Beauty Say Goodbye to Nail Polish Bubbles Once and for all. By Alyssa Clough Alyssa Clough Instagram Alyssa is a writer and social media specialist residing in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently the head of social media at West Elm and previously led content at Semihandmade, an LA-based kitchen cabinet company. Prior to that, she spent the majority of her career writing and leading social media at interior design magazine, Domino. There, she developed a deep interest and understanding of home design, focusing personally on sustainable living, cultivating a colorful, collected aesthetic, and the value of a good vintage find. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on July 3, 2022 @ 11:37PM Pin Share Tweet Email Photo: Jenny Anderson Nothing is worse than giving yourself a mental high five after achieving the perfect at-home manicure only to realize at some point, pesky little air bubbles made their way into your smudge-free polish job. What causes these annoying bubbles? We chatted with our favorite nail expert, Gracie J of The Editorial Nail, to find out how to avoid nail polish bubbles, once and for all. According to Gracie, bubbles appear when the polish is applied too thick to the nail. While there's no magic number of seconds or minutes to wait between coats, Gracie recommends applying semi-thin, even coats to each nail, making sure the previous coat is completely dry before painting a second coat. Next time you're giving yourself a manicure, try pacing your painting so by the time you finish all ten fingers, you can start back at finger one for round two. Unfortunately, once bubbles appear, there's no quick fix. Removing your polish and starting from square one is the only real solution. To prevent this problem from happening in the first place, make sure the consistency of your polish isn't too thick before you paint a whole hand. The likely culprit? Your favorite polish you've had for years. If the consistency is dense and sticky, add a few drops of OPI's Nail Lacquer Thinner ($9.50, ulta.com) for a smooth, bubble-free mani.