How it works
You print it. We teach you.
A Read My Nails Session is a lesson. Miss Natalie shows every step on a practice tip; you do it on your nails. One hand takes about twelve minutes, both hands about twenty. You keep the nails.
- Pick your setYouFrom the screen or the book, or build your own five. You get a code and show it to Miss Natalie.
- Look, don't touchMiss NatalieShe looks at your hand — never touches it. Gel or acrylic on now? Broken skin? That finger gets a printed press-on tip instead.
- CleanseYouWipe each nail with the pad. She does it on the tip first; you copy.
- Base coatYouThin coat, stay off the skin — "like coloring inside the lines." Anything on skin, wipe it with the stick. Hand in the lamp, 30–60 seconds.
- MaskYouPaint the skin around each nail. That's what keeps the ink off your finger. Let it dry to a film.
- Print gelYouOne thin coat — white on bare nails, clear over color. Don't cure it. This is the layer the ink sticks to.
- PrintPrinterMiss Natalie taps your five tiles on the printer's screen. You put each finger on the rest, nail flat, hold still. About forty seconds a nail. It's a camera and a tiny inkjet.
- Peel, seal, revealYouPeel the mask off like a sticker. Lamp to set the ink. Top coat, seal the edge, lamp 60 seconds. Hold it up — can they read it?
What "you print it" means in practice
- Miss Natalie demonstrates on a plastic tip a beat ahead of you. You do the same step on your nail.
- Her hands never touch yours — not to steady, not to fix, not to check. If a step's hard, she stops and shows it again.
- Small kids: a parent helps hold the hand on the rest. Under 10, a parent brushes with her.
- Smudged one? Wipe it off and do it again. Print off-center? Wipe, another thin coat of print gel, run it again. Reprints are pennies.
- Photo nails: crop your picture square in the app first. Your dog, your flag, his initials, your team.
What we never do
- File, buff, cut, push cuticles or remove anything.
- Take off existing gel or acrylic. Soak it off at home and come back — or get your set printed on press-on tips today, same price.
- Put gel on skin and cure it. If it touches skin, you wipe it before the lamp.
- Keep your photo after the session unless you saved your order in the app.
Afterwards. It lasts about two weeks. No picking. When you're done, soak it off at home — never peel. The take-home top coat ($12) stretches it to two weeks and more.
What the printer is
A counter-top nail printer with a 10-inch touchscreen and a print head about the width of a fingernail. It photographs your nail, maps the shape, and prints the tile in ink onto the print-gel layer. It prints the letter or picture only — a colored nail in a set means colored polish underneath, which you brush on yourself as the base (+$10). There's no software connecting it to anything; Miss Natalie taps the tiles by hand and you place your own finger.