How To Do A Manicure At Home: 11 Easy Steps With Benefits

Written by Urvi Dalal23rd Jul 2020
How to do a manicure at home: 11 easy steps with benefits

There is something really beautiful and elegant about getting a manicure. Whether you prefer minimal, simple French tips or like to flaunt the latest nail art fad on your nails, getting regular manicures is an absolute must. Hav* said that making time for those regular manicure appointments is an indulgence, not all of can afford. And this is exactly where DIY manicures at home come to your rescue. Thanks to so many step-by-step DIY manicure tutorials available online, doing your own manicure at home has become easier than ever.

But getting a good manicure at home is no child’s play, especially if you’re a beginner; it takes a lot of practice and skill. Even if you’re a DIY pro, at-home manicures never seems to last as long as when the actual pros do it. Yes, this sad but true. But this does not mean you have to give up just yet. You could, very likely be committing a few common faux pas that shorten the lifespan of your mani.

In this article you will learn:

- Benefits of manicure

- 11 steps to an at-home manicure

You can also watch a video of the salon-style manicure at home:

 

Benefits of manicure

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

- Increases blood circulation

Our hands are the most worked parts of the body and yet most ignored, manicure includes massaging your hands. This helps stimulate blood flow thereby improving mobility and flexibility of the wrists, fingers are joints.

- Keeps nails clean

Since you use you hands for pretty much everything, your nails are exposed to dirt, food colours, product residue and more that gets collected in the corners of the nails. Eating or cooking like this can be quite harmful to the body and can even lead to infections. Regular manicures ensure clean, healthy and strong nails.

- Makes hands soft

Your hands need moisture as much as your face but instead it is left thirsty due to the constant washing. Manicure involves massaging and exfoliating hands, this helps remove dead skin and nourish the skin on your hands at the deepest level.

 

Step 1: Start with pick the correct nail shape

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

If you’re a regular on Instagram, you would be constantly bombarded with information on trendy nail shapes such as the coffin or the stiletto (blame, Kylie Jenner for this). But it turns out the classic rounded nails are your best bet to avoid rips and snagging. Round nails have a really smooth shape and are less likely to catch on things. But you prefer to wear any other nail shape, just remember to round the edges on either side to avoid any sort of premature breaking.

 

Step 2: Remember to buff the edges of your nails

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Once you have settled on the shape of your nails, ensure that there is nothing left hanging on the edge. Filing your nails tends to leave a little debris under the nails, along the cuticle line, as well as on the sides. Therefore it is really important to use a nail buffer to get all remaining nail debris out. What this will do is, it will leave all thoroughly clean your nail bed and provide a clean surface for your nail polish to cling, in turn making it last a lot longer than it otherwise would. This is the perfect way to leave your nails bright and smooth by getting rid of any ridges before you begin to paint your nails. But do not over buff as that much amount of friction can cause permanent damage and leave your nails weak and brittle. Limit buffing to about three to four swipes and nothing more.

Here’s another filing tip that is extremely important to remember if you’re doing your manicure at home.  Always file your nails along the edges and in a single direction so as not to disrupt your nail fibers.

 

Step 3: Prep 'em nails well

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

While doing your manicure at home, we are all really excited to skip the steps and jump directly to the part where we start painting our nails. Before painting your nails, always ensure that your nails are thoroughly clean. But here’s something you should keep in mind, never soak them because pros believe that dry manicures are more sanitary and will ensure that your nail paint lasts a lot longer. Why? Because when you soak your nails, they end up expanding and once dry, they contract. This is what makes your nail paint chip faster than usual. Instead, we recommend that you simply clean your nails with a nail polish remover before you start painting. 

 

Step 4: Push the cuticles

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Start by soaking your nails in water for some time, this will enable your cuticle to become soft, so you will be able to push them back easily. This step is important to make your nails appear evenly shaped and longer. However, be careful while doing it at home as you might end up damaging your cuticle or hurting yourself.

 

Step 5: Exfoliate your hands

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Now that you have cleansed your nails thoroughly and have cut them in the desired shape the next step is to exfoliate your hands. This improves blood circulation, removes dirt and dead skin cells as well as keeps infections at bay. This step also prepares your nails for nail polish application by smoothing the base.

 

Step 6: Wait! Never shake the bottle

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Surprised, aren’t you? We always tend to shake the nail polish bottle before a DIY manicure at homeThis seemingly harmless practice is what makes your manicure last for a lesser period of time. When you shake the nail polish bottle, you end up separating the polish and creating bubbles that prevents seamless application. Always wait for an hour minimum before applying the same polish in case you did end up shaking it.

 

Step 7: Always apply two thinner coats

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

All of us are really busy and it might feel like a single thick coat will do the trick when youre doing your own manicure at home, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Thicker coats mean longer drying time as well as accidental smudging. Therefore, always start with applying one thin coat at a time and then applying more as you go ahead for a seamless look. But always be mindful to not apply more than three thin coats as that again will make your polish thick and blotchy.

 

Step 8: Three strokes for perfectly painted nails

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

When painting your nails at home, do you tend to cover your entire nail in a single swipe? Stop RN because you’re doing it all wrong. The professional way to apply nail enamel is to always start by painting your nails from the middle and then onto the sides to ensure that you have properly covered the entire nail and the end result looks perfect and seamless.

 

Step 9: Don’t apply heat to dry your mani

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Another amazing tip that we learned about doing our manicure at home is to allow the polish to air dry. But if you still want your freshly painted nails to dry in a jiffy, use a blast of cold—not hot—air to assist. Heat prevents your polish from firming, which means that it will start chipping quickly and more easily. While cold air solidifies the polish and makes it adhere to your nails better..

 

Step 10: Fix your painting mistakes immediately

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

When doing your manicure at home, remember to correct mistakes immediately, while the polish is slightly wet. All you need to do is use a q-tip or a toothpick that is dipped in acetone to remove excess polish from outside the nails. If your nail paint has smudged while applying it, simply use your finger to gently push the polish polish back onto your nails before you go ahead and apply a top coat. If you think the mistake is beyond redemption, then simply remove it entirely and start again.

 

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Step 11: Maintain your manicure everyday

Doing your own manicure at home requires a lot of effort and patience, hence it is really important to learn to maintain it in order to extend the life of your mani. Ensure that you wear good quality rubber gloves when doing chores around the house such as washing dishes or cleaning. Also, apply cuticle oil once a day to make sure that you have healthy nails

FAQs about manicure at home:

1) Does soaking nails in milk works?

A. Yes, you can soak your nails in milk this will make your hands super soft and your nails look healthy and shiny. However, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before you start your DIY manicure.

2) Which manicure lasts the longest?

A. While there is no dearth of manicure options to choose from, many salon standard manicures are touted to be long-lasting. If you are looking for one that lasts longest then it has to be powder dip nails.

3) What is the healthiest manicure to get?

A. There are as many manicure options as there are facials, it is best to ask the salon expert which manicure will work best considering the health and needs of your nails.

Also Read:

Urvi Dalal

Written by

Writer, avid reader and hardcore beauty enthusiast is the best way to describe Urvi Dalal. With over 5 years of writing experience in the beauty industry, you can trust her to have the latest skin, hair and makeup tidbits on her fingertips. In her time working as a beauty writer, she has had the opportunity to interact and work closely with a string of dermatologists, makeup artists and hairstylists. All that knowledge exchange, coupled with her flair and love for writing make it possible for her to bring you some authentic yet fun beauty content. When Urvi isn’t working, you’d usually catch her curled up with a big, fat book, drinking a cup of tea or practising her makeup skills; there is no in-between!

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