Bonnie, I'm shocked that white Elmer's glue will make fake nails stick. My experience is that Elmer's won't stick to anything non-porus, like plastics. Still shocked. How do you do it?
To the OP: years ago, I tried to grow out my nails in anticipation of a weekend when I planned on painting them. When they got to about 3/16 inch longer than normal, they drove me crazy, but I stuck it out and painted them. Now, I use fake nails with adhesive nail tabs. With them, I love the look but I am totally unable to do anything. I don't know how GG's do it.