Step one 

 

 

 

If you have young kids, put the kids in bed, and go make yourself a tea or coffee, then you need 30 minutes to make sure the kids are not having one of those nights, whereby they get up 10 times (mummy this and mummy that) before they finally drift off to sleep. 

 

 

 

Step two 

 

 

Gather your supplies, your beverage of choice, towel (you are creating a five-star spa at your kitchen table), why not spoil yourself. Put a lemon or frozen fruit in your glass of water or prosecco, it is your own personal spa. For me it’s a cuppa tea and a rich tea but hey this is my spa. 

 

Relax and Breath, get ready as this is your time to slow down, take some time just for you and care for yourself. 

For the manicure you will need the below
(if you click on them it will bring you to amazon for my recommendation, but you can normally buy locally to start today)

A cuticle trimmers/stick
A nail file

Nail base coat

Nail polish

Clear top coat
Fingernail clippers
Cotton swabs/rounds
Nail polish remover

 

Make sure your nails are dry and you haven’t just finished the never-ending mountain of dishes that accumulates daily, no wriggled skin from too much time in water.  Water can make your nails chip or the polish come away, so be sure to leave it an hour or so before doing you manicure. 

 

Remove all Traces of Polish from your previous manicure using your nail polish remover and cotton swabs which now come in reusable forms. Like Tabitha Eve | Reusable Nail Varnish Remover Pads | Made From Bamboo | Pack Of Five Pads | Handmade In UK  

 

Now saturate the pads with nail polish remover and gentle press on the nail and leave for a few seconds, before swiping as it helps the polish to dissolve, and thus making it much easier to remove the existing nail polish on your fingertips.

 

Filing - we file to get the desired shape – if you are not sure which shape you are looking for, please see the below descriptions of the most common types of finger nail shapes:

• Almond. Almond nails have rounded angled sides that meet at a rounded tip, think of the almond nut itself. 

• Round. Round nails are the sides are filed straight then lead into a semicircle tip.

• Square. Square nails have flat top with straight and with sharp corners. 

• Coffin/Ballerina. These nails are filed to get narrower as they move away from the nail bed, with a square point at the tip. The shape resembles a coffin or a “ballerina” because it looks like the square toe of a ballet shoe.

• Squoval. squared/ oval nails are comparable to square nails, a part from the edges are rounded slightly to create a more oval shape tip

 

• Stiletto.  are similar to almond, but they have a sharper point at the tip. Mostly worn long the shorter version of the stiletto can be called a “mountain peak.”

 

Filling you nail help to keep the all uniform which in turn gives them that elegant look and can really improve the appearance of our hands. It is a fact that each and everyone’s nail bed if a different shape I use this to help guide me on the shape that will look good on my hands. 

 

 

Please do not seesaw your nail as this can cause breakage and damage you nail, always use nail clippers, especially if you have lots of nail length to remove. Once cut to your desired length, now you can start to file to desired shape. When filing, personally I start from the outer corner into the centre of the nail and repeat on the other side. 

 

The Cuticle is quite a thin layer of tissue that grows from under the frame of the nail.   This can be softened with oils and moisturisers and can then be gently removed with a stick. The living skin around your nail is called the frame and shouldn’t be cut, as this will cause it only grow back thicker and harder, which you most definitely do not want and could make it more different a process in the future. 

 

To keep this area looking better use creams and oils, preferably at night before bed, this can help make the nails better and might take time. Go Gently and not heavy handed as this can damage the nail and cause white spots. 

 

Now that your nails are tidy let’s go and refill our glasses/cups and wash our hands removing all the excess dust and oils that you have accumulated during the previous processes.  Always ensure that you dry thoroughly your nails or alternatively you can brush all the dust away and then use nail polish remover to remove the oils on your nails. 

 

 

 

Now For The Easy Part 

 

 

Base Coat   - This is a unique one coat layer the main aim is that is stops the darker colour from dying you nails, but the base coat can do so much more now it can strengthen, make you colour last longer, growth boasting, quick drying - so pick one on what you need the most.  I have thin nails so I like the base coats that Strengthen my nails.

 

 

 

 

Painting on you colour 

 

 

 

When Applying colour Polish to the Nail, I try not go too close to the nail beds or the sides leaving a very thin space which can make the nails look a lot nicer and neat. (this takes practice don’t panic if it hard at first). I use the three-strip method and it has always came out looking not to bad for me. 

 

Start by wiping one side of the brush on the neck of the bottle removing access paint, then place the brush in the centre of the nail gently fan the brush out to a nice curve, and then push it back to the base of the nail.  The brush should then create that neat curve for you, now pull the brush back straight up the nail. For the sides it similar motion just don’t fan the brush as much and you will over lap on the centre strip, don’t worry if the first coat is thin, we will let that dry and come back for another coat. (On some of the darker shades I would have to use three coats to get a good colour coverage). 

 

Repeat this step on both hands, although please note that one hand will be harder that the other, due to being either left-handed or right-handed, but keep practicing you will get better. 

 

For all those smudges and wobbly lines, you should have a brush sitting in a little nail polish remover or a lent free pad (a little harder as its bulkier but can be used with extra care) for the clean up of those edges. 

  

Top coat again there are a lot of different top coats for different applications, shiny, matt, hard non chip top coat, etc Pick one that suits you I normally go for Gloss.  Put it on using the same method you did as the polish, but I would Cap the nail by swiping the clear polish lengthways across the tip, to help prevent any chips or peeling which normally happens first.  

 

Now you will need to sit for an hour or so to let them fully dry without smudging them put on your favourite TV programme and relax if not already on while you were painting.  Once your nail is dry please do not forget to add cuticle oil and moisturisers to your hands to put back moisture lost from the nail polish removers and chemicals used. 

Some Nail Studies you may be interested in if you like to dive deeper into the nails Subjects:-