With all the hair and nail salons that are still closed due to COVID-19 beauty maintenance has been a challenge. While cutting hair is always best left to the professionals once these establishments open, there are a few key nail tricks I acquired from a friend that is a manicurist on how to get the perfect home manicure.
The first step toward the perfect home manicure is to wash and dry your hands. If you had your hands immersed in water while cleaning or washing dishes, then you might want to wait slightly due to all the moisture that could have softened the nails. Otherwise, filing those wet nails could cause them to break more easily.
When you are confident that the nails are thoroughly dry, you are ready to start filing. After all, any lingering moisture can interfere with polishing later and cause chipping so the surface needs to meet that requirement. Take a clean emery board and use the gritty side to file the nails. The important thing to remember for how to get the perfect home manicure is filing the nails in one direction instead. A back and forth motion may be quicker, but it also is damaging. This incorrect technique causes splits in the nails and weakens them.
Next, you want to concentrate on your cuticles to get the perfect home manicure. Therefore, you may want to grab a cuticle remover or an orange stick to push them back. Though want you to extend the length for the longest nails possible, you don’t ever want to resort to cutting the cuticle.
The result of cutting those cuticles could be harmful since you are compromising an actual living part of the nail. In addition, infection could occur as well as nail problems such as white spots, lines, ridges to stunting their growth. In fact, cutting cuticles always causes the skin to harden that could lead to a cycle of biting or tearing that skin and end in pain.
The fourth step involves prepping the nails’ surface to completely remove any remaining nail polish with remover for the initial wipe down. Then you want to devote another minute to grab a cotton ball with some of your facial toner or rubbing alcohol to cleanse off any lingering natural oils and residue on your nails. You may think this second cleaning hardly matters but any leftover traces of oil, polish or dirt can spoil the smooth nail surface for the polish to adhere to.
Now you are finally ready to lay down the base coat and begin painting the nails. To get the perfect home manicure, go for two coats of nail polish followed by a final layer of a top coat. However, you don’t want to rush. Give each layer at least two minutes to dry before proceeding with the next. Otherwise, you risk smudging.
Sitting still with freshly painted nails can be tough. Just because the nails appear dry doesn’t mean they are all totally dry. Most nail polish formulas can remain a bit tacky for about a half hour or so. Keep this fact in mind if you hope to get the perfect home manicure and fab nails.
Despite feeling currently depressed about your hair and nails because of your inability to get those beauty needs professionally done, I hope that you’ll find my friend’s advice helpful to at least get that perfect home manicure.
