Nail File Friday’s: How To Apply Nail Polish

I wrote here on what works for me when preparing my nails for nail polish. I’ve also shared here the tools to own for the at-home manicure and today I wanted to share basic tips on how to apply nail polish. This is would be the fun part of doing a pretty polished look on your nails. I’ve found that once you get the into the habit or ‘rhythm’ of things, you’ll do these steps pretty quickly.

3 Easy Tips To Prep for Nail Polish:

Tip: Do you have a shaky hand, a dominant hand and a not so dominant hand? Yes, I have a dominant hand too – my right. Do your nail polish on a table or desk, somewhere steady, where you’ll be able to rest both of your hands as you polish. I like to use my right hand – my dominant to paint my left hand first. I do this so that the left hand has enough time to dry when I begin my right hand. It leaves me with less mistakes.

Still have an unsteady hand, no problem try this ‘Magique’ Liquid Latex Barrier for nails. It comes in a nail polish bottle, simply apply this around your nail – your cuticle, and then apply your nail polish – do NOT wait for your nail polish to dry, peel off the latex barrier right away after you’ve applied the nail polish. This latex barrier is perfect for gradient, splatter, water marble and stamping nail looks. Apply the latex as you go, do NOT try to ‘save time’ by applying the latex to all your cuticles at once – it’s tempting, but don’t.

Tip: Prep the area where you’ll be doing your nails. I like to work with a paper towel near by, especially when I’m ready to use the nail brush to clean up any mistakes. Simply fill the cap of the nail acetone and dip the nail brush inside, clean the area of your nails and wipe the brush clean on the paper towel after every use.

Tip: When using darker or brighter colors you don’t want the skin to stain and leave a messy residue, so wait for the polish to dry a little first before cleaning your mistakes around your skin.

4 Easy Steps To Apply Nail Polish:

1. Great nails start with healthy cuticles. When preparing the nail beds for nail polish, push back the cuticles, never cut. If you have areas where there may be a bit of dry or dead skin, if you do, carefully remove it with a cuticle nipper.

2. Before applying a base coat or any polish, be sure to use a bit of pure acetone with a lint free paper towel or your daily rubbing alcohol to clean the nail bed. If you use a cotton ball, be sure there are no traces of that left on your nail. You want to clean the nail bed first because it’s easy for oils or dust from the nail filings to get onto your nails and give you an uneven manicure. 

3. Do NOT shake your nail polish bottle. This creates bubbles in the polish which then transfer onto your nails. Instead hold the bottle on the palm of your hand and simply roll the bottle.

Lastly ….

4. You will apply 2 coats of nail polish on each nail. When you bring out the polish brush out from the bottle, try not to get too much polish – a little goes a long way, clean out the excess on the bottle.

You will begin the first coat by making the first stroke in the middle of the nail, from the back – by the cuticle, to the front of the nail, then a stroke on the left – back to front, and lastly a stroke on the right side – from back to front. That’s ONE coat. Do it again for the SECOND coat – middle stroke, left stroke and right stroke or ‘middle, side, side’.

IF you’re using a light nail polish shade say, a nude or even white, I’ve found they at times require a third coat.

My Final Look Has:

1 Coat – ‘Seche’ Base Coat

2 Coats of Nail Polish (three strokes per coat on each nail)

1 Coat – ‘Out The Door’ Top Coat

This is optional ….

‘Cuccio’ Cuticle Oil – Milk & Honey  – Cuticle oil will avoid your cuticles from drying that can happen from the nail acetone, it helps keep your cuticles moisturized 

Do you do things different, do you use different products? Let me know what they are, share all the good info! Hope you have a great Friday.

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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!

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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