It’s easy to achieve beautiful nails at home, while chilling out on the couch watching your fave TV show. For me this occured last night in between Bad Girls Club (shame!) and The Hills. I am now feeling much more glam with my OPI ‘Monsooner or Later’ painted nails. And typing on a keyboard is made that much more pretty with freshly painted nails. Here’s how to achieve the look at home…
*Start with either filing or cutting your nails to your desired length. I prefer mine quite short when I have coloured polish on.
*Apply cuticle remover to the cuticles, let sit for about 1 minute, then work them back with an orange or hoof stick. (I like Orly cuticle remover, and you can find this and orange or hoof sticks at the chemist. An orange stick is made of wood, and is what usually comes in a mani/pedi kit. A hoof stick is plastic, and the length of it is usually white and the tip red.) Make sure you completely remove every last trace of cuticle remover after pushing your cuticles back.
*Snip away any little bits of cuticle that are left over. Be very careful with cuticle trimmers, as these babys are pretty sharp. Do not cut your skin. Cutting your cuticle is like cutting your hair or a nail, cutting your skin – induces bleeding.
*Buff. I am in LOVE with my Seacret from the Dead Sea 3 -way buffer. They’re those people who sell to you from a stand in the middle of the mall. The buffer at least is a good investment.
*Apply a nice, thick hand cream. I love Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream. Work it into your cuticles well.
*Time to paint. Start off with a clear base coat, to protect your nails from stains. Orly does a good one, but you can pick up a clear base coat from the chemist pretty cheap. Australis actually has a great combined top and base coat which I like. Let your base coat dry. Make sure you can touch each fingernail without leaving imprints before you start the next layer. Probably wait about 7 minutes.
*Paint on 2 layers of colour, (thinly), waiting about 10 minutes between each layer. Once you have painted the second layer on, wait another 10-20 minutes, to make sure your polish is completely dry, then paint on a top coat. This adds shine, as well as making your manicure last longer by preventing chipping.
Voila! A beautiful at-home manicure. It’s nice to treat yourself sometimes.
……To make this at-home manicure extra special, why not pop on a face mask before you start (remembering to exfoliate before hand), and even a hair mask – utter beauty bliss.
What are your beauty tips and secrets? I’d love to know them (I’m a fiend for beauty treatments and products). Comment below. xo
