Wash cool, dry properly
Hot water swells the nail plate and the chrome lifts at the free edge when it shrinks back. Cool water, Barrier Hand Wash, and dry between the fingers — a damp nail wall is where lifting starts.
Keeping the mirror
Three weeks is the job, not the luck.
Chrome fails at the edges first, and almost always because the hand underneath it was dry. Here is the routine we hand to everyone who leaves the Varna chair, written out properly.
21
days of mirror, measured across 60 studio clients through September 2026 — the ones who oiled nightly averaged 21, the ones who did not averaged 11.
Four things, in this order.
Oil the cuticle every night
One drop of Fig & Rice per hand, worked in at the base. It does nothing for the chrome itself and everything for the skin holding it — which is what actually decides whether week three looks tidy.
Balm on top, not instead
Velvet Hand Balm goes over the oil once it has sunk in, so the oil stays where you put it. Twice a day in winter, once in summer, and always after washing up or a swim.
Take it off before it chips
A chipped chrome edge peels and takes a layer of nail with it. Two drops of Peel-Free Remover on each nail, thirty seconds, one wipe. Day twenty-one, not day twenty-six.
The three-night reset
If the plate is ridged, start here.
Chrome is a mirror, and a mirror shows the wall behind it. Before a first manicure we ask people to do three consecutive nights of the Overnight Hand Mask: a thick layer at the cuticle and across the back of the hand, the cotton gloves over it, off in the morning.
By the fourth morning the nail plate takes base coat evenly instead of drinking it in patches, and the difference in how flat the chrome lies is the thing most people write to tell us about.
- 75 ml tube plus two pairs of cotton gloves · €26
- Shea, urea at 8%, no fragrance at all
- One tube is roughly thirty nights
Add the mask · €26
The three that do the work.
Bought together they come to €56, which clears the free-delivery line on its own. None of them touch the chrome; all three decide how long it stays.
In stockFig & Rice Cuticle Oil
10 ml or 30 ml
€22
In stockVelvet Hand Balm
50 ml · fig or neroli
€19
In stockBarrier Hand Wash
250 ml · fig or neroli
€15
“I type for a living and I had written chrome off completely — two days and it was wrecked. The thing nobody had told me was that it was my hands, not the polish. Three nights of the mask, oil every evening, and Pewter was still clean when I took it off on day nineteen.”
Rosa DimitrovaTranslator, Varna · buying since the first pour
Routine questions, answered flatly.
Can I wash up without gloves?
You can, and it costs you about four days. Detergent plus hot water is the single fastest way to lift a chrome edge. If gloves are not happening, re-oil straight afterwards while the nail is still warm — it is not as good, but it is most of the way there.
Does oil make the chrome go dull?
No. Fig & Rice is a dry oil and it sinks in within two minutes — it leaves no film on the flake layer. Heavier kitchen oils do cloud chrome, so keep olive and coconut away from a fresh manicure for the first day.
My nails peel after removal. What am I doing wrong?
Almost always it is scraping rather than the product. Let the remover sit the full thirty seconds and wipe once, flat, towards the tip. If you have to go back a second time, re-wet rather than rub. Then two nights of Keratin Nail Serum before the next colour.
How soon can I paint again after taking it off?
Same evening is fine if the plate looks even. If it looks chalky, give it two nights of oil and serum first — chrome over a thirsty nail gives you week one brilliance and week two disappointment, and it is the most common reason people think a shade has failed.