On DIY Manicures and Nailing It

This post is brought to you by our friends from Nail Lounge.

Kidding. But not really. Nail care, and everything there is to know about nails, I learned from my sister. Everything (most of it anyway) nail-related in my possession came from my sister. She really knows her stuff, so much so that she now operates a modest chain of nail salons. (Visit Nail Lounge!)

Anyway, one thing about me is that I always have my toe nails done in a nail salon, but never my hand nails. (Do you say hand nails or just nails?) I’m too protective of my hands/nails—I feel that my hands are intimate territory, I don’t like them ‘serviced’. So then I do them myself. And in my quick MO and simple arsenal are these:

Left to Right: Nail file, nail buffer (the block type is way more easier to use!), Essie First Base Basecoat, Essie Nail Polish in Bermuda Shorts, Essie Good to Go! Top coat, Creative Nail Design’s Solar Oil, hand brush

I start with washing my hands thoroughly, scrubbing my nails and the skin around it as I do so. I use a gentle hand wash like Messy Bessy or Bath and Body Works Foaming Handwash. I towel-dry my hands and while they’re soft I push my cuticle gently with my nails. And then I file my nails in one direction (filing back and forth can lead to ragged edges), after which I buff away. After buffing, I brush my nails to get rid of all that ‘nail powder’. I find brushing with natural bristles invigorating to the hands. I spray a bit of water to completely clean the nail surface, and then wipe each nail gently.

Buffed and clean, all set for color!

Next I apply the base coat. This really keeps the polish longer, and sort of protects the nails from turning yellow. It’s also gives a better surface for the color to set in. Applying base coat’s also a nice warm-up (as in praktis) for the next couple of critical brush strokes you’ll be doing with the actual color polish.

Essies Bermuda Shorts, which strangely dries flat.

The next part is quite tricky, and would need some practice: apply your polish with the widest spread of the brush down the middle of the nail but start a millimetre away from the nail bed. Do this with a thin-spread brush on each side of the nail as well. Try to follow the shape of the nail bed, without the brush touching it. This makes your job look neater and helps keep the polish from chipping. After drying in between coats, apply the topcoat. After all that’s dried, I brush a bit of Solar Oil  (a yummy almond-scented conditioning oil) to my cuticles.

Of course there’s a little sabit, but they come off after some hand-washing.

I try to mess with my nails (cuticle, nail bed, etc) as little as possible, but you can always add steps in between. Hope this helps save you time, money (and your nails!) to spend somewhere else more exciting. 🙂