Just tried Ballet Slippers on myself for the first time. After years of painting it on clients, I finally sat down and did my own nails. It’s a soft, barely-there pink that looks nice with two coats, though I’d probably go three for more opacity.
The streaky first coat can be a little nerve-wracking if you’ve never worked with sheers before. Takes a bit of patience, but I think I really like the end result.
Ballet Slippers takes me back to when those soft, milky manicures were everywhere. It makes hands look neat and cared for without being obvious about it. Funny that you spent years using it on clients before trying it on yourself.
The streaky first coat is normal with Ballet Slippers and most other milky sheers. Thin coats and a light hand work a lot better than going back over every streak while it’s still wet.
Two coats give the clean, barely-there look. Three makes it milkier and more even without going opaque. Base coat matters more than people expect too. A ridge-filling one smooths it out a lot if your nails have any texture.
Funny timing. I was talking about Ballet Slippers with a friend last weekend who does nails part-time out of her spare room. She’d had a client come in asking for it by name after seeing it on someone at a wedding. She said the same thing you did about that first coat, something like “it looks like you’ve done nothing and also done it badly.” The streakiness on coat one is just part of the deal with a jelly-ish sheer. Nobody warns you.
On two vs three coats, I’d say three, but thin. Two thicker coats tend to pool at the cuticle and you lose that clean glassy edge, which is the whole point of the shade.
Glad you like it. It’s boring in the bottle but it does make your hands look expensive somehow.
Same here, that was basically the default ‘my nails but better’ color for like a decade. Every time I see that milky finish I’m right back in a salon chair in 2012.
Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. The sheer glossy finish looks more polished than a lot of the flashier shades. Kind of an effortlessly put together look.
Floating the brush helps too. I keep a small bead of polish on it and let it glide over the nail with barely any pressure.
If you press too hard the bristles spread out and you end up with more streaks.
Yeah, that makes sense. I’m probably pressing too hard when I try to smooth out the first coat.
Do you float every coat with Ballet Slippers, or just the second and third?
Yeah, every single coat for me. I’m still learning, but watching a seasoned tech float that brush is like watching magic happen.
With something as delicate as Ballet Slippers, I feel like even the first coat deserves that gentle treatment because any streaks or bald patches you leave behind will haunt you through the next two coats and be so hard to get rid of. Pressing down to try and ‘fix’ the first coat almost always disturbs what’s underneath and creates more problems than it solves.
Five coats. Five. And it still looked patchy for me.
YMMV of course but I found it difficult to work with.
Thin, buildable layers are the hardest part to master with sheers like this.
Nail painting is actually used as a meditative practice in some wellness circles because it forces you to slow down and be present with each stroke. The patience you build with the layering technique is basically a form of moving meditation.
Still working on it myself though, the temptation to add one more coat is real.
The translucent finish really is beautiful, and I get why this shade has such a following. But as someone just learning to paint nails, that consistency is really hard to do. So streaky on the first coat, and I couldn’t figure out how to make it cooperate.
Ballet Slippers is one of the few pinks I use personally. The shade can work on anyone, I think, so it makes it easy to wear (even if it isn’t easy to apply)!
Edit: forgot my trick. I put a coat of pure white underneath first (Essie Blanc or OPI’s Oh My Majesty both work well). It goes over your base but under the Ballet Slippers and evens the color out way better than piling on more coats of the sheer.
Has anyone tried using a matte topcoat between layers? Wondering if it could help with the streakiness.
Gorgeous color, but oh my god, it flooded my cuticles, and the streaking was no joke, even though I’ve been painting nails forever. Some people look amazing with it but mine went straight in the bin, kinda sad about it honestly.
I think you meant it when you said the streaky first coat takes patience, but Ballet Slippers destroyed my confidence and I’ve been painting nails for years. It isn’t like anything else I’ve ever used and highlights every tiny mistake you make. The formula flooded my cuticles so badly that even cleanup couldn’t save it. I had to get my local salon to help rescue me for a wedding.
The translucent finish is gorgeous once you get there. But that first streaky coat is a patience test for a novice.
I do a coat of white underneath and it cuts down on how many layers you need. Three coats plus base and top feels like too much work for a sheer pink.
It gets you to opacity faster if you’re not into the layering process.
Ballet Slippers outlives everything. Chrome will fade. Cat eyes will lose their pull. Jelly reds will have their season and quietly disappear. Half the shades on your shelf right now will feel dated by spring.
This is the one polish that’s just timeless. It’s the color your grandmother wore, the one someone will wear at your funeral (dark sorry). It looks right anywhere.
% worth it.