Nail Manicure - part 3

| April 8, 2010 |

When doing a woman’s manicure decide which method you want to use then apply it to the cuticles. Warm cream is a nice relaxing way to do a manicure and I use this on many of my clients. It’s a little old fashioned, but they like it. The main reason I use a cuticle remover instead is that the remover really does a better job of attacking stubborn and overrun cuticles. It can also help eliminate stains on the natural nails.

Whichever product you choose you want to give the cuticles a few minutes to really soften up, then use a cuticle pusher to push back the cuticle and even gently scrape off the cuticle that has overgrown and stuck to the nail bed. You want to keep cutting to a minimum and only take off what is absolutely necessary with your nippers. Always make sure your tools are sanitized properly and with hospital grade products. When you are done with the cuticles apply an oil to the cuticle and rub it in. Then moisturize and massage each hand and wrist. Again, don’t skimp on the massage. Once this is done, thoroughly clean the nail by wiping it down with remover to get rid of any residue that can interfere with the adhesion of the polish.

Picking the right base coat is also extremely important. My favorite base coat for natural nails is a bonder. The only downside to this type of polish is that it doesn’t fill in any imperfections, but if you use the proper nail polish you can avoid any problems. I like to pair the bonder base coat with a lacquer polish, like OPI or China Glaze. Usually I do two coats of polish over the bonder. After allowing the polish to dry for a while I choose an appropriate top coat. There are many different types of topcoats, so many that I will do a post just on them. For the most part I stick to some kind of quick drying top coat and maybe a drying agent to speed up the process as well.