Women like to make a powerful visual impact on others. Getting a manicure is a significant part of grooming as it makes your nails look amazing. Most people feel getting a manicure only contributes to beautifying a person. Applying nail paint to your nails and massaging them can also enhance nail health. It is a part of self-grooming and pampering to relax your body, mind, and soul. Getting a manicure in a spa can offer a great experience. Wait a minute! What about people who cannot visit a salon? If you are ready to spend some time pampering yourself, you can make your home a mini spa.
5 Hacks for Applying Nail Paint
While an at-home manicure may seem like a far-fetched idea, some tips and tricks can help you get great results. It is not impossible to get a salon-like nail paint finish, but you need to work for it. Are you interested? Let’s discover the hacks to help you forget the nail esthetician’s phone number for a little while.
Hack #1 Use Petroleum Jelly
After selecting the perfect shade from the nail polish set, petroleum jelly is the next item you need for a professional nail paint finish. Painting inside the lines of your nail is hard. You tend to paint the cuticles or the skin around the nail. It affects the finishing look. Using petroleum jelly ensures easy cleanup of mistakes. Using a cotton swab apply Vaseline on the skin and cuticles. It can create a barrier between the skin and the nail paint. After painting the nails, wipe petroleum jelly off along with the polish mistakes.
How can this hack help? The slippery and greasy consistency of petroleum jelly sits on your skin and acts as a barrier. Hence, it can repel runaway nail paint from getting on the skin. Using petroleum jelly helps reduce the chances of mess you may have to clean using a nail polish remover. Petroleum jelly can offer a soothing and healing effect on dry cuticles. It also protects the skin from acetone present in nail polish.
Hack #2 Apply Base Coat
Ever wondered why the nail polish applied stays longer? The base coat is the secret to long-lasting nail paint. A clear base coat may help the polish to stick to the nails easily. This coat also offers protection to the nails from the damage caused due to nail polish. It also avoids peeling and staining of the nail paint. Your nail texture may appear even. You can opt for the plain or ridge-filler base coats. Ridge-filler variety refers to the thicker base coats that may fill ridges, lines, or grooves on the nails. So, you can get smoother-looking nails. Most of the base coats contain other substances such as Vitamin E, protein, or calcium. It may aid in enhancing the health of nails by preventing splitting, breaking, or peeling.
Here is an effective hack for a professional finish. You can apply a base coat on the top of the nail first. Then, you can use a second coat over the entire nail. To start, you need to apply the base coat on the top half portion of the nail. Next, you can use a base coat on the entire nail as you usually apply. This step can prevent the painted nails from premature chipping. When you apply the second coat of base polish, make sure the first layer has dried.
Hack #3 Create An Appealing Marble Nail Polish Effect With A Water Cup
Try an appealing effect on your accent nail. The accent nail is the perfect option to get a professional appeal for the at-home manicure. Instead of complicated nail art, you can try something simple and appealing. If you want to try it, then you can try the marbled nail polish effect.
Before trying this, choose the accent finger. Use tape around the nail to protect the skin. Fill a small cup with room temperature filtered water. Take two nail paints of different colors and add drops of each nail polish alternating them. Using a paper clip tip, you can swirl the layers. Stick your finger into the cup with your accent nail facing the paint layer. You can use the paper clip to pull away from the remaining nail polish. Remove the finger and clean the edges after taking off the tape. Ta-da, you have a cool accent nail.
Hack #4: Soak Your Wet Nails in Ice Water
Most of us tend to do something else immediately after a perfect manicure. It means the nail paint can result in tiny wrinkles on the nail’s topcoat. Want to dry off the nail paint fast? Ice water can do the magic. Dipping your nails in a bowl filled with ice and water helps dry the nail paint faster. Are you wondering how soaking in ice water can dry the nail paint faster? It’s not magic but science.
Nail polish is a polymer obtained after a chemical reaction. When you lower the temperature, the chemical reaction rate slows down. Also, the reduced temperature tends to evaporate solvents in the polish slower. So, ice water can thicken the nail polish, ensuring its faster drying. While soaking your fingers in cold water is a yes, the use of hot water on nail polish is a definite no. Make sure your nails stay away from hot water for nail polish to last longer.
Hack #5 Remove Stubborn Polish Using Aluminum Foil
Glitter polish can attract the attention of others and lasts for a long time. But, it has a terrible downside. You cannot remove glitter nail polish from your nails with ease. To remove such stubborn nail paints, you can follow a simple hack. After soaking cotton pads in the nail polish remover, you need to wrap the cotton pads around the nail. Secure the cotton pads using aluminum foil squares. Leave them on your fingers for five minutes. When you slide the foils and cotton, you can see little or no traces of nail paint.
Conclusion
Your hands can reflect your personality. Regularly maintained hands with beautiful nails can make a great impression on others. Getting a manicure at a salon may seem like a tedious process. Instead of waiting for a salon appointment, you can try these hacks to get the professional nail finish at home. Avoid unkempt nails as they give people a wrong impression. Spend a little time enhancing the aesthetic beauty of your hands. By applying nail paint with perfection, you feel good about yourself. It is a confidence booster and the perfect option to make you feel cherished.
About the Writer: Jessica has been closely studying the Fashion industry trends for quite some time. Intrigued by the booming growth of this sector, she takes interest in penning down her views providing quality insight on current Trends.
