Nail File Friday’s: 4 Easy Steps To Prepare Nails For Nail Polish

I decided to go back to basics by telling you what works for me when preparing my nails for nail polish. I’ve mentioned here the tools to own for the at-home manicure, now let’s put them to use.

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1. With my nails bare – meaning no nail polish, I start by using a cuticle pusher, I use the metal one, but the orange wood stick will also work. What’s the difference? The wood stick will be ideal if you have a softer cuticle, it’s also gentler on the nail, use it by gently pushing the cuticle towards the back of the nail. If you have dry cuticles or ingrown nails on the sides of the nail bed, now it’s the time to use the cuticle nipper to remove that.

2. I will cut my nails to my desired shape or I’ll simply file them down and will use a nail buffer – particularly if I see there are any slight bumps or ridges that appear on the nail bed, as this can cause an uneven polished look. My go-to on my natural nails is the ‘natural short’ shape – keeps me from accidental poking my kids!

Image result for clipart of different nail shapes

3. I use a cotton ball and pure acetone to clean the nail beds. However, you can also use a paper towel with rubbing alcohol – you don’t want to polish your nails if they have any lotion or cuticle oils, doing this will ensure your nails clean from it all.

4. And lastly, use a base coat. So, why the spend money, time and effort on base coat? A base coat will protect your nails from the nail polish. It will act as an adhesive to the nail polish, prevent staining from darker colors, peeling, give less of a streaky look from the nail polish and overall enhance and give you a beautiful polished look. Now, apply two coats of your desired shade of nail polish, allow it to dry for a few seconds and seal it with a top coat.

I know it may seem like one too many steps, however, if you take the proper steps in caring for your nails, the time it took you to polish your nails will definitely be worth the effort in the final results.

Hope you’re having a great Friday!

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Nail File Friday’s: Pink Shades + Gold Tape

I’ve been really loving bright colors lately – don’t get me wrong, I still love my darker shades. This week I’ve been wearing two tones of pink nail polish shades and also used some nail striping tape in gold.

Nail Polish Used: Essie Polish in S’il Vous Play (glitter gold) however, the next best thing is this glitter gold color in Luxeffects, Mod Square (pink) and Bachelorette Bash (fuchsia pink)

Nail Tools Used: Nail Striping Tape in GoldNail Brush for cleaning the sides of the nail and Cuticle Nipper to cut ends of the striping tape

 

To begin, after you have applied the Seche Clear Base Coat, apply two coats of the gold glitter polish. I painted the ring finger in Mod Square and the rest in Bachelorette Bash – for some reason the photo looks more like red, but it’s not, it’s a fuchsia pink – so pretty. Once the nail polish has dried, I placed nail striping tape in gold on the pinky finger – it’s subtle but makes such a difference, gently press down and cut with the cuticle nipper. Allow that to dry completely and then apply a top coat to all, I like Out The Door Top Clear Coat. To know the basic nail tools I own for the perfect at-home manicure, you can find it here!

Hope you have a great Friday!

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Nail File Friday’s: Reverse French Manicure

So this week I tried something new, it’s the ‘Reverse French Manicure’ in a nude shade and light pink glitter polish – so easy and so nice! This is the perfect nude and the glitter gives it that something extra – hope you give this a try!

Nail Polish Used: Essie: Go Go Geisha (nude) and S’il Vous Play (pink with glitter) I wasn’t able to find that exact color but A Cut Above (pink with glitter) is the next best thing!

Nail Tools Used: Avery Reinforcement Labels and the Nail Brush for cleaning the sides of the nail

As always, apply your Seche Clear Base Coat and apply two coats of Go Go Geisha, allow the color to completely dry before applying the Reinforcement Label. Once it’s dry, place the Label as near or as far away from your cuticle as you’d like – the further away from the cuticle, the more of the second color that will show, press the label down lightly on your nail and apply A Cut Above or the second color, remove the label while the nail polish is still wet. Allow that to dry completely before applying your Out The Door Top Clear Coat – if you don’t give the polish enough time to dry before applying the top coat, the second polish will smear. And that was it, now you’ve got a beautiful reverse french manicure!

If you haven’t seen my post on the basic nail tools to own for the perfect at-home manicure, you can find it here!

Have a great Friday!

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