DIY – Manicure at Home

Nail care is something that we always must take care of.  Along with your super cute rings, people will always notice your nails too. It’s not that we say that you must match your nail paint to the dress you wear, but it isn’t wrong to take care of the nails that you expose to keyboards, washing dishes, cooking, dirt and what not? This manicure is once again unisexual(and men can skip nail polish if they want or just apply a top coat or base coat to give their nail a shinny naturally, healthy look). But what one needs to note is that we stress on actually keeping your nails healthy before you move to making it look healthy.

Personally, I am a person that loves to keep things natural and to an extent, yes, I am a health freak, no matter how lazy I might be! So, I take utmost care of the products I use and check that they are natural and available in my pantry (because, well you know, I am too lazy to go out and buy and sometimes I’m on a budegt too. My parents will allow me to buy a book rather than a cosmetics;) ) I am a teen college student and my parents take utmost care in making me grow as a person that understands that real beauty is in my smile and purity of my heart. Personally, I believe that too, but come on, it’s cool to doll up once in a time. Yes, I am a nerd, bookworm, geek and an aspirant writer, but you just can’t put me in a box or stereotype me!

Now, coming back to the topic(I just get distracted sometimes, sorry 😛 ).

The list of products you’d need:-

Pre-preparation:-

* Bowl filled with warm water

*Salt

*Toothpaste and lemon juice (To remove yellowness of nail due to excessive nail paint usage or nails brightener)

Manicure(Procedure):-

*Nail Polish Remover

* Filer

*Soapy liquid

*Tooth or nail brush

*Top coat or plain transparent base coat

*Nail Polish of your choice

*DIY Nail Art Tools like sponge, tooth picks, Tapes, scissors, bobby pins and whatever you can find

* Almond Oil (or any oil of your choice. I mostly use this instead of a cuticle remover, as it is natural and makes my nails look healthy)

* Cotton Balls

*Vaseline or petroleum jelly of choice

Method :-

Preparing the nails:-

Start with bare nails. If you have applied nail paint already, start by removing it using a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover or acetone and clean it until you get your nails looking clean as above.

Take a bowl of warm water and add a teaspoon of salt and olive oil (or any oil of your choice). Dip your finger into it and let them sit as long as you can. By doing this, your nails will grow faster and stronger. Then apply a small amount of oil of choice to the cuticle. You also can add a little petroleum jelly to your cuticles, that’s also your choice. This will nourish the cuticle. Personally, I don’t prefer cutting cuticles or pushing them. I just like to let them be normally. It’s your choice if you want to do the above as this is what is professionally done in nail spas or saloons. It’s all upto you!

If you use nail paints for a longer time, you’d have noticed yellow stains on your nails. In order to remove this stain use tooth paste and mix it with some lemon juice and apply it to your nails, scrub them well. Let it set for some more time and scrub again using a tooth brush or nail brush and then wash off. Voila, you have bright, shinny nails now.

Time to pat your finger dry. Let it sit around for sometime as filing right away may lead to wear and tear of nails as they might be quite soft at that time. Use a filer of your choice and file them in one direction. The above are the nail shaping options. You can do whatever shape or size you want your nail to be. You can take the help of nail clippers too to achieve the desired look.

Soak your nails in a bowl of soapy water or you can also wash your hands with soap. You need to do this so that you can have a clean hand for applying the nail paint.

Top coat or base coat or transparent nail polish just do what they promise. They act as a protective layer and help in the nail paint from peeling off. Thereby, it leads to the manicure staying for longer days.

Time to paint your nails in the color you wish. Finish them again with a top coat, this would again help in not letting your nail paint chip faster. A monochrome color gives you a more polished and professional look. Only thing you need to take care of is the moment your nail paint starts to chip, it’s means its time for another manicure or touch up.

A few easy nail art ideas:-

Monochrome color may be boring for some people. More colors means more drama! Nail art will always remain in fashion!

French Manicure Style:-

Paint your nails in any color. Pink or pale pink preferably as they give a more natural look. But it’s up to you to take it to the next level;). Cut a tape into a thin strip of curve or straight line and place it over the painted nail as shown in the picture. Then paint the layer above the tape as white. If you want to add some more drama add some nail stones.

Stripes Nail Art:-

Paint a base colour of choice. Apply the thin strips of tapes in the desired direction(Psst, you can make the US Flag, India Flag or simple vertical strip nail art with this trick. It’s all up to your imagination.) Then add another desired colour over the strip. After the color dries remove the tapes carefully. Add nail stones or other decorations of choice, and viola! You got a cool nail art to flaunt.

Valentine Nail Art:-

Paint your nails in the desired base coat. In a thick tape or even a same strip of chart paper cut out a small heart(it can be of any shape, again up to your imagination. Moon, circle, diamond, square, what not? Place it above your nail and paint it with another colour of choice and when you take it out,you get your nail art! Apply the top coat and you’re done.

Polka Nail Arts:-

The easiest and classiest of all nail arts is the polka dot style. It’s because you can experiment so many varites with them. You’d need a polka dot, but don’t worry, if you haven’t got one, you can make one using bobby pins edges or cotton buds or tooth pick. Or you can just use this method. Paint the base colour and apply dots as per your choice and there you created your own design. You can also combine two techniques in one nail art as shown in the pink manicure.

 Ombre Nail Art:-

Apply a light color base coat in a sponge apply strips of colors of same family color and then dab the sponge to a well dried light color painted nail to create the ombre effect. You can elevate to the next level by drawing small curves using tooth pick colored in black nail paint to give it the leopard effect.

So, let us finish this guide with a small note on how to do gel nails. Now, it’s up to you to do nail art only on one nail and let others be painted in monochrome. That too will elevate your style quotient. It’s all up to you and remember, it’s just the beginning. There are lots to come. Just use your nails as a canvas and let your creative juices flow.Flow your heart, be you and enjoy life. Pamper yourself, because you are totally worth it!