The manicure. The at home manicure. Achieving a perfect at home manicure may rank up there with next to impossible tasks. This is false information you have been feeding yourself. What is happening is that not all essential steps are being taken. When giving yourself an at home manicure it is best to follow the similar steps to what you experience in a salon.
First, remove polish. It is best to go with an acetone free remover such as Butter London Powder Room ($8). It is strong enough to swipe away existing color. If current polish is glitter, the big guns are needed. It will need to be acetone based such as Target’s Up & Up polish remover ($2).
Then take a warm bowl of water and soak finger nails for a minimum of two minutes. Apply CND’s SolarOil ($8) to cuticles to condition them. While the oil is being absorbed by the cuticles, file and buff nails. Tweezerman has bright files ($5) that look cool while getting the job done in cool designs. They come in a case which is great to drop into your purse. After buffing and filing, the cuticles should be ready to be pushed back. With Tweezerman’s Nail Rescue Kit ($20) there is a mini pushy and cleaner. One end is used to push cuticles back and the other is to clean under the nail. It is a sin to snip cuticles, but if you must the mini kit has a nipper for loose ones.
After cleaning up the nail beds, treat hands to a little rest and relaxation. Babor’s Spa Mediterranee for Hands ($26) is an exfoliating treatment that helps to leave skin soft and touchable and keep hands looking young. Massage into hands and then thoroughly rinse off.
Once hands are clean and dry you can begin painting. It is necessary to start with a solid base or foundation. Butter London has just that: Nail Foundation, Flawless Basecoat ($19). This basecoat helps for polish to stay on the nails longer. Then apply color. Vapour Organic Beauty has a wide range of Vernissage Nail Lacquers ($12) in the perfect size. For example, the Looker shade is a great deep, midnight green. For a more neutral option Mineral Fusion’s polish ($8) in Precious pink is a nude that looks wonderful on longer nails. Sandwich that excellent manicure with a seal of Butter’s Hardwear ($19), a quick drying top coat. Fix up the edges with LCN’s Polish corrector ($10) because the chances of staying in the lines are slim. The more practice with an at home manicure the neater the outcomes will be.
Last, but not least is the drying process. This is where the at home manicure seems to go awry most because patience is waning. After about two minutes, stick finger in ice cold water. It really helps to dry polish super-fast. If the idea of that seems like torture, have Sally Hansen’s Dry & Go Drops ($5) ready. Apply a drop or two and nails dry much faster than just waiting around.
The at home manicure seems like it takes an effort, but in reality the steps are quick. It will help keep the manicure lasting as well.
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