Hey beauties! I was doing my nails one day and my younger sister came up and started watching, asking why I was doing certain parts of my routine. And then it occurred to me. Some girls don't really know how to do their nails. I remember watching my grandma do her nails as a child, absolutely mystified as she painted her tips deep red. So I thought I'd put together a short how-to on my nail care routine.
What you need:
-Nail Polish Remover
-Cotton Balls
-Q-Tips
-Four-Way Nail Buffer(You can get these cheaply at any drugstore near the nail care. I got mine at -Sally's Beauty Supply)
-Nail Clippers
-Nail Polish(I'm using Zoya's Gie Gie)
-Base and Top Coat(I'm not using any because I ran out and haven't gone to buy anymore yet)
Step 1:
Soak a cotton ball in the nail polish remore and sweep it vertically across your nail. If your trying to remove glitter polish, it can be a bit tricky. If that's the case, leave the cotton ball sit and soak on your nail. I'll have a tutorial on a simple way I like to remove glitter polish coming up.
Step 2.
Before moving on, go wash your hands to remove the acetone, its not good for your nails or hands. Next, grab your nail clippers and trim your nails to your desired length. I like to keep mine really short so they don't break when I'm at work.
Step 3.
Next, take your nail buffer. I don't typically use the file side, I don't like to file my nails, I feel like its not good for them. But if you want to file them and even out the sides, go right ahead. I move straight to the flat color side that allows me to buff out any lines and ridges on my nails, which I have a lot of.
Step 4.
I then move onto the white side, which gets rid of any scratches.
Step 5.
Finally, I buff using the gray shiny side which polishes the nail and makes them very shiny.
Step 6.
Now to the hard part, putting on the polish. If you have a base coat handy, put two coats on before the nail color and let them dry fully. Then take your preferred nail color and slowly start painting your nails. A few tips for you. 1. Start in the center of your nail and work your way out to the sides. This way, you get a nice even coat. And always go vertically, following the grain. 2. If your hands are a little shaky, rest your pinky on something steady, like a book. This helps especially when your using your less dominate hand. Once done, let the first coat dry.
Step 7.
If you need to, start applying your second coat. Some polishes are opaque enough that you don't need to do this. But I like to use two coats regardless to ensure an even job and to let the manicure last a long time. Let that coat dry and then apply one to two coats of a top coat. I recommend Out the Door top coat, I think you can get it at Sally's). It's very shiny and last a long time.
Step 8.
Once your nails are dry, take a Q-Tip and soak an end of it in the nail polish remover. If your anything like me and are a bit clumsy, you'll have some nail polish on the tips around the nail. I like to use this technique to fix any clumsy moments. It allows me to clean up the edges without accidently messing up the paint job.
And with that, you have beautifully polished finger nails. I hope you enjoyed this step by step tutorial. Do you have any tips for a good at home nail manicure? Leave them in a comment below! Thanks for reading :)
