Orly Nail Rescue Kit

My maternal grandmother was blessed with nails so thick normal clippers couldn't cut them. My mother and - to a slightly lesser extent - I, however, were cursed with my grandpa's family's paper-thin nails. I've only in recent years gotten into nail strengthening supplements & base coats, but there's only so much you can do! Hence growing my nails out comes with relatively frequent heartbreak as my nails inevitably break.One particularly bad break WAY down on the nailbed of my thumb had me temporarily "patching" the issue with gel polish until I could research a better solution; letting it break wasn't an option, as it would expose half my nail bed and be INCREDIBLY painful. This was one fairly well-rated product from a brand I trust so I decided to give it a go.In short, this worked EXACTLY as described and did precisely what I needed it to! The break in my aforementioned thumb nail occurred several weeks ago and has held up (with minor re-patching as it grows out) since. You can see it in the first two pictures with just the Orly Nail Rescue Kit & sanding (thumb photo with the dark background) and then with a clear nail patch sticker and clear basecoat (thumb photo against teal background) as I wasn't initially sure which option would work best to patch the break. Spoiler alert: it's this one!As you can see, in a modest 2-3 layer application where you carefully follow instructions and sand, it becomes darn near invisible. I've included a third photo of another broken nail (photo with the red arrow pointing to where it broke) that received a semi-sheer light pink base. Both patches have held and both nails still intact, with an unfortunately long growing out process ahead of me. If you're going for completely bare nails, you WILL notice a difference between your repaired nail and the others, but only if you're really looking. Under polish, however, you can only really tell that the repaired nail is slightly thicker than the others if you look at it edge-on.Some tips:1. After you've applied the glue and dipped in the powder, do be sure to give it a minute to dry before you sand it. I recommend using a little nail cleaning brush (the stiff kind you'd use at the sink) to remove excess powder first, then the included sanding pads. This actually gets it pretty darn smooth.2. I recommend against applying it to the underside of your nail, as tempting as it may be. I did so out of determination to avoid breakage, but I needn't have: repairing the top was enough to hold it. Even with an e-file I couldn't sand the underside of my nail completely smooth & it drives me crazy.3. If you see the far edge as your nail grows out, you can absolutely glue / dip the new growth to fill the gap. This worked fine for me as long as I filed the top nail bed edge of the existing "patch" to taper it down towards the outgrowth, then filed everything flat carefully after applying the new glue / powder. If I don't do this, the edge is lumpy and I'm inclined to pick at it until it comes up.4. I'm not an Orly spokesperson (I promise!) but I do happen to really also like their Calcium Shield base & top coat that I highly recommend using on top of the fully cured repair kit to strengthen your nail further.I really have no downsides to this product: it's SUPER quick & easy to apply, the instructions are clear & effective, it sets hard, lasts as long as you need it to, and while my nails haven't grown out far enough for me to completely remove it yet, it gets tacky with a little acetone so I feel it would come off easily when the time comes. I've already recommended this to my mother and will absolutely be keeping some on hand for any future nail breaks!

This stuff is far and away the BEST nail repair system I have ever tried! I take great pride in maintaining REAL nails rather than resorting to fake ones or super expensive, high-maintenance salon manicures. But when one nail breaks it can be devastating to trim them all down and start over. This system is quick, clean, easy, and EFFECTIVE! I will never be without it again.

Whether you need your nail to last a few more days for an event or have a break too deep to cut the nail, this stuff works well. When applied properly and painted over with polish, you can't tell it's there. I've tried applying this product two different ways: one, by applying it over the entire nail (as the instructions say to do); and two, only applying it at the break. Both ways work and have advantages/disadvantages. Applying it over the entire nail is stronger (lasts longer) and makes a smoother surface but uses more of the product, and it's easy to see once your nail starts growing out. Applying it on just the break uses less product but isn't as strong (lasts a few days), though I personally thought it looked better on the nail after being smoothed and painted. Either way works depending on how long you want the glue to hold. My only complaints are that I wish there was more glue/powder and that the item provided to smooth the surface of the dried glue doesn't work - I had to use a nail file for this step. Overall I would recommend this product.

Just used the product today to rebuild a nail that was damaged a few months ago due to getting smashed that has now come apart in the middle of the nail with a large hole and rip. So far so good. Caution, use a thin coat of the glue. Mine wasn’t thin enough and the glue pushed over to my skin when I dipped in the powder. Second coat I used a thin coat and that was much better. Follow the steps in the top reviews such as waiting 5mins to touch, remove excess with a brush, then buff, etc. can’t comment on longevity yet, but so relieved this rip and hole is finally filled and not catching on anything!!! It does seem amazing already.UPDATE 5 WEEKS LATER: It lasted 5 weeks! Through dish washing, hand washing, hand sanitizing and even outdoor work. The nail grew out about 3/16 inch since building the fake nail/shell. I could have added more product in the gap to even the height across the nail, but didn’t have any formal engagements I was worried about how it was looking. At about 4 weeks, the edge toward the cuticle where it grew out started to separate, so I applied some clear nail polish to keep hair strands from sliding through slit while washing hair.A week later, I bent my nail down a bit from the tip and, like a lever, it separated at the top (cuticle end) of the nail quite a bit. It was time to remove and with a little pressure, most the shell was lifting up like removing a press-on nail. Near the tender area of the original rip/damage, I slowly worked my other nail back and forth under the “shell” to slowly and carefully separate it more from my nail, then carefully used clippers & cuticle scissors to cut the shell away. One last tiny spot near the tender hole in nail I filed away.While most of the injury has grown out, there’s a really thin and soft edge that was just outside the injury that could use strengthening, as well as a little verticals crack at the tip. I could probably get away with a hardening top coat polish, but to be on the safe side, I used this product again and just did one layer. That way I can let the last part of the damage grow out without fear. I can’t recommend this product enough!