♡ The Perfect Manicure DIY ♡

It's no secret that a good manicure can make or break an outfit. 

While indulging in a professional manicure is always the best way to spend a Friday afternoon, being a full time student, I don't have a lot of time on my hands, nor a readily available abundance of money to splash out on perfect nails, however, giving yourself a professional standard DIY manicure can also be a difficult and messy practise without the proper techniques.

By observing what my technician was doing in the salon today, I was able to pick up these tips and tricks and hopefully achieve the perfect DIY manicure:

STEP ONE: Always start off with clean nails. Enough said. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap gets rid of any grubbiness and yuck that may be lurking on the surface or nail beds. 

STEP TWO: Remove dead polish. While it may seem like the "easy way out", painting over already half-chipped nails is a big no-no. It ruins the nail surface, not to mention that it looks really cheap and careless. For shellac, you must use pure acetone on a little cotton ball and then wrap the finger in aluminium foil for ten minutes. After that, you can use an orange stick to scrub off any excess. 

STEP THREE: Clip. Please. Talons are for eagles - not humans. 

File the nail down so that it is smooth. I always attempt to file my nails in an oblong or "squoval" shape. The "squoval" shape is strong enough to stop any chips from occurring in contrast to an oval or square which are prone to this.

Buff the surface of the nail which an orange stick. This is important as it gets rid of any tiny bumps on the surface of the nail.

STEP FOUR: I then pamper my hands with a moisturising lotion. Right now, I'm using Soap and Glory's Hand Food.  I highly recommend this. Not only does it moisturise to the max, it smells divine, dries quickly, and unlike a lot of moisturisers, it doesn't leave my hands all greasy for the rest of the day. Bonus :)

STEP FIVE: Go ahead and apply a clear base coat. This establishes a smooth surface for the colour to go on.

STEP SIX: Depending on the pigmentation of the polish, apply two coats - maybe three if it's semiopaque

STEP SEVEN: My secret tip...or maybe not so secret ...get a Q-tip or swissper or whatever they call them, dip it in some nailpolish remover and just lightly wipe away any imperfections such as polish on fingers or whatever. You're welcome :)

♡♡♡QUICK REVIEW ♡♡♡

For my DIY manicure, I used Sinful Colours in the shade Snow Me White - a product I received in my November Bellabox. I'd never used a Sinful Colors polish before as I haven't seen them in the shops in Australia yet. 

♡ 100% pigmentation with two coats

♡ Quick dry

♡ Smooth to apply

♡ Long lasting

The only negative was that the first coat was slightly streaky but with a second coat, that was all fine. 

♡♡♡

Luxe