For a good 6 years in my life I paid to get my nails done professionally every other week. That's about $40 every other week to get those glamours nails professionally manicured! Manicure/ gel/ acrylic... you name it, I did it! There's nothing like walking out of the nail salon with a fresh coat of paint! But my faster paced lifestyle did not leave me much room for this luxury! Plus I didn't even want to BEGIN to think about the thousands of dollars I had spent in my life on maintaining the perfect french tips!
So I started to do my own manicures&pedicures! I did a lot of research on how to get those classy nails looking perfect on my own! Here is what I found...
There are a few steps required to getting the perfect manicure. First off lets discuss the products you will want to invest in!
1) Cuticle Pusher Nail Tool and Cuticle Oil
You can skip the oil and soak your fingers in warm, soapy water if you want to cut cost a bit! Do NOT trim your cuticles yourself! This can cause infection, so leave that to a professional, just pushing back your cuticles is sufficient enough.
Darling Tip: Push back your cuticles right after you get out of the shower.
2) Shape and trim your nails using a nail file
I do not use nail clippers, I find it easier to get the shape of nail I want by filing them. I am not a fan of the plastic/glass/metal files, I have found that the classic emery board style works the best!
3) Base coat and Top coat polish
Spending a few extra dollars on polish actually pays off! I noticed a HUGE difference when using Sally Hansen base and top coat and a Revlon base and top coat...The Revlon worked better each time.
Darling Tip: The Quick Dry top coat works wonders and really does dry faster than the others! Just wait until your top coat of your colored polish is dry before you apply this baby otherwise you could create tiny bubbles in your polish, OYE!
4) The Perfect Polish
As I stated earlier, nail polish brand counts! Using the cheap brands will really cause you more work in the end because the polish will chip and look cheap after only a couple of days! You know you have a good polish when your manicure looks good for 5 days at least! The only brands I use are Revlon (about $5 a bottle) , OPI and Essie (both about $8 a bottle)
4) Prep the nail and Paint!
After your cuticles have been pushed back, and your nails filed to the perfect shape you are ready to paint! I start with one coat of the Base Coat. Let it dry (about 2 minutes) Then I proceed with 2 coats of the color of my choice (letting the first colored coat dry for about a 2 minutes before painting the second coat of color). Lastly, I top it all off with the top coat! I try to avoid doing anything really with my hands for at least an hour since the nails can FEEL dry but are probably still tacky.
Darling Tip: I try to wait to do my nails until right before bed! That way, when I wake up I can be confident that my nails are completely dry and ready to go!
Here are some of my favorite colors and styles!
Email me if you have any questions about this!
And Stay Darling!
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