Giving yourself a good manicure isn’t just a question of clipping and filing your nails; for starters, the rest of your hands need love, too. With the right tools and gentle care, you can get salon-like results at home (which might also mean saving some money). Here’s what the experts recommend for nails that look healthy and polished, even if they’re not painted.
1. Create a clean base
First, wipe off any old polish. The Los Angeles-based nail artist Betina Goldstein suggests Karma Organics’ oil-based removers; acetone, the key ingredient in many other products, can dry out nails. And if you find that your skin gets stained while removing particularly dark colors, the New York-based nail artist Megumi Yamamoto recommends applying cuticle oil to the skin around the nail first.
Next, clean your hands with soap and water or a hand sanitizer. Yamamoto’s favorite cleansing solution is Sea Breeze, which “is not too drying and smells very fresh,” she says. Even though soaking your fingers in water is a common step at many salons, Yamamoto and Goldstein advise skipping it, especially because it can lengthen the time it takes polish to dry and make it streak.
Then, gently push back your cuticles. This makes bare nails look more elongated and even, and “if you apply polish on top of your cuticle, it’s going to look bumpy and peel faster,” says Goldstein.
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Yamamoto begins by softening the cuticles with a dab of Sea Breeze. Alternatively, she suggests applying Blue Cross’s Cuticle Remover to the base of your fingernails and letting it sit for a minute.
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Then, she uses an orange stick, topped with a small piece of a cotton ball, to push the cuticle back. If you used a remover, wipe away any residue.
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Use a cuticle clipper to get rid of any hangnails, but leave cutting the actual cuticles — an optional, occasional step — to the professionals.
