Over the years, I found that I feel a lot better when I do my own nails. I don't really feel comfortable with someone butchering my cuticles and charging me for it, so I started teaching myself the art of the manicure!
I started by learning how to properly file nails, how to deal with devastating cuticles, and how to paint my nails perfectly! Along the way, I started picking up products manicurists use on my nails, so that I would be able to get the same, picture perfect result every single time. My manicure routine is one I've adapted from countless manicurists, by watching and learning. This routine is one that leaves me with perfect looking nails, week after week after week! If you have some trouble applying nail polish perfectly, I can only tell you that practice makes perfect! Practice practice practice. A year ago, I couldn't paint nails if my life depended on it, but I would practice every few days, learning how to perfect the lines, how to keep everything looking nice & smooth and how to finish with manicure ready nails.
Start with clean, nude nails. File them if they're mismatched.
1. Scrub your hands, I like to use Bath & Body Works True Blue Spa Scrub. It smells divine and leaves my hand silky smooth. It's also very easy to manage. Focus on your nails!
2. Moisturize your hands. Give your hands some loving after the harsh scrub, and massage the lotion onto your skin. I also love Bath & Body Works True Blue Hand Cream. Since I don't have it on hand at the moment, I've been using their White Citrus Nourishing Hand Cream.
3. I like dabbing a little bit of Argan Oil on my hands, focusing especially on the nails. The oil, which works miracles wherever you use it, strengthens nails like you wouldn't believe! I leave it on my hands for a while.
4. A while later, I use my cuticle pusher to push my cuticles back a little, and have everything look nice and clean. This is the most important step, since no picture perfect mani happens with ugly, mismatched, dry cuticles. Make sure you work slowly, though, and don't hurt yourself.
5. I then coat my nails with OPI's Nail Envy. It's for extra measure, though, since the oil already acts as a strengthener. I take this step, though, just because I have very weak and brittle nails, so I can never been too protected!
6. I apply Orly's Bonder, an amazing rubberized base coat that fills in and prevents ridges, and helps nail polish stick longer onto the nail, therefore elongating the life of the manicure. I found that with Bonder, my nails have gone up to a week with no sign of chipping.
7. Go ahead with the nail polish, making sure to leave a small gap between where the color ends and where your cuticles are. Picture perfect nails don't include messy, colored cuticles!
8. Apply a top coat, I like to use Orly's Glosser, which gives the most amazing shine. It takes a tad longer to dry, though, but I personally think it's worth it.
9. Last but not least, apply a few drops of a quick dry product, my favorite is Orly's Flash Dry. It's extremely easy to use, and cuts dry time in half, which makes it so much easier for me.
And that's it! This is my nail polish routine. I do it twice a week, mainly because I just love doing my nails, but also because I want to ensure I never leave my home without beautiful nails.