Beautiful, natural polished nails

Beautiful, natural nails require care and proper manicuring. A shortish nail that is straight across the top with rounded edges is the current in style shape. Here are tips for polishing your nails so they will look beautiful and stay looking fresh longer. Filing nails: File nails when the white part of the nail tip has grown 1/4" from the pink part of the nail. Filing nails before the nail is 1//4" long can weaken the nail. Allowing the nail to grow to a length longer than the base pink nail length will be sure to make them break easily. Filing from side to side can weaken nails. When filing, go from the corner to the center in one direction. Follow the groove on the side of your nail. Buffing nails: Buffing nails can give them a shinier finish. Start at the cuticle and work your way down to the tip with medium pressure. Don't use a back and forth movement as heat builds up and this can damage your nails. Continue lightly until all ridges on the nail surface have disappeared. Clean nails: Be sure that nails are clean and dry, free of any oil or lotion, before applying polish. Remove any old polish from nails.  Base Coat: Always use a Base Coat and let it dry for at least 1 minute. The Base Coat helps to keep nail polish from chipping and makes polish last longer. Applying Polish: Apply two coats of polish. You should be able to cover the nail in three stokes, one on each side and then one in the middle. Drying time: Always allow your polish to dry thoroughly for several minutes before you apply the next coat. This will avoid the new coat from dragging on the surface of the previous coat and allow the next layer adhere better. Darker shades take longer to dry. Avoid fast drying polish. It doesn’t last as long. Top Coat: Once your nail polish has dried, apply a clear Top Coat to seal it. Continue to apply the Top Coat daily to keep nails looking fresher longer. Remove with a nail polish remover that contains hydrating oils.

Written by Sagar Basak, personal technology columnist and founder of Most Useful Tricks. You can follow him on the social web or sign up for the email newsletter for your daily dose of how-to guides and video tutorials.

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