5 Ways to Make Your Manicure Last

​Can you believe that the last time I went to a nail salon was in February? I wasn't a regular at the nail salon, and I have spent most of my life doing my nails myself. I did enjoy visiting the salon from time to time as a little treat, but the truth is that I have been doing my own nails since I was in middle School, and over the years, I've gotten pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

I started out doing my own nails in middle school because attending a Catholic school, part of our uniform rules were that we weren't allowed to wear nail polish. But as a pre-teen, I of course wanted my nails done on the weekends. My parents wouldn't pay for me to get my nails done, especially since I would do them Friday afternoon and had to take the nail polish off again on Sunday night. The compromise was that I figured out how to do them myself.

Since then, I just continued doing them myself because it seemed easier than having a standing appointment each week or having to figure out when it was convenient to get to the salon. As a recovering nail biter (I was chronically bad about this when I was in elementary school, to the point where my dad would pay me for every day I didn't bite my nails!), I have also found that if my nails are done, I am much less likely to pick at them and bite them. I still succumb when under a lot of stress or anxiety, but it's a huge help to have them looking nice. 

​Over the years, I have learned a lot about doing my own nails, and even how to make them last longer. My nails typically make it to day 6 or 7 before starting to chip. Recently, Olive & June sent me a kit and I am kind of obsessed with their polishes, which are 7-free, and the whole kit. If your problem is keeping your hands steady while you paint, their Poppy tool is really helpful! They have a really great series on Instagram, called the Mani Bootcamp, and they share how you can get the perfect manicure at home. 

Here are 5 things I do to make my manicure last: 

1. Buff my nails. Buffing helps get rid of the ridges, and helps the nail polish "stick" better. I also buff the pieces of cuticles that stay stuck to my nails, and the rough edges that remain around the nail bed. 
2. Cut for length and general shape first, then file to get rid of sharp edges. When you file too much, you weaken the nail. By doing as little filing as possible, you help to avoid extra damage to the nails. 
3. Paint polish in thin layers. This really allows the polish to dry and not to bubble up. 2-3 thin layers of polish is always better than one thick coat. And a good topcoat really makes a huge difference. 
4. Clean nail polish off cuticles and edges. I used to paint my nails really messy and then just clean off the extra paint haphazardly, but I discovered that it caused my nails to chip more quickly when I did that. So now I paint cleanly, and make sure to remove any additional paint from my cuticles and around the nails.
5. Make sure your nails are SUPER clean before you start painting them. No lotion, no oil, no soap. I usually clean my nails off with one quick swipe of nail polish remover right before I paint. I have found that this makes an enormous difference in how long my manicure lasts! 

And there you have it! 

Also - nail polish can go bad. You can use a polish thinner to help the consistency, but if a bottle is too old, the paint is less likely to last on your manicure. ​

xoxo, 

​Jenise