?

Just paint your whole finger, let it dry,

and then take a shower.

- [Woman] Jess, this is bad advice.

[laughing]

- Oh my god, I'm just saying it's a safe space

for us out here who are not amazing nail techs, okay?

I feel you, I feel you.

This nail polish has tiny little particles

made of silica which are suspended in the polish

and act as little mirrors that make all the glitter

and all the shine and all the colors.

They're both fun finishes,

but I think we all know glitter is where it's at

and glitter is not just a look, it's a feeling, okay?

Onto some longer-lasting options.

We're going to do gel and then we're gonna try dip.

Not the tobacco.

Gel cures with a UV or an LED light,

but today we're gonna use a UV light.

So I'm gonna put on some sunscreen.

You wanna aim for SPF, 30 or higher,

because this is a UV light just like the ones

that you use in tanning baths.

We're going to start with a foundation.

This smells terrible.

Oh my gosh.

Between every single layer,

we have to cure and set the product.

I put on the foundation and now we're gonna press.

You set it and you forget it like a rotisserie chicken.

Okay, this is all set, now we're gonna add our color.

It looks a little bumpy.

Now we're gonna set in the mess with our top coat.

Oh.

I might of fixed it.

[laughs]

Heard that feedback.

Okay, so it's not totally fixed.

She's done!

[applauding]

So, little bubbles are from the different stages of curing,

and these are trapped air bubbles

because they dried so fast.

I put it on pretty thick, that's okay.

Thank you.

You know, sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader.

Last but not least, we're gonna try dip powder.

So the key with this first step

is to make sure not to get any of it on your skin.