Most women want to have lovely looking hands, but how many of us have the time or money to get to the salon as often as we would like? It is actually pretty easy to create a fab diy manicure whilst watching TV in the evening and you can dramatically enhance the effect with some gorgeous costume jewelry for maximum impact.
How To Create The Perfect DIY Manicure
Image source: http://youtube.com/cutepolish
Investing just a little time into making your hands look great can really boost your self-confidence. It is good to have a little “me” time too, so follow these simple steps to give yourself the perfect manicure at home.
First you need to remove any old colour with cotton wool. If you do not have time to repaint, fresh natural nails look so much better than chipped polish. If you do nothing else, get rid of the old paint.
Trim your nails to the right length then give them a good shape with the nail file. Square nails are particularly on trend at the moment, but if your hands look better with rounded nails, go for whatever shape is best for you.
To get your cuticles in perfect condition, soak your hands for five minutes in a bowl of warm water. You can use essential oils or bath powder for an extra relaxing treat. Once your hands are well soaked and dry, rub in some cuticle conditioner to sort out any rough patches. If you do not have cuticle cream, olive oil works just as well and it is all natural too.
Push back your cuticles with a wooden cuticle stick. This not only makes them look better, but it makes it much easier to apply your favourite polish. The last step before the polish is to exfoliate your hands for added softness. You can use any body scrub or make your own using olive oil and rock salt or raw sugar. Finish off with a moisturiser and you are ready to paint.
This is the bit that takes some time, but is so worth it to have fab looking nails. Start with a base coat to fill in any ridges. Then add two thin layers of your favourite nail colour allowing each layer to dry thoroughly before applying the next. You can get really funky with nail art pens, glitter or transfers but make sure you finish off with a good top coat to seal everything in place and help your manicure last.
Finishing Touches
Once your hands and nails are looking amazing you will want to attract attention to them with some stunning statement jewellery. Cocktail rings have come back into fashion, partly because of ethical concerns over purchasing real diamonds and partly because they look so amazing.
Don’t be shy about wearing a ring with a large semi-precious stone, especially if you have large hands. The key is to keep it simple so stick to either one large stone to create a focal point, or several smaller stones in a large setting to keep the look balanced and tasteful.
One of the biggest trends this season is wearing two or three silver statement rings on one hand. This is the perfect finishing touch to the rock chick look and looks doubly stunning with well manicured nails. Any colour polish will do, but the general rule of thumb is the brighter the better. Wearing a chunky bangle or several stacking bracelets is another great way to draw attention to your hands. Keeping it bold and bright is a great way to dress up any outfit!
This guest post was brought to you by Pearl and Butler.
thanx for the tips!.. I’ll try that next time when I do my own nails.. although I prefer a much more subtle colors like cream or pastel colors..
Thank you for the info. I was recently gifted an orange nail polish but just stored it on my dresser drawer. Now they are asking if I have experimented with it since the Poetic Petra is sort of a high end nail polish. I could not tell them i don’t know where to start aarrgghj. I never painted my nails but okay i’ll give it a try
I didn’t know they call these nail salons as talons. Nice heads up.
You have beautiful nails. Thanks for the detailed info. Will definitely try this when I get my nails done again
I was so hooked up with the design
i used to have my nails done often but since i became a SAHM, i decided against it because i’d be sad looking at my newly painted nails get chipped off when i bake or cook!
i want to learn nail art din. I’ve just done a half-perfect french tip the other day (very nice sa left hand and super fail sa right coz i’m right handed) lol
Same here! Kaya I always prefer to do my toes kasi napapantay ko. I can never fix the fingernails in my right hand.
I love getting my nails done, I can do it myself too, but somehow I feel more pampered when someone does it for me.
I go to the Nail Salon bi-monthly but have yet to try any fancy nail art, when Lucas is probably old enough to do things on his own and I won’t have to do anything hard with my hands then I can probably try it.. 
Ako naman I’m addicted to foot spa and massage. Hubby can massage my foot but I have to do the same to him so it’s not really relaxing. It’s nice talaga to have someone do it for you.
this is a tough one. I can’t do manicure on my hands. I even can’t perfect a simple nail cutting