Do It Yourself French Manicure

Ooh La La ... Do It Yourself French Manicure
by Kathryn D'Imperio

Want professional looking nails without spending your day�s pay in the salon? With some practice and a little patience, you can enjoy fancy nails anytime you want for only the cost of your nail polish!

Their pale pink base and bright white tips characterize the ever-popular French manicures, which are a common request at nail salons everywhere. Professional nail stylists may paint your nails alone or they may apply fake tips if you desire. Based on your personal preferences, a nail designer will give your nails a strengthening and conditioning workout prior to painting them. If you get your nails done with fake tips, you may have to make a trip back to the salon to get your French tips �refilled� when your nails have grown noticeably.

Keeping longer, healthy nails will be most conducive to sporting a French manicure. To complete your own French manicure, begin with the following steps to prepare your nails for the procedure.

• Using a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover, wipe off any old nail polish prior to painting nails. Wash hands and soak in warm water for a few moments.
• With an orangewood stick, gently push back the cuticles so they are all even with each other once the water has softened your skin.
• With nail clippers, beauty scissors or a nail file, shape your nails evenly.
• With a steady hand, carefully paint only the tip of each nail with a white hue. A second coat may be desirable, depending on the thickness and opaqueness of the polish. Allow polish to dry between coats.
• Using a slightly transparent pink or nude color, paint the entire nail once the tips have dried. A second coat may be necessary. Allow nails to dry thoroughly.
• Once all the coats have dried, apply a clear topcoat to protect your new French manicure. To lengthen the manicure�s lifespan, make an effort to paint a clear coat on each night. Be sure it has ample time to dry completely.
• If you are feeling especially creative and ambitious, kick off your shoes and match your tootsies to your fingertips!

This procedure is best performed on a lazy morning or evening when no other pressing errands or tasks will get in the way. After painting your nails, avoid doing things with your hands while they dry.

For an easier painting technique, check the beauty section of a drug store or superstore for a French manicure kit. The set should contain, at the very least, nail polish in white and pink or beige and a clear topcoat. Some manicure sets - like COVERGIRL�s French Manicure Kit � will contain tiny, sticky nail guides. These make the manicure process 100 times easier by allowing you to place the guides on each nail individually, leaving a small margin where the polish can spill outside the tip without tainting the rest of the nail.

As the holidays approach, let your crazy side out by concocting a wildly modified French manicure - green and white for St. Patrick�s Day, pastel shades for Easter, black and orange for Halloween and red and green for Christmas. Have fun and remember, even if you find the do-it-yourself French manicure difficult at first, practice will provide you with the skills you need to create beautiful and perfect manicures all year long!

Natural Nails

Tips to Keep Your Nails Strong and Sexy

by Kathryn D'Imperio

When you write down your shopping list, as you punch a phone number into your cell, while you wash dishes, do the ironing, clean the windows, or do one hundred other things that women do on any given day � do you take notice of the condition of your nails?

Our hands are such an integral part of our daily lives, and constantly, we risk their health and strength, often without even noticing, because of the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day activities. Take a few moments each day, or at least a few times a week, to monitor the condition of your nails � the color, the texture, the appearance of ridges or white marks.

Make a greater effort to take good care of your nails, and you will be thrilled with the way they complement your wardrobe and your own personal style. Consider the following tips as a way to enhance the health and quality of your nails.

Great, Healthy Nails

Apply speed-dry nail polish when time is of the essence.

Drink lots of water. Keep your body hydrated everyday to maintain healthy nails.

Fortify your diet with FDA approved vitamins or supplements. Your fingernails count on you to be responsible with your health and your diet. Unless instructed otherwise by your physician, increase your daily doses of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, folic acid, protein, Vitamin B12, and zinc.

Touch up your manicure on a daily basis to prevent chips and cracks.

Your nails depend on you to maintain a healthy diet. Take in lots.

Nail polish tips:

Finish with a clear topcoat to add gloss and sheen.

Start with a base coat to strengthen and protect the nails.

Store nail polish in the refrigerator to maintain a smooth consistency.

Try not to store nail polish in a room that becomes cold. The nail polish bottles may break without warning, leaving you with a big mess.

To avoid breaking nails or brittle nails:

Avoid using your nails as tools. This means no picking, scratching, digging, pinching, etc. You know who you are!

Increase the amount of calcium in your diet.

Use products containing alcohol, especially perfumed lotions, sparingly. These items can make nails prone to breaking.

Wear rubber gloves when you do chores that involve continual submersion in water or contact with harsh detergents or chemicals.

Red Lipstick

How to use red

Red lipstick, is it for you or not?

You bought red lipstick...but many times you found that the shade just wasn't right for you. Perhaps most of the time it was just too bright for your skin tones.

Triy adding a little brown to your red. It tends to tone down the brightness. Experiment a little. You will have lots of fun and create signature colors that are all your own.

If you manage to make/mix up the perfect color for yourself and you don't want to continue mixing your own color, take a sample to the mall with you and find a red that is as close as possible to the shade that you created.

Lipstick Color

The elegant choice

Choosing the right lipstick color is not as easy as it seems...

You have found a gorgeous shade of lipstick on a model in a magazine and you instantly run out and buy it. You spend a small fortune on the color and when you get home, you realize it looks terrible on you. The lipstick was a complete waste of money.

To avoid this trap, make an appointment at one of those cosmetic salons that will assist you in your color choices. That's their job, after all! Let them suggest colors to you, try them out and if you like it, then you buy. It's as simple as that.

Virtual Kiss - Send a beautiful e-card or a kiss via email with this symbol: :-*

Lip Lines

Get rid of lip lines

Small blemishes in the form of lip lines can be annoying ...

To make them less noticeable, here's the trick to try. Instead of applying your lipstick horizontally, apply it vertically. And now you'll have sexy lips.

Fuller Upper Lip

Fuller upper lip

Not happy with your upper lip?

Outline the lips with a pencil that is the same shade as your lips. Then, on the center of the upper lip, use a brown pencil and draw a second line. Apply lip color and the brown will blend right in... but your top lip will definitely look fuller.

Virtual Kiss - Send a beautiful e-card or a kiss via email with this symbol: :-*