How to give a manicure

Learn how to give yourself or someone else a manicure with these tips, instructions and tools. It takes less than an hour and can make over a hand instantly.

Manicured nails are very attractive. Some women go to a professional salon for their service. Some women prefer to take a manicure at home. Anybody can give him or herself a manicure if they have the correct tools, and know the correct methods.

The first step to a manicure is the correct nail kit. A nail kit should have a double-sided emery board, nail clipper, orange cuticle stick, base coat, topcoat and cuticle cream. Nail polish remover and cotton balls are best for polish removal. Use a non-acetone polish, as it is gentler on the nails.

Set aside an unpopulated and level area, such as a table or the floor. Lay down an old towel (incase of spills) and the contents of your nail kit. Remove any old polish with remover and cotton balls. Soak the nails in two small bowls containing warm water, baby oil and foam bath. This treatment conditions the nails and softens the cuticles. It revives dry and brittle nails, making them easier to cut. Let them soak for approximately fifteen minutes, rinse and dry hands thoroughly. The fifteen-minute soak may be substituted for a paraffin bath. A paraffin bath is a machine that melts and warms paraffin, so that one may immerse the whole hand. The wax gives the hands a penetrating, moisturizing treatment. When one removes their hands, the wax will form a glove on the hand. The glove will stiffen and slip right off of the hand.

The next step is to apply cuticle cream or oil and push the cuticles back with an orange stick. The cuticles do not need to be pushed back with anything firmer than a wooden stick. If the cuticles do not respond to an orange stick, then a professional manicure is needed, where the cuticles can be cut.

After the cuticles are pushed back (elongating the nail and making the base uniform), cut the tips to the desired length. Smooth the edges with an emery board. The best emery board is double sided with foam middle. The foam helps absorb the shock when filing the nails. This leads to a smoother finish with maximum comfort.

Once the nails have been filed in a desirable shape, apply a base coat. The purpose of a base coat is to provide a smooth and even base for the nail polish application. Base coats double and triple up their responsibilities with vitamin and mineral infusions. Some base coats claim to strengthen and harden nails through these extra ingredients.

---

---

Once the basecoat is dry, apply color. Two coats of color are standard. This ensures complete coverage. Some techniques implore the first coat only applied to the tips, and the final coat, a full sweep of the nail. The logic behind this is that the tips will encounter the majority of exposure and chipping.

To ensure polish dryness, run nails lightly under a stream of cold water. This helps set the polish. Dry them carefully by lightly dragging a paper towel over them. Next is the topcoat.

The purpose of the topcoat is to provide protection and shine to the manicure. The polish will rub off on everything it comes in contact with, if a sealing coat is not applied. Polish also loses its shine and fades to flatness. The topcoat adds a continuous shine to the manicure. Most topcoats are clear. Some are rose colored or blue hued. But the tint does not interfere with the nail polish color beneath it.

There are several techniques for drying the nails, after the topcoat has been applied. One can let the nails air dry or use an electric nail dryer. There are also cold sprays that speed up the nail drying process. Be careful not to touch your nails to any surface for at least three hours. They may still be wet underneath a crisp topcoat. If this is so, you will have ridges and imprints into your nails.

After the nails are dry, clean up any mistakes with a nail polish remover pen. More precise than a cotton ball, the pen also does not erase what you don't want erased.

Giving yourself or someone else a manicure is a fun and fast task. It takes less than an hour and can make over a hand instantly. Modern technology cuts drying time down, as well as corrects mistakes in a jiffy. Build your nail kit today and get that professional looking manicure.