Sizing Guide
Getting the size right is about 90% of how good a set looks on. A nail even one millimetre too narrow looks obviously fake and pops off within hours. So this is its own step, and I’d rather do it properly than fast.
Pick how you want to be sized
1. I measure you in person — free, and best
If you’re local, this is the one to choose. It takes about two minutes, I get every nail exactly right, and I keep your sizes on file forever — so every set after your first one skips this step entirely.
It also brings your set under the Fit Promise. No online shop can measure your actual hand. This is the whole reason to buy from someone local.
2. Video fit call — free, also covered
Not local? Get on a quick video call and I’ll walk you through measuring your own nails properly, watching as you do it. Takes about ten minutes. Because I watched the measurements being taken, your set is covered by the Fit Promise too.
3. Sizing kit — $6, and you get it back
I send you ten nails, sizes 0–9, in your shape and length. You try them on, tell me which fits each finger, and I make your set to those. The full $6 comes off your order, so it costs you nothing in the end.
Why charge at all then? Because a kit that costs something gets used, and a set made to real sizes is worth infinitely more than one made to a guess.
4. Measure them yourself
Totally fine, and the instructions are below. Just know this is the one option the Fit Promise doesn’t cover — not because I’m being difficult, but because I can only stand behind a measurement I watched being taken.
How to measure your own nails
Use millimetres. Never a size number. There is no universal standard in press-ons — one brand’s “size 3” is another brand’s “size 7”, and some brands number from largest to smallest while others go the other way. If you tell me “I’m a size 4” I genuinely cannot know what you mean. Millimetres mean the same thing everywhere.
- Measure the widest part of each nail, straight across, sidewall to sidewall. A ruler with millimetres works; so does a strip of paper you mark and then measure.
- Do all ten. Your left and right hands are usually slightly different, and the difference is big enough to matter.
- Don’t include your pen marks. If you marked a paper strip, measure to the inside edge of the mark — a thick pen line adds one to two millimetres, which is a whole size.
- Between two numbers? Give me the bigger one. I can file a nail down in seconds. I cannot make a too-narrow one wider.
Most nails land between 6mm and 20mm. If you get a number outside that, measure again.
Not sure you measured right? Send a photo instead
Lay your hand flat with a ruler next to it, or a US dime for scale (a dime is 17.91mm across — a genuinely useful reference). Take one photo from directly above and one from the side so I can see the curve of your nail. I can work from that.
What a correct fit actually looks like
- It covers your nail sidewall to sidewall without touching the skin on either side.
- If it touches the skin at the sides, it’s too big.
- If you can see your natural nail peeking out at the sides, it’s too small.
- If it sits perfectly flat without you needing to press it down at all, it’s too big.
That last one surprises people. A slightly-too-large nail feels comfortable and looks fine in the mirror — and then lifts days early, because the glue is holding a nail that doesn’t match the curve underneath it.
Three things that catch people out
Sizes change with shape and length
A size that fits you in short almond will not necessarily fit in medium coffin. Different shapes taper differently, and a longer nail sits on the same base but flares differently. If you change shape or length between orders, tell me — I’ll re-check rather than reuse.
Heavy sets fit tighter
A set loaded with rhinestones or 3D work has more material on it and can feel snugger than a plain one. If your measurement lands right on the line, size up.
Finished nails don’t flex like sizing nails
A bare sizing nail bends a little when you press it on. A finished nail with gel, paint and topcoat on it is stiffer and less forgiving. So a sizing nail that felt “fine, just about” usually means go one size up on the real thing.
Toes
Big toes are the ones that need real measuring — they usually run 16–20mm, which is off the end of the standard chart. Measure both big toes in millimetres. The other four on each foot are flatter and much more forgiving, so small, medium or large is enough for those.
One thing I do that you should know about
I keep the last millimetre of each nail’s side edges clear of rhinestones and 3D work. It’s a small thing, and it means you can always file a nail down to fit. The worst thing that can happen with a custom set is decoration running right to the edge so it physically can’t be adjusted — at which point a set that’s one size off is just unwearable. Not on mine.
The Fit Promise
If I measured you — in person or on a video fit call — and your first set doesn’t fit, I remake it. Free. Send me a photo of it on your hand within 7 days. No sending it back, no argument.
I can offer that because I did the measuring. It doesn’t apply to sizes you measured yourself, and it doesn’t cover wear, lifting or damage — just fit, on your first set.