Teri, your attack for keeping the natural tips as white as possible is gonna be two pronged: first, you’ve got to do everything you can do to keep it from staining in the first place. Basecoat, basecoat, basecoat. Especially when you’re using the colors that really stain (yellows and blues and the ones that get me the worst). Second, for whatever color does seep through you can brush your nails with whitening nail polish — no joke! — that’ll help lift some staining without completely tearing up your nails. But really, basecoats. Even in a pinch just lay down a coat of plain white polish so you’re creating a barrier between the pigments in the nail polish and your naked nail.

And yep Darcy, these are (mostly) all painted by me; I get help on the swatches and test runs sometimes, but the design-y stuff is all my nails.

If your nails are yellowing out, try brushing them with some whitening toothpaste — it’ll help lift the discoloration a bit (though won’t TOTALLY erase it if you’ve got really longterm yellowing, sort of like mine). If you know you’re going to use a color that’s likely to stain (my yellows, greens and blues do this most) do yourself a favor and make sure you’ve got a basecoat down, or even just a clearcoat or something to give some buffer between the pigment and your nail surface.