Sure, there are women out there who are blessed with naturally nice nails. However, most of us have to work tirelessly to keep our fingers polished and pretty. And even then, we still have our bad nail days, days when we’d feel more comfortable wearing gloves than revealing a bad manicure or poor paint job.

However, despite that, we believe, if you’re armed with the right knowledge, you’ll have a handle on the ins and outs of nail care in no time.

We’re not talking about sending you to a nail technician school. With a few simple steps, you’ll have all you need at your fingertips. It can be as basic as storing your polish in the right place. Manicure maintenance is that simple!

Cuticle Care
The number one reason for hangnails is that your cuticles are too dry. When you see ragged cuticles or hangnails, it’s your body’s way of telling you to apply hand cream or lotion. No one moisturises his or her cuticles enough. A little trick experts suggest is to put little bottles or tubes of moisturisers around the house, and whenever you come across one, use one.
Most skincare specialists would advise you against cutting your cuticles.

The cuticle is a barrier to keep bacteria from entering your body, so it’s best to keep it where it is. However, you do have to groom your cuticles. Use a good cuticle remover and an orange stick. Don’t use a cuticle oil or cream for this — you just need a cuticle remover to sufficiently soften the cuticle. After you apply it, gently push back the cuticles with the orange stick. Then move the orange stick in tiny circles around the base of the nail to help remove the dead skin and debris that may be there. Do this at least three times per nail. When the debris has lifted off, wipe it with a cotton ball. Then moisturise.

Super Strong
Unfortunately, if you have weak nails, you can’t permanently cure them. You can, however, do things to make them stronger.

Use a nail strengthener. Make sure you apply a thin coat, because you’ll be applying it daily — you don’t want it to build up too much. If you’re at the beginning stages of growing out your nails, use only a strengthener on your nail plate and apply it every day.

If you want to apply nail enamel, use the strengthener as a base coat and later as a top coat. Then continue to apply the strengthening product every day. Remember, too much strengthening can actually make your nails brittle, so you might want to try a strengthening system. And remember, do not use your fingernails as tools.

Your nails are not meant to open cans or scratch labels off a CD. Use proper tools for picking and scraping, not your nails.

File And Buff
It’s very tricky to find the perfect nail file because the majority of the ones we get are made for artificial nails. If the grit is too heavy on the file, it will tear your nails. Look for a file that’s soft and gentle. When you file, go in one direction.

Replace your file often. It shouldn’t take more than a few strokes of the file to shape your nail. If you’re working too hard, replace the file.

Buffers won’t damage your nails if you buff properly. It’s a less-is-more type of activity: Be gentle and don’t do it more than once a week. There are some fantastic buffers now. In the old days, you needed to use a cream and then buff with a chamois.

Today, there are three or four-sided buffers that will smooth ridges and add gloss when used in a step-by-step manner. Definitely gently buff nails before applying polish. Anything rough or uneven on the nail will make it more likely that your polish will peel.

Eat Right
Though you can’t feed the nail directly, a good diet is essential for overall nail health. Biotin-rich foods like eggs, soy, whole grains and liver are said to be extremely helpful to nails, along with foods rich in sulphur minerals like apples, cucumbers, grapes, garlic, asparagus and onions.

Also, be sure your diet includes essential fatty acids, or EFAs. Like vitamins and minerals, foods rich in EFAs, such as salmon, nuts, seeds and tuna, help keep nails shiny and pliable.


Pretty Tips
Once you adopt these tricks for great looking fingernails, you’ll never worry about hitting the bottle again (the nail polish bottle, of course).

Avoid quick-drying polishes. They have a large amount of acetone, which dries out polish and causes cracks. Use regular polishes instead, for a manicure that will last three times longer. Also, store polish in the refrigerator for a longer life.

Always roll, never shake the bottle. Shaking is sure to give you bubbles. Just roll the bottle between your palms. That’s more than enough to thoroughly mix polish.

To keep polish from bleeding into the cracks, apply cuticle oil to the surrounding skin before you apply colour. Then it’s easy to wipe off the excess after polishing.

Always make sure that each polish coat is as thin as possible. Thicker coats don’t dry enough between coats to adhere to the nail properly and so polish will peel off more easily.

To remove tough polish stains, soak nails in white vinegar for 10 minutes. Or add two teaspoons of household bleach to half-a-cup of warm water and soak nails for 15 minutes.