The tools you'll need (ever notice how many tools are involved in the pursuit of beauty?)

1. A coarse buffer (one of those foam rectangles is good)
2. Emery board
3. Nail file
4. Clippers
5. Nail polish remover
6. Smooth buffer (a three "sided" thing, shaped like a large emery board)
7. A good base coat
8. A good top coat
9. Color of choice
10. Cotton balls or Q-Tips
11. Cuticle Trimmer
12. A good hand cream

Okay, now that you've assembled your tools, Let's get to work.

1. First, remove any nail polish already on your nails.
2. Then, wash your hands, nails, and nail beds well.
3. Use the coarse buffer to buff your nails. Go in one direction, horizontally, til they are nice and smooth across, with no ridges.
4. Now get out the three sided buffer and use the rough side to buff again the same way. Use the next smoothest side to buff, then the smoothest side of all.
5. Use the nail file to clean under your nails.
6. Then the emery board to file; again horizontally, and in one direction only, the tip of the nail, til it's nice and smooth across.
7. Push back your cuticle, at the base and the sides. Do not use the trimmer to cut them.
8. Instead, use the trimmer to ever so gently trim the rough skin from the finger on the sides of the nail. The trimmer's tip is nocked in the shape of a "V" -- make sure as you look at it, it looks like a V, not a "^", and start at the base, then just gently slide it up, parallel alongside the nail.
9. Use lotion all over the hand and nail.
10. Paint a thin coat of the base coat on each nail, and let it dry for about 15 - 20 minutes.
11. Then take the color of your choice, and put on a sheer coat of it. Let dry, however long it takes, and do another. 2 or 3 coats will make a good manicure. Just make sure you let each coat dry before doing the next, or your nails will be smeary and they will bubble.
12. When the color's where you want it, and dry, put on a layer of top coat.

Now that the basics are down, there are a few other tips for beautiful hands.

As you go through the week, your nails will be abused. To keep all your hard work from going to hell, put on another coat of top coat every night. It'll help protect the paint job.

Every so often, slather lotion on very thick, all over your hands, and place cotton gloves over your hands, and leave them on overnight. You will wake up with hands as smooth as a fifteen-year-old's.

Start painting with the left most finger of each hand to keep from smudging the paint if you're right-handed, and vice versa if you're lefthanded.

File nails into a shape that mirrors the nail bed for greater stability.

Use a rehydrating mask on your hands every so often.

|Pedicure Page|