Quick Manicure at Home

Keeping fingernails strong and healthy is important to having lovely hands. Regular manicures and a healthy diet will keep your nails in tip-top shape. In this post, we show you how to give yourself a quick manicure at home.


Materials you will need:

  • Emery boards
  • Nail buffer
  • Cotton balls
  • Q-tips or similar product
  • Cuticle remover cream
  • Nail polish remover
  • Nail polish
  • Nail color (optional) This will take some time.
  • Bowl of warm water
  • 1 tsp bath salts
  • Hand lotion
  • Towel

Step by step process for a quick manicure at home:

1.  Soften your hands and cuticles. Soak both hands for at least 5 minutes. Then towel dry.

2.  Remove all nail polish with your cotton balls.

3.  File and shape your nails with your emery board. File in one direction only and be gentle. When you are through, check for smoothness by running your nails over an old nylon stocking. Smooth any rough spots you find with the smoother side of your emery board.

4.   Buff surfaces of nails gently to smooth ridges

5.   Apply cuticle cream to each of your nails while gently pushing back the cuticle with a Q-tip.  Message the cuticle cream gently to remove dead skin. Don’t be rough and don’t cut the cuticle.

6.   Remove cream with nail polish remover and cotton balls. Make sure your nails are completely free of cream.

7.  Clean under nails. Then massage the lotion into your hands. Allow hands to air dry.

8.   Apply nail polish. You do this by making one brush stroke down the center of your nail and then to each side. Let your nails dry completely.

9.   Applying color. If you choose to apply color, apply a base coat first then three coats of color followed by a top coat. Allow your nails to dry completely between coats.

There’s a lot to keeping your hands and nails looking good and that will be covered in upcoming posts.  A quick manicure at home is a great place to start.

Now go have fun and relax.

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