Manicure at a salon, spa or in a nail spa sounds so appealing. This is mostly because you will be pampered with complimentary extras while making your nails, such as relaxing hand massage, a cup of tea and relaxing music.
But can we always afford this type of luxury? Do we have time for half an hour’s drive to a salon, one hour for the manicure, one hour of doing nothing and waiting for the nail polish to dry, and half an hour’s drive back home? Maybe you have tickets to the opera on Friday night, and you know that your boss will not give you half a day off just because you need to have your nails done. Or maybe you have to help your child with school projects there will be no time for nails. Sometimes going to a nail spa is not an option.
For me, a manicure is a necessity. If I keep my nails unpolished they chip so easily. My nails grow fast, they are not very hard, and I hate when the nail growth is pretty evident at the cuticle. I live an active life. I love experiments with different colors and new looks on my nails. Because of this, I make my nails nice and shiny every week. But I cannot find time to go to a nail spa so often. I am a huge fan of at-home manicure simply because I save lots of time for other fun stuff.
Therefore over the years, I have created a do-it-yourself (DIY) manicure system that requires minimum effort and time. The secret of this system is that you need to break the whole manicure process into smaller steps. Every separate step requires just a little time, and I can easily incorporate these steps into normal daily life.
This is my timesaving easy manicure:
Timesaving Easy Manicure step 1: Preparation
First, I wipe all traces of the old nail polish off with a cotton pad soaked in nail polish remover just before going to the shower at night. Usually, it takes no more than five minutes.
Then, I take a shower – it works as an equivalent of soaking your fingers in a bowl of hot soapy water. All your cuticles will soften, and you will easily push them back a bit and cut if it is needed so that your nails appear longer.
After that, I shape and file my nails. It takes about ten minutes. Then, I like to use some cuticle oil, heavy hand cream, or just some coconut oil from the kitchen. If my husband is out on a business trip, I always slip on cotton gloves for maximum moisturizing overnight. However, I never do this if he is at home. This way nails can breathe and rest without any chemicals during the night.
Timesaving Easy Manicure step 2: Base
After the morning shower, cream application, hair styling and dressing up, but before makeup application, I wash my hands to remove oil and cream residue. This is a very important step as grease prevents nail polish base from properly sticking to the nail. I apply one thin coat of nail polish base and carefully start doing my makeup. This coat dries out in a moment. In three minutes after the application, I am able to do everything without smudging your nails. I forget about my nails until midday or evening, and even without any color, the nails look neat.
Timesaving Easy Manicure step 3: First coat of nail polish
I need fifteen minutes for this step after my lunch. It is crucial to wash hands with soap again to remove oil and cream residue from nails. I choose any nail polish that makes an even smooth coverage after the first coat application. A brush of the nail polish creates a difference as well − I find that brushes from Dior Nail Polish are perfect because they have a very nice rounded shape that makes application of polish at the cuticle line so easy. Usually, this step takes no more than five minutes, and the polish dries out in fifteen minutes.
Timesaving Easy Manicure step 4: Second coat of nail polish
At the end of the day, after a shower, I apply the second coat of nail polish and go to read a book or watch TV. This coat also dries out very quickly, but I am still a bit careful with my nails for another fifteen min.
Timesaving Easy Manicure step 5: Top coat
Next morning after a
I find that sometimes it is much easier to spend fifteen to twenty minutes during the day than to find at least one hour for the whole manicure in one go or at least two hours to go to a nail spa.
At the moment, we are spending time in a small fishing village in Sri Lanka. We live in a secluded villa with a gorgeous view of the Indian Ocean. Yet, there is no nail spa around us. Unfortunately, I had no time to make my nails at home before the trip, and I cannot squeeze in a full manicure into crazy adventures that are awaiting for us here. Therefore, I am going for my timesaving manicure again.
I hope you will give manicure my way a try. Let me know if you have some easy tricks of your own.
