Curves Curls & Style: Professional Manicure At Home

DIY Mani (natural short nails)

Tired of paying for manicures where the color only last a good day or 2 before chipping? I have come up with a regimen for my nails where I am able to get anywhere from 4-5 days of a professional looking manicure before needing to re-manicure/paint my nails again.

First lets talk about my nails:

Weak
Thin
Peely
Soft
Up until about 5yrs ago I was a nail bitter. I made a conscious effort to stop. I had a new found love/obsession with nail polish and of course I wanted to use the polishes I had began to collect.

Now lets talk about what I use to remedy my weak, thin, peely nails.

I have tried countless products that have claimed to strengthen my weak nails and help them grow but that never happened until I stumbled upon Nailtiques. I started off with Formula 2 PLUS and I saw a difference almost immediately. Within the first 2-3 days I noticed a difference in the appearance of my nails, strength of my nails and growth. Yes, noticeable growth! Per the instructions Nailtiques should be applied in a thin layer everyday for a week. At the end of the week all layers need to be removed with nail polish remover and the process starts again until you get the desired result. Once my nails were healthy I started using Nailtiques every other day. Currently I am no longer using Formula 2 PLUS but have moved on to Formula 2 and only apply it once a week or however many times per week I choose to change my polish. What I love most about Nailtiques is it doesn't stop working even after you've stopped using it regularly. In my opinion the product has completely changed my nails. You never would guess by looking at my nails now that they were ever as horrible as they were.

The Manicure:

Remove old polish/residue from nails using polish remover. I prefer Zoya's 3 in 1 remove plus. It's a polish remover, nail cleaner and nail prep all in one.

Apply a cuticle remover. I prefer Be Natural Cuticle Eliminator. Does exactly what it claims...Eliminates overgrown cuticles. I apply to each cuticle working only one hand at a time as I have noticed in the past if I apply to all 10 fingers and began working on one hand by the time I'm ready to start on the other hand the product has started to dry and leave yellow staining. Gently clean around nail and gently push back cuticles. Wash hands with warm soapy water when done. Start the next hand. Most people don't like to cut their cuticles, I do. It's all about preference. After washing the cuticle remover off is when I would cut/trim away any excess dead skin/cuticle.

Time to gently file, shape and buff. At this point, before filing I like to apply a cuticle oil to my cuticles and skin around the nail. I rub in the oil and then proceed. I prefer CND Solar Oil.

After shaping/lightly buffing nails wash hands with warm soapy water to remove any excess oil. It's time to polish!! Apply one thin coat of Nailtiques (For those of you who naturally have strong healthy nails, Skip this step)

Apply a base coat. I prefer CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat. Let dry 1-2 minutes

Apply your color of choice. Today I have chosen Butter London in the color Trout Pout. The main question I get is "How do you paint your nails so neatly?" The only way I can answer that is "Practice makes Perfect" and a steady hand of course. I take my time. Let dry 1 to 2 minutes or more depending on how many coats of polish you are using.

In my opinion and experience the next 2 products add the staying power needed for my manicures to last more than a day or two.

Apply a no chip top coat. I prefer Revlon's Extra Life No Chip Top Coat. Let dry 1 to 2 minutes.

Apply a quick dry anti-chip top coat. I prefer Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

And wallah!! There you have it. The perfect at home manicure that was free and will last longer than the manicure you would have paid for.

The following pictures are from my last mani which lasted me from Monday night - Saturday. Also keep in mind that I have natural hair and so does my daughter. What that means is my hands are constantly in water, oil, conditioner or some sort of moisturizer not to mention I'm a chronic hand washer. Me and germs don't get along.