I started out by typing up a whole introduction for this post about people not having time for manicures and how easy it is to do it yourself. But I got distracted by my collection of Sex and the City dvds, therefore, I got lazy to finish. So, I’m gonna try to keep it simple.
Whenever I have given myself manicures [even when I worked at a nail salon], I would do a quick job of it. I do this at home too. :]

Mini manicure»

I love this product. I got it at the pro shop. If you can’t find it at a beauty supply store, you can get it at Amazon.com or just search the web for it. It’s called be natural cuticle eliminator. It’s a little pricey for a 1 oz., but I love it. A little goes a long way. This is the same company a lot of nail salons use for callus remover. Great brand.

I applied enough to cover my cuticles. You can use another cuticle remover.

I waited for a minute for the product to soak in. Then I gently pushed my cuticles back.

I cleaned all the residue off with an alcohol pad. You can just use paper towel.

I nip only hang nails and/or dead skin. If you have a pair of these, be very careful with it. I cannot tell you how many times my past clients have went overboard with them, ending in painful bleeds. My favorite cuticle nippers are from a Vietnamese brand. These ones in the picture are from CVS, Tweezerman. They’re the best ones I found at a non-beauty supply store.

After all the pushing and nipping, I file and wipe clean with alcohol again. I buff my nails very rarely. Another mistake my past clients have done was buffing too much. Buffing thins your nails, making them prone to cracking and breaking.

If you’ve ever wondered, these are tools I use for creating nail designs. You can find them at beauty stores and online. If you can’t, you can use things found in every home usually.

Left picture: these are double ended dotters. They make creating designs like simple flowers, hearts, and polk-a-dots easier. You can use a pointy toothpick for small dots and the bare end of a cotton swab sticks for bigger dots. Take a cotton swab, remove the cotton on the ends as best as you can. Run the ends with water for a bit. Then rub/scrap of the rest of the cotton. You don’t want fizzes ruining your dots.
Right picture: these are french brushes. A trick with nail technicians and manicurists…paint on a white polish [whichever you chose] on the tips. Doesn’t have to be neat. Create a nice curve and clean up the mistakes with a brush dipped in polish remover. If you can’t find a french brush, you can use an old eye shadow brush.

These are striping paints/nail art polish. Basically, it’s just slim nail polish bottles with a thin brush. If you can find skinny brushes like this, you can use acrylic craft paint instead. Craft paint is great because if you mess up, you can just wash it off with water. I’ve seen striping paints be sold at major stores like Walmart and Meijer.

Hope you found some things from this post useful.
Candy-cane nails later. :]

Related posts:

1. My Nails: 111009. Cool. Simple. Lasting Four days ago I went to Cozmo, The School to...
2. My Nails: 08062009 Just got finished doing my nails. =) Great look if...
3. My Nails: 112409 I cut my nails short ’cause the long was getting...
4. HOLLIdayDecoration. Holly is a known for an Amercian Christmas decoration. Whenever...
5. My Nails: 08042009 I change my nail color pretty much everyday or every...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.