Over the years, I’ve picked up numerous manicure tips from professional manicurists, my fellow nail fanatics and my own experiences. I’ve shared a lot of them with you in other posts but never pooled together my faves.
Tip 1 – Swipe bare nails with vinegar prior to polishing. Yep, plain old white vinegar. It removes any oils or residues to help your manicure last.
Tip 2 – Use a thin brush dipped in nail polish remover to clean up polish mistakes. This one seems so obvious to me now but, when I first learned of it, it was a total, “Eureka!” moment. Lightly swiping the brush inside the cuticle will give you the perfect, professional polish curve, EVERY TIME!
Tip 3 – Wrap your tips (aka cap the free edge). This is one of those blink and you’ll miss it techniques that all professional manicurists use. As you finish each coat of base, polish and top coat, lightly swipe the edge of your nail to prolong wear. Pictured below is an exaggerated version of what wrapping your tips looks like.
Tip 4 – Roll your way to the perfect French tip. As you know, I’m not a fan of the classic French manicure but I’m always on board for a funky, colorful French. If you have the patience, using tape will give you foolproof results but in this fast paced world, as Sweet Brown says, “ain’t nobody got time for dat!” The key is to use a polish with a thin brush, like Revlon Nail Art Expressionist, hold your brush steady, and roll your finger underneath.
Tip 5 – Apply cuticle oil to the skin around your nail prior to polish removal to prevent staining. This is crucial when you are using dark polishes or colors that are notorious for staining. Blues & greens I’m looking at you. The added benefit, you protect the skin from the drying effects of nail polish remover.
What are you favorite nail tips? Do you use any of these in your typical manicure routine?
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Revlon and Style Coalition. For more info, view my Disclosure Policy.
If you’re a child of the 80s or 90s, you undoubtedly owned a Caboodles makeup carrier at some point in your adolescence. Mine was pink and green and it still exists somewhere in my parents’ house. Though I can’t bear to think of what rotten, old makeup is living in there! Well, Caboodles are still around peeps and they created a storage solution with us nail polish fanatics in mind.
Over the years, a post about my Nail Polish Room has sparked many inquiries about my OPI train case. Unfortunately, it was a limited edition item I bought over eight years ago and I’ve been looking for something to recommend to readers ever since. Enter the Caboodles Gilded Pleasure Nail Valet. Take a peek inside…
Of all the amazing things I saw at New York Fashion Week, what I was most excited to come home and try is a look that never even appeared on the catwalk. It’s a new nail art technique that CND Co-Founder Jan Arnolddiscovered in Russia and I couldn’t wait to share it with all of you.
It’s a technique for making your own nail art decals using nail polish that CND’s Russian Education Ambassadors created. Essentially you are designing your own version of Minx or Sally Hansen Salon Effects at home. It’s easy and fun and I just know you DIY peeps are going to love it.
Happy Friday Fanatics! Things have been a bit slow this week because I suffered a massive tear on my ring finger and I’ve been been babying it. However I do have a few fun things to show you that will go up later today.
In the meantime, I was reading a recent article on Glamour’sGirls In The Beauty Department blog about whether or not nails need to “breathe” (they don’t btw) and in it they mentioned “buffing is key” to getting your natural nails to look good.
I’ve talked to many a manicurist over the years and there are definitely two camps when it comes to buffing. Those that feel that an occasional light buffing to smooth out ridges/imperfections is okay and others who consider a regular buffing part of a proper manicure.
Now let me clarify, when I say “occasional” I mean once every few months and by “regular” I mean once every week/two. I doubt I could find a manicurist worth their salt that would advise to buffing your nails every few days as that would severely weaken the nail plate.
Personally, I stand firmly in the anti-buffing camp. I rarely buff my nails because they are naturally weak. When I do, I use a tip I received from Celebrity Manicurist Elle who told me to apply cuticle oil to the nail plate prior to buffing. The oil provides slip that prevents you from removing too many layers from the plate.
So what’s your take? Is a good buffing part of your regular manicure routine? Are you in the no-buffing camp? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Much like wrapping the perfect present, a flawless, long lasting manicure requires a little wrapping of its own. Wrapping the free edge of your nail with polish helps extend the wear of your manicure and should become an essential step in your routine.
I’m sure most professional nail techs consider this part of their everyday manicure service but it’s not as well known in the consumer world. Since we discussed this technique in the comments of my Quirius review, and there were multiple requests for details, I figured a quick tutorial was in order.
Read on to see my step-by-step guide to wrapping your tips and get a look at one of American Apparel’s latest nail polish releases. It’s GREEN!
