How to Do a Manicure At Home

Having your nails look stellar is a luxury that a lot of us have trouble spending money on. We know that if we could just paint our nails at home we could potentially save lots of money each month. My suggestion is to take your hands in once every 6 weeks for a basic manicure. That may be a long time to not pamper those digits but getting that manicure every now then will keep your nails strong and healthy. You just need to do the maintenance between visits; here is how you can get that salon manicure at home:

Step 1: Remove any nail polish from your finger nails. Be sure to use a gentle remover and get in the corners and hard to remove places.

Step 2: Wash your hands with warm water and soft hand soap. Concentrate on getting under the nails and focusing on the cuticles.

Step 3: Rest hands in a shallow bowl of warm soapy water for about 5 minutes each. This will help when it comes to removing the cuticles.

Step 4: Dry hands off and use cuticle scissors and trim the skin around your nails and nail beds. Be careful when you are doing this, you don’t want to cut too far.

Step 5: Cut your nails to the length you want. You should always trim a little bit no matter what, it helps the nails strength.

Step 6: Use a buffer to buff each nail from base to the tip of the nail until smooth. Do not buff too long, your goal is to remove the ridges creating an almost smooth but rough base for the nail polish to stick too.

Step 7: File your nails to even out the tips. File them in a rounded or square like shape and then rinse hands and dry off.

Step 8: Apply a clear base coat to nails. Let dry for about 5-6 minutes.

Step 9: Pick your color and nail polish of choice. I prefer polishes that are made for manicures and not acrylics nails. Polishes like OPI and China Glaze are rumored to be made for acrylic nails. Try using the brand Essie.

Step 10: Paint a thin coat. Allow the nails to dry 7-10 minutes. Add a second coat and allow drying. The thinner the paint is, the less it will chip.

Step 11: Once the second coat is dry apply a clear top coat. Give that full 15 minutes to dry before moving!

Now you have perfectly polished hands at half the cost! Have fun with the colors and nail trends, you are the artist.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post from Laura Backes, she enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet providers in my area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com.