10 Nail Hacks That Can Make You a Manicure Guru

Nails can reveal a lot about your health and the overall state of your body — like, for example, chronic bronchitis and heart disease will show on them. So it is only logical that a good manicure makes a good impression on people around you, telling them how well you take care of yourself. And with these tricks you can do it with a fraction of the time and money you used to spend at the salon!

We at Bright Side dedicate a lot of time to finding tips and tricks that will make your daily life easier and this list of manicure “hacks” was carefully selected just for our readers.

Remove stubborn nail polish in 5 minutes.

If you need to easily remove a stubborn nail polish (like the kind with glitter or gel nail polish) just take small pieces of cotton balls soaked in nail polish remover and place them onto the nail for about 5 minutes. To make the process even more efficient, you can wrap the nails with the cotton in aluminum foil and let them sit. Also, with gel nail polish, you might want to file the surface first.

Cut your own design using a clear band-aid.

Sticker designs are great to renovate your nail look, but they usually come on one sheet and we become confused as to how to cut the right shape for your nail bed. Using simple scotch tape, trace the outline of your nail and use it to cut out just the right amount.

Use a peel-off base.

One of the greatest inventions of our time, regarding the safety of our nails, is a peel-off base. You’ll eliminate the harsh chemicals of nail polish remover or the roughing up of the nail bed with a file as a part of your manicure process.

Make your own dotting tools.

If you need a dotting tool right away and don’t want to spend any money, take a pen or a pencil with a rubber top and pierce it with a simple fabric pin. If there is a lack of those in your household as well — you can try to use a bobby pin with a rounded tip for your flawless manicure.

Use acrylic paint for the design.

Nail polish designs are great, but not everybody was born a Michelangelo. Also, the structure of the nail polish makes it hard to work with. So to avoid those problems, make a base out of nail polish, draw the design on with acrylic paints — then, simply cover it up with a top coat and — voila!

Try a homemade nail bath to take care of nails.

If your nails need some taking care of, you can try a homemade nail bath:

• Remove the nail polish;
• File the nails;
• Make a warm bath with one cup of warm water, lemon wedges, 2 spoons of sugar, 1/2 tbsp of baking soda and 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil.

This bath will moisturize and nourish your nails. Use a dry cloth afterward to dry the nails and then cover with new nail polish.

Use Aquaphor to prevent smudges.

Let’s say you ran out of nail latex and you are not the best at applying nail polish. You can simply take Aquaphor, cover the finger around the nail with it, and paint away. Then rub off the Aquaphor with the “overspill” of the polish.

Make a handy nail polish box.

If you’ve got a large collection of nail polishes, you might want to separate them by color and know what you are pulling out without looking inside every bottle. For this you can buy small stickers and color them with the polish inside the bottle, then put the sticker on top of the lid.

Do not use a hair dryer to dry your nail polish.

As convenient as it may seem, do not try to use a hairdryer to dry your nails. It will create bubbles and ruin your manicure. Instead use a cold water bath, oil, or just cold running water from the tap for a fast dry if you don’t have a manicure lamp.

Manipulate your nail polish consistency.

With time some nail polishes become unmanageable and become either too runny or too thick. Thankfully, this issue is easy to fix: close the bottle and put it either in cold water (to make the consistency thicker) or warm water (to make it runnier). After a couple of minutes you are good to go.

Do you have any other tips that are handy for your day-to-day manicure routine? Be sure to share them with us in the comment section below!