The Best Nail Shapes For Chubby Fingers

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If you have chubby fingers you might have tried numerous ways to make them look thinner. From wearing large pieces of jewelry to hiding your hands you’re probably exhausted from not finding a tip that truly works, but what if I told you the shape of your nails can make a world of difference in the appearance of your fingers? Well then read on to find out about the best nail shapes for chubby fingers.

The best nail shapes for chubby fingers are more circular shapes such as the oval, round, almond, and wide-based shapes like coffin shape. Circular shapes are better for chubby fingers because they help to elongate the nails with the wide base and slender tips. It’s best to use these shapes along with nude and natural nail colors for slender-looking fingers. 

Continue reading to find out the different possible reasons that your hands are chubby as well as receive tips and tricks to help make them slender. I’ll also talk about the different nail shapes that you can use to make your fingers appear thinner and guide you on how to achieve these shapes using the best types of nail files. Lastly, I will provide you with the best nail techniques for thinner fingers and give you tips on how to take care of your nails and fingers.

Reasons Your Fingers Are Chubby

You Are What You Eat

Many don’t realize how much the kinds of food we eat impact our bodies. In fact, some doctors even recommend only eating according to our blood type because some foods can react with our bodies negatively. There may be a chance that something you include in your diet affects you in sometimes subtle ways. 

Do you know how for some people eating before bed leaves their face puffy in the morning? It can be like that for your limbs as well. 

Topical Issues

It may be less about what you put into your body and more about what you put on it. Yes, there are times when our bodies have unfavorable reactions to things and often puff up in response to it. But you wouldn’t realize these items are interfering with your body if it’s something you use every day. 

There was a time when I couldn’t figure out why my hands would always swell and itch at the beginning of the week. It was quite confusing as I didn’t think I did anything out of the ordinary to have my hands react this way. But after paying keen attention I finally realized that there was something I did every weekend that might be affecting me: I did laundry.

That’s right, something in my detergent didn’t react well with my skin and so whenever they came in contact it left my hands swollen. 

This tip is especially for you if you realize that your hands don’t always look chubby. If this is the case, make sure to monitor for a few days the things that you come into contact with. If all else fails, your best bet is to pay a visit to your doctor. 

It’s In The Genes

The major reason you may have chubby fingers is that it runs in the family. If you notice that a lot of people in your family have chubby fingers, then it may be your genetics. Our genetics determine a great deal of how our bodies are shaped and formed which is why most times we end up looking like our parents. 

There isn’t much you can do if your genes dictate that these are the way your hands are, except for loving your hands the way they are. If you are set on doing something about your fingers though, I have listed a few tips to help you get rid of chubby fingers. 

How To Get Rid Of Chubby Fingers

While you probably won’t wake up the next day with ultra-thin fingers, there are some things you can do to help with reducing chubbiness. Take a look at these tips below.

Switching Up Your Diet

Remember how we spoke about the types of food we eat that have an impact on our bodies? It will then follow that in order to help reduce the chubbiness, you can take greater care in monitoring the foods that you eat. If your diet is high in sodium it may be water retention that is causing your finger to appear chubby. 

Water retention happens when there is a lot of sodium in our bodies, so our bodies hold on to water in order to handle this influx, causing the places where water is retained to appear a little bit swollen. 

So, try reducing your salt intake for a few weeks and increase the amount of water you’re drinking daily to see whether this is the reason you have chubby fingers. If not, you can experiment by not eating certain foods for some days and seeing how your body reacts to them. 

Increased Exercise

Honestly, exercise is great for whether or not you’re trying to lose weight so if you didn’t have it in your weekly routine before, now is a great time. While the jury is still out on whether spot reduction is a thing, you can help to slim your fingers by doing a lot of finger-focused exercises.

You can try doing grip exercises and using resistance bands to increase muscles in your fingers. Increased muscles help to burn fat which may give you slimmer fingers.

Changing Up Your Nail Shape

That’s right, something as simple as changing your nail shape can help you to have thinner-looking fingers. If you know anything about perception, you understand that there are shapes that change the way that we view items depending on where we place them. 

This is no less true for the shape of our nails. Ironically, it’s the rounder shapes that help your fingers to have a thinner look. I’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to achieve these nail shapes to give yourself thinner-looking fingers. 

Best Nail Files For Your Fingers

Whether you’re shaping your natural nails or have added synthetic nails, you will need to have a nail file on hand to achieve any of these looks. You need to ensure your nail file has the perfect grit before you attempt your desired shape. Before you start shaping your nails, take a look at the best nail files you can use for your fingers. 

Diamancel Flexible Nail File

This nail file is perfect for you if you have damaged fingernails. This file is made with real diamonds and comes with a fiberglass edge so that you can easily maneuver around those nails to achieve your interesting shapes. It’s gentle on your nails so if they’re damaged or brittle you can invest in one of these. 

ASP Zebra Angle Board Nail File

If you want comfort without the price tag, this nail file is best for you. In addition to being affordable, these nail files are durable, so you won’t have to think about buying another for a while. 

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Coarse Nail Board

This is best if you’ve decided to go for an acrylic look. It’s tough on nails so I wouldn’t recommend using these on your natural fingernails. When you or your nail tech uses acrylic however it will give you the sharpest and cleanest nail shapes for your fingers. 

Revlon Compact Emermanyl Nail File

If you’re like me and don’t think you need to get nail files specific for acrylic and then get another that’s specific for your own nails, then this nail file is best for you. It handles both well and is designed with an easy-grip pattern to help you gauge your strength and technique on each nail. 

Best Nail Shapes for Chubby Fingers

The best nail shapes for chubby fingers are oval, round, almond, and coffin-shaped nails. Let’s take a look at how to get these done so that you can be on your way to having thinner nails. If you’re a novice at shaping nails, you can use nail shaping stickers to guide you when attempting these shapes. 

Another pro tip here is to make sure your nails are longer than the length you want them to be when they are done being filed. Filing reduces the length of your nails so ensure to keep this in mind when thinking about the nail shape you want. 

How To Do Oval Shape Nails

Okay with a forward motion from base to tip file the sides of your nails. You don’t want to file back and forth because you place yourself at risk of either damaging your cuticles with your nail file or splitting your nails with the varied movements. Ensure to angle your nail file slightly in the direction of your nails so that your nails will come inward to form the base of the oval. 

Once you have achieved your nail shape for the base, you will move on to the tips. This is where it gets a bit tricky because you may end up with round nails if you’re not careful. At the edges of the tips of your nails on either side, you are going to angle your nail file a bit more towards your nail when filling in the same base-to-tip motion. 

You don’t want sharp angles so you will have to buffer where the base of your oval nails meets the tip while shaping the top of the ovals. 

Once you’ve completed this on either side, go over your nails again with a buffer to smoothen the transitions. Always have the shape you want in mind so you can know what to alter to achieve the look. 

How To Do Round Nails

Your round-shaped nails will have very similar steps to your oval-shaped ones. However, you won’t be doing the initial step which was the slight angle you had to hold your file to achieve the base of the oval. 

Instead, you’ll go straight to the second step which is to place your file at about a 45-degree angle to your nails and file in a forward motion from base to tip as you approach the tip, steadily decreasing the angle, so that you can shape the curve your nails need for the round nails. Do this on both sides of each nail. Buffer the tip of the nails in order to get rid of any sharp lines. 

A round shape gives a slender look to your fingers because the wide base of the nail shape blends with the width of your fingers. When the nail narrows at the top of your round nails it gives the perception that your fingers are longer and thinner as the nails look like an extension of your fingers. 

How To Do Almond Nails

As almond shapes may be a bit trickier, it is best to make a small curved mark in the middle of your nails before filing. More accurately that mark should be where you would like the tip of your almond shape to be. You are going to file toward that mark. 

As mentioned before, ensure to file from base to tip. Do this on both sides of each nail. Put more pressure on the file as you approach the tip of the nail as you want the base of your nails to be wider so that the shape elongates your nails into the narrow tip of the almond shape. Smooth out harsh edges with your buffer to get a smooth continuous look. 

If you find that your almond shape is too narrow, you can file the tip of your nails down so that you can correct the width of the tip. Bear in mind though, that your almond-shaped nails will be shorter if you choose to correct them this way. 

How To Do Coffin-Shaped Nails

This may be your biggest challenge yet. I recommend marking out the coffin edges on your nails with small dots of nail polish if you’re a beginner. 

Thankfully the first step of the nail shape is to do the almond shape which you already know how to do because I told you how. If you didn’t read how to do the almond shape go ahead and follow those instructions as the first step to coffin-shaped nails. 

The only difference will be to avoid the narrow tip of the almond. Leave the tip wide as we will need it to shape our coffin nails properly. 

Afterward, file the edges of the top of your nails inwards. Place a minimal amount of pressure on the file as you don’t want to indent this section too much. As you approach the very tip while filing you can slightly increase the pressure to achieve a slightly rounded shape at the edges. 

Once you’ve tapered the nails properly, you will use your nail clippers to make a straight, clean cut at the very top. File the edges to make the coffin shape more prominent. Don’t buffer the nails because the coffin nails are notorious for their sharp edges. 

I think the best nail shape of the four for chubby fingers is the almond-shaped nails. It gives the nails the best slender nails as it starts off wide at the base and brings your finger and nails up into a narrow close at the end. If you find the almond shape is too difficult you can practice doing the oval and round shapes first to get the basics down. 

Or you can be like me and make a B-line for the nearest nail salon to get them professionally done. While I’m able to do these nail shapes myself I find it relaxing to have my nails done by someone else that is more experienced. 

Nail Colors For Chubby Fingers

In addition to changing up your nail shape, you can also use nail colors to make your fingers look thinner. It’s nothing different from the rules of clothes fashion where some colors and patterns give you a thinner appearance than others. You’ll hear that black is the way to go for slimmer-looking figures and stripes can go either way depending on whether you wear them vertically or horizontally. 

Likewise, the nail colors you choose can give your nails the thinner look that you desire. Let’s look at some colors that make your fingers look thinner. 

Naturals 

Natural nail colors will give you thinner-looking fingers because they blend well with skin tones. Using bright colors like red and orange shows clearly where your finger stops and your nail starts, providing a contrast that will make it obvious that your fingers are on the thicker side. 

Natural colors on the hand will make your fingers appear longer since they blend well with skin tones. And longer-looking fingers give the appearance of being thinner. 

If you have a deeper skin tone, opt for deeper natural tones that match the skin tone.

Nudes

If you want to add some color to your nails, then nudes are the best for thinner-looking fingers. The light colors that nudes provide soften the appearance of your fingers which helps the nude colors to blend well with your fingers. As we discussed before the better your fingers blend with your nails the more elongated your nails will look which will give them a thinner appearance. 

If you would like to add a bit of pattern to your nails, then vertical designs are good for a thinner appearance. I’d personally minimize the number of patterns I use to only one or two nails as too many patterns may look a bit crowded on your fingers. 

What Nail Style Is Best For Chubby Fingers

While there are many nail styles out there that will make your hands look great like acrylic and dip nails. However, I think the best one for making chubby fingers look thinner is the nail wraps. Acrylics are thicker than nail wraps which will add to the thickness of your fingers if you use them. 

Nail wraps, on the other hand, are quite slender and give more of a natural aesthetic to your nails than other synthetic nails. 

Nail wraps are actually healthier for nails than acrylic. If your nail plate is cracked, then you can use the nail wrap to place a barrier between your nails and nail polish while it heals. Acrylics on the other hand run the risk of further damaging your nails if you place them directly on damaged nails. 

They are also easier to manipulate into the shapes we previously discussed. They are great for beginners because some nail wraps come pre-shaped so you will have an easier time shaping them into any one of the shapes we spoke about before. 

Nail wraps come in silk, fiberglass, paper, and linen. Personally, I prefer the fiberglass nail wrap, as it is more durable than silk nail wraps and easier to wear without adding color than linen nails. 

How To Apply Nail Wraps

You must first prepare your nails before applying your nail wraps. Buff your nails to increase adherence, then brush away any dirt or particles left over from buffing. A material known as a resin activator will be required.

You’ll also need nail adhesive. The resin activator and nail glue will be used to strengthen and build up your nail wraps.

Shellac is frequently used to make resin. Shellac is the secretion of lac insects that live on trees in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. As these insects consume tree sap, they create a secretion that is gathered and used in items that require hardness and gloss, such as wood varnish or even food products such as confectionery.

This resin will be used to strengthen the fiberglass during the application procedure. To begin, apply a layer to your natural nail plate. Using a tool, apply the nail wrap strip to the nail.

You cannot apply the strip with your hand since the oil from your skin would damp the wrap, causing it to lift. Also, make sure the wrap doesn’t cover the nail all the way to the cuticles. It’s important to avoid applying the product too close to the cuticles since this will cause the wrap to lift, as it is with most nail grooming procedures.

After you’ve inserted and precisely positioned your wrap, apply a thin layer of glue over it using your nail glue brush. After you’ve secured it, you can cut your wrap to the length you want. The longer you want your nail wrap to be, the more layers you’ll need at the tip of your nails to sustain the wrap’s length.

Spray your resin activator on your nails once you’ve glued and clamped the initial layer to help the wrap harden.

Apply adhesive and resin to each layer to strengthen the nails. After the nails have sufficiently hardened, lightly file the nail to the desired form. After that, buff your nails to remove any weaving patterns that may have remained visible through your resin and adhesive layers.

A good way to improve the finish of the nails is to apply gel polish. For even stronger nails you can also apply tips to your nail plate before starting the process.  

Self-Care Tips For Nails

Moisturize

Ensure to replenish the moisture in your nails when you’re done filing. Filing wears and tears your nails so it needs moisture to rebuild strength. You can use natural butter like Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter, or you can use Coconut Oil.

Ensure to also use cuticle oil after every nail job in order to lessen the chance of damaged cuticles. Moisturize your nails every other day and every time you wash your hands. 

Take Filing Breaks

I know you want the best nail shape to make your fingers look thinner but be careful to not over file your nails. Give them a break every now and then to grow out naturally. Over-filing may make your nails brittle and you’ll find that you can’t even achieve a proper nail shape anymore because they keep breaking. 

Whenever you’re giving your nails a break you can apply nail hardener on them to fortify them while they rest. Your nails will thank you for the break.

Love Your Nails

Whether your fingers are chubby or not, make sure to love your nails and yourself. So, to show your hands you care to ensure you practice good nail hygiene. Give them a good clean regularly and buff them to make them shine. The care you give your nails will give you a sense of pride and you probably won’t even mind that they’re chubby. 

Conclusion

While you may not be able to make your fingers thinner, you can definitely use these nail shape techniques to give them a slenderer appearance. As long as you use these tips in addition to proper nail care you’ll gain much more confidence about their appearance and may even one day be showing them off!

Sources:

• Diamancel: Fine Natural Fragile Nail Hand File Diamond
• Fishpond: ASP Zebra Angle Board Nail File
• Sally Hansen: Hard As Nails Coarse Nail Board

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