How To Fix A Broken Nail Without Glue

Stocksy/ Raydene Salinas Hansen

Out of the many things my natural clumsiness ruins in my life, nothing pisses me off more than than breaking a boom. I swear every fourth dimension my nails await long and perfect—like, could-make-information technology-on-the-'gram perfect—I cease up with a massive flake or snag. But since going dorsum to the salon every time I have a crack is unrealistic (and waaaay out of my upkeep), I've perfected the adjacent all-time thing: fixing my broken blast at dwelling house.

Ahead, I rounded upwardly everything I've learned about fixing and smoothing cracked, jagged nails in the comfort of your dwelling house, including all the tips and tools from an ~actual~ expert: Pattie Yankee, glory nail artist who works with Priyanka Chopra, Allison Williams, and Hailee Steinfeld. Go along reading for some ridiculously adept nails.

How to Fix a Broken Nail With Glue

If your nail is just carve up, rather than completely broken off, try Yankee's favorite quick-fix method: glue. Continue in listen this definitely isn't a permanent fix—you'll still have to book an appointment with your manicurist—but information technology should hold you over until you can make it to the salon. Here's what you lot'll practice:

Footstep 1: Lightly buff the surface of the smash—the key here is to exist suuuper gentle, since too much pressure can actually crusade more than harm.
Step 2: Employ two coats of a fast-drying nail gum (like Nail Elation Brush-On Glue) to temporarily fuse the crevice together until your next professional nail appointment. This will as well preclude it from catching and snagging.
Pace three: When the glue is 100 percent dry, cover the area with a thin coat of articulate smash polish to assistance hold the crack in identify (Deborah Lippmann'due south Hard Rock Nail Strengthening Summit and Base Coat is always a good selection, since it besides helps strengthen your nails).

How to Fix a Broken Nail With a Fake Smash

Sadly, sometimes when your cleaved nail is beyond repair, your only solve is to fake it. "One of my favorite tricks for a broken nail is to apply a quick ready of printing-on or glue-on nails to agree you over until your broken blast grows out," explains Yankee. She'southward a fan of the Dashing Diva Magic Printing-Ons, since they "have a pre-adhesive backing that holds upwards to vii days," merely you can use whatsoever of your favorite fake nail sets.

How to Fix a Broken Blast With Gel and a Silk Wrap

If your nail is fully cracked and hanging off your nail bed, you may need to take more than intense measures, says Yankee—like with the gel and silk method. Here'southward what y'all'll do:

Footstep 1: After wiping the crack make clean with nail polish remover, gently vitrify the smash with a file. Your goal here is to make the boom as polish and clean every bit possible (no excess oil, polish, or snags).
Step 2: Very gently, use nail glue to mend the scissure. One time information technology'south totally dry, paint a layer of clear gel shine over the boom.
Stride three: While your polish is still wet, smooth a slice of silk (it should be pre-cutting in the shape of your boom) over the area and wait for the gel to cure. The silk volition kinda act like a bandaid and give your smash an extra layer once it dries down.
Stride 4: Carefully buff your nail once everything is dry out and follow with a 2nd coat of gel smoothen.

Dashing Diva Without A Trace Gloss Ultra Shine Gel Strips

Courtesy Paradigm

Dashing Diva Without A Trace Gloss Ultra Smooth Gel Strips

How to Ready a Cleaved Blast With Gel Strips

Looking for something less complicated? Fair. Try a gel nail strip (like Dashing Diva'south Gloss Ultra Polish Gel Blast Strips) as an alternative to the silk-wrap method. The results volition be pretty similar, says Yankee, but they're a lot easier to apply. Clean off whatever backlog oil and polish from the broken nail, mend the crack with nail glue, and then stick the gel strip on superlative as a record-similar alternative.

How to Prepare a Broken Blast With a Tea Bag

This method is definitely the most popular broken-boom hack on the internet. The merely catch? According to Yankee, this method requires a bit of maintenance "every few days by applying some other coat or ii of mucilage over the tea purse to proceed it strong." But withal, you can't beat an ultra-cheap DIY method. Here's what you'll practice:

Footstep 1: Cut the pinnacle off of a tea purse and make a square roughly the size of the crevice.
Step ii: Smooth a layer of nail glue over the crack (a brush-on formula is easiest here), and while it's still wet, place the tea handbag square on top.
Footstep 3: Once it's dry, paint one more layer of smash glue and you're expert to get.

How to Fix a Broken Nail With a Pulverization Make full

This hack is i of the more than "durable" calm fixes on the listing—and information technology'south also got Yankee'southward seal of approval. Hither's what you'll do:

Step 1: After painting a layer of nail glue over the fissure, sprinkle a little smash powder on top while it'southward nevertheless wet.
Footstep two: Continue this process a few times (waiting for each coat to dry in between) until you've created two or three layers on height of the crack.
Step 3: Set everything in place by spritzing a glue-drying spray on top of the gum and powder, then buff it smooth with a buffing block.

How to Fix a Broken Nail Past Trimming Information technology

Alright, y'all may not desire to hear this, simply in that location isn't a truly permanent fix for a broken blast. "No matter how expert the repair, a hard and deep cleft or break volition always seem to sneak its way back through the repair," says Yankee. "If the break is in a convenient spot to allow it to be cut downward, it might exist easiest to just cut it and trim the rest of your nails to match."

And of form, to avoid broken nails in the future, Yankees advises all her clients to moisturize daily with cuticle oil and keep their easily protected from the elements. "Fingernails are constantly exposed to harsh paw soaps, chemicals and h2o," she says. "Keeping them moisturized and polished is the best solution to avoiding breakage."

Ruby Buddemeyer Ruby was the dazzler editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covered beauty across impress and digital.