If you want a great manicure but don't want to spend money at the salon, try doing it at home. Make sure you've trimmed and moisturized your nails before applying the polish for a nice, professional-looking manicure. With the right equipment and patience, you can get a manicure with salon-level quality at home.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Smoothing and Moisturizing Nails
Step 1. Gather the required equipment
You may have to spend a little money at first to buy a set of manicure kits that you can use at home. By investing in equipment and products that can last for months or years, you too can save money in the long run. Here's what you need:
- Nail polish remover
- Cotton
- Cuticle pusher or orange stick
- Nail clipper
- Buffer for nails
- nail file
- Cuticle oil or hand cream
- Basecoat
- Nail polish
- top coat
Step 2. Start with clean nails
If you're still wearing nail polish, clean it off with a nail polish remover and a cotton swab. If you use gel polish or acrylic nails, clean them too. After cleaning your nails, wash them and dry them thoroughly before starting the manicure process.
- Look for a nail polish remover that doesn't contain acetone, an ingredient that can dry out your nails and make it difficult for you to do a good manicure.
- If you have long nails, be sure to clean them well with soap and warm water.
Step 3. Cut and file your nails
Use nail clippers to trim your nails to the length you want. Long nails are beautiful, but difficult to maintain. If you want shorter nails, don't trim them too short. The white part of the nail should go past the fingertips. File the nails with a nail file gently so that the nails look even.
- When filing nails, make sure not to move the nail file in any direction. Gently point the tool in one direction only. This keeps the fibers in the nails strong, not brittle.
- A popular nail shape is a square or oval nail tip. For the square ends, smooth the tips of your nails and round the edges. For oval nail tips, file gently to form an oval that is rounded at the tip.
Step 4. Use the buffer on the nails
The use of buffers smoothes the nails and makes the surface of the nails even so that it is easier to apply nail polish. Use the buffer side with sandpaper first. Gently sand the surface of your nail to smooth it out. Then, use the less coarse side of the buffer. Finish with the smoothest side of the buffer.
- Don't stress the buffer too hard. Of course you do not want the surface of the nail to be thin.
- You can even out the surface of the nail with a buffer after pushing the cuticles first. You should do this if the cuticles on the nails are not neat.
Step 5. Soak the nails and push the cuticles
Soak your nails in a bowl of warm water for five minutes. Add a few drops of scented soap or oil if you wish. This aims to soften the cuticle and make it easier to push. Use a cuticle pusher to gently push the cuticles against the skin.
- Don't push too hard. Be careful not to tear the cuticles. This cuticle should not be damaged because it serves to protect the nail from infection.
- Never use cuticle clippers. Manicure therapists often use this tool in salons, but your fingers become susceptible to infection. In addition, often cutting the cuticle can make it bleed. You can still have beautiful nails without cutting your cuticles.
Step 6. Apply oil or cream
In this treatment, you can massage your hands gently as a therapist does at a salon. Massage the oil or cream into your hands, fingers and nails. Let it absorb for five minutes. After that, take a cotton swab or cotton swab that has been dipped in nail polish remover and clean your nails to get rid of oil and moisturizer so that the nail polish can stick.
Part 2 of 3: Painting Nails
Step 1. Apply a base coat
Apply each nail with a transparent base coat to prepare the nail surface before you apply the nail polish. Base coat serves to ensure the color of the nail polish looks even and nice. Wait for the base coat to dry for five minutes before starting to apply nail polish.
- Base coats are usually colorless, but sometimes have a natural color. Both can be good choices.
- Some base coats look a little weird when dry. Actually this serves to help the nail polish stick to the nails.
Step 2. Apply nail polish
Roll the nail polish bottle for 10 seconds with both hands to mix the color and remove any air bubbles. Open the bottle and paint your nails with a thin, even coat of nail polish. Place the brush in the bottle and twist the brush around the end of the bottle to remove excess nail polish. It's best not to have too much nail polish on the brush. Paint your nails in a straight line on each side of your nails. Continue until all the nails have been painted.
- Shaking the bottle creates air bubbles in the nail polish bottle, so make sure you just roll it up.
- When painting your nails, hold the brush at a slight angle and press gently to make sure the paint doesn't clump.
- Try not to keep the brush from dripping the nail polish in large drops and scattering it. If this happens, the surface of the nail polish may become uneven.
- Keep the finger you're painting steady by placing it on a table or flat surface.
Step 3. Wait for the nail polish to dry and then paint again
The first coat of nail polish should dry completely before you apply the second coat. Apply a second coat of nail polish in the same way. Start with one vertical strip, then paint on both sides. Continue until all the nails have been painted. Wait for the second coat of paint to dry completely before painting it again.
- Usually the second coat of nail polish takes longer to dry than the first coat. Try to be patient.
- You can speed up the drying process by placing them near (but not against) the fan.
Step 4. Trim the sides
If you accidentally smear your skin with nail polish, dip a cotton swab in the nail polish remover. Then clean the skin carefully. Do not touch the earplugs to your painted nails.
- You can buy a pen that works for removing nail polish to do this.
- If you are right-handed and are trying to use your left hand to smooth your right hand (or vice versa), stabilize your hand by placing it on a table.
Step 5. Finish with a top coat
This colorless product will help the nail polish to last for at least a week. If you don't apply a top coat, your nail polish will come off more easily. Apply a clear top coat all over your nails. Wait until it is completely dry. The manicure treatment is complete.
- You can also add extra embellishments such as stickers or jewelry stones.
- After applying this extra decoration, you can apply a second coat of top coat.
Part 3 of 3: Trying out a Fun Style
Step 1. Do a French manicure
This classic style looks beautiful for everyday or special occasions. Your nails are painted in a neutral color while the tips are painted white.
Step 2. Create an alabaster manicure
This beautiful nail look is not as difficult as it seems. Creating alabaster nail styles with water is a fun technique that involves more than one color to achieve a pretty impressionist look.
Step 3. Create dip dye style nails
Color gradation style never goes out of style. You can have fun with your nails without any hassle. Try making color gradations from red to white, yellow to green, or rainbow colors.
Step 4. Try to make nails according to the season
Celebrate your favorite season or holiday with beautiful nail art. You can create nail art using festive colors, or try something more adventurous like one of these designs:
- Snowman nails
- Easter bunny nails
- Beach nails for summer
- Cobweb nails
Step 5. Create a nature-inspired design
Do you like pandas? Do you like flowers? Show your personality by painting your nails with pictures inspired by nature. Here are some cute designs to try:
- panda nails
- Owl nails
- Tiger claw
- flower nails
- Palm tree nails
Tips
- Always apply a top coat so that the nail polish doesn't come off quickly.
- Before applying nail polish, apply a base coat to prevent your nails from being exposed to harmful chemicals and apply a transparent coat when you're done to add shine to your nails.
- Use high-quality nail polish, not easy-to-wear nail polish.
