Step by Step Manicure

Step by Step Manicure - What Do You Need ?

Nail wipes which are lint free are best because they don’t leave behind cotton hairs on the nail, but if you can’t get them use cosmetic pads; but be careful because they will leave behind cotton hairs.

• Towel
• Nail Cleanser (acetone free nail polish remover will do if you have no nail cleanser)
• File
• Cuticle cream remover
• Bowl and soapy water with some lavender to aid relaxation
• Nail brush
• Orange stick or cuticle pusher

• Cuticle nippers
• Exfoliation cream/lotion
• Hand cream
• Acetone free nail polish remover
• Base coat nail polish
• Coloured nail polish
• Top coat
• Nail Oil
• A lamp so you can see the detail

Step by Step Manicure - Lets Begin

• Remove any polish from the nail by soaking nail swab in acetone free nail polish, place swab on the nail and leave for 10 seconds to soften polish, and sweep down towards free edge of nail. Repeat until all the nail polish is removed. If there are stubborn areas around the cuticle or underneath the free edge, take a baby bud and soak it in nail polish remover.
• Filing - Never saw back and forth across the free edge with your file as it can disrupt the nail plate layers and lead to splitting and peeling. File your nails by either rounding them off or squaring them. Round them off by taking the file first up one side and then the other from the outside corner to the centre of the nail plate. Finish by rounding the top. Square the nail by taking the file straight across the top of the free nail edge, if you prefer. You can give the corners just a little roundness so they don’t look quite as severe this way. To seal the free edge, use the 3-way buffer: black to refine, white to semi-shine and grey to finish. This will prevent the jaggy bits occurring !

• Cuticle Attention – using a quality cuticle softener, apply to the cuticles.
• Soaking and Relaxing - Place hands into a bowl with warm soapy water and a few drops of lavender : it’s time to relax for 5 minutes. Depending on the cuticle softener you are using it’s usual for a chemical reaction to take place between the soapy water and the cuticle softener to speed up the process of softening the cuticles.
• Remove your hands. Dip your nail brush into the bowl and brush underneath your nails just to make sure they are clean. Now you can throw the water away and dry your hands with the towel.
• Cuticle Work - Using the orange stick or cuticle pusher push your cuticles back. Don’t be too aggressive here as you don’t want to damage the nail matrix (bed). All you want to do is push any cuticle away from the nail plate. Take the cuticle clippers and cut any hang nails - these are the jaggy bits that can be loose at the side of the nail - the bits you just can’t resist biting off ! If there are none, don’t be tempted to cut skin !

Step by Step Manicure - Exfoliation and Massage

Exfoliation - At this stage you may wish to give your hands an exfoliation. Squeeze a small amount onto the backs of your hand and spread before gentle massaging exfoliation for about one minute. Now wash and dry your hands. Relax with Massage - We are nearly finished, so first you must massage some hand cream into your hands. Why not use an aromatherapy oil and give yourself a nice relaxing massage. It’s brilliant for the circulation.

Step by Step Manicure - Hot Paraffin Wax

Paraffin Wax Manicure If your hands are dry and in need of moisture you could apply a hot paraffin wax treatment.

Step by Step Manicure - Prepare to Polish

Wash - Before applying polish, ensure your nails are free of hand cream or oil. Wash and dry the nails using a small damp face cloth. Cleanse the nail plate with nail cleanser just to make sure all oil and cream residue are gone. Enamel will not adhere to oil or cream, so this is really important. If there are ridges on the nail you may wish to use a three waybuffer. Just as explained previously, use the black side, then the white side before finishing with the gray side. This will leave the nail looking naturally shiny.
Step by Step Manicure - Perfect Nail Polish You will require

• Base Coat – protects the nail from discolouration
• Coloured Polish – this is a personal choice
• Top Coat – gives a shiny finish and also seal colour and ensure it lasts longer

Make sure your nail polish is fresh. It should be thin and easy to apply.
Before opening, mix the polish in the bottle by turning it upside down and rolling it between your palms. Don’t shake the bottle as this will produce bubbles.
Step 1. First, apply a thin layer of base coat and leave for one minute.
Step 2. Next, apply two thin layers of colour and leave for one minute between each coat (some colours may require a third coat).
Step 3. Finally, apply a thin layer of top coat and leave to dry.

Applying Polish - make sure your brush is not overloaded with nail polish. Do this by dipping the brush into the nail polish and then wipe on the neck of the bottle with one side of the brush until you have only a little polish left on the brush on the side you didn’t wipe.
First stroke polish down the centre of the nail plate and then down either side. Three strokes in all. Leave a tiny gap at your cuticle and skin. Remember skin and cuticle contain oil which enamels cannot adhere to.
The secret to perfect polish is to apply thin layers and leave as much time as possible to dry between each layer.
If you leave the nails to dry for about 5 minutes you can then apply creative solar oil to help dry the nail quicker and also to ensure any little touches to the nail in the first vital drying hour will slide off rather than smudge.
Beware - nail polish takes a good hour to dry and harden properly.