How To Make Your At-Home Manicures Last

Hi Guys!

So sorry for my lack of posts. I had a friend staying with us for a while, then we moved shortly after that, and basically I just haven't gotten back into the swing of things, but I'm hoping to get back on track with this post today. I have been wanting to do educational posts for a while now, some "how-to's" pertaining to nails and I want to start with something that I think is completely universal: How to make your at-home manicures last. 

Rich Girls and Po' Boys, OPI

When I was younger I loved having my nails painted, but it would never last. It'd be chipped before you knew it and I'd be walking around with chipped polish for weeks (why do we do that?). So, when I started getting into nails as an adult I realized that there were lots of tips and tricks to making your manicures last. And for the record, I am in no way "easy" on my nails. At work I do a lot of computer work, I run a cash register, and I do a lot of shipping & receiving and product merchandising. Despite all of that my manicures easily last at a full week, sometimes more, without anything more than tip wear. Now, I do generally change my polish color weekly, but there have definitely been times where I stretch it beyond that. So, let's get into my five tips and tricks for making your at-home manicures last. 



1). Invest in a good base coat. A base coat is important because it will do two things: It will provide a nice smooth base for your polish to stick to, and it will help protect the nail from staining. I love the CND Stickey Base Coat. It does a great job of anchoring the nail polish down, and ever since I discovered it I have used it almost exclusively. I buy mine on Amazon, and I buy the larger size. You can find it here. I've tried other base coats before, specifically the Sally Hansen Double Duty and more recently the Smith & Cult Basis of Everything Base Coat, and while I have nothing bad to say about either of those options I just keep coming back to my CND Stickey. 

TIP: Make sure that your nails are clean and dry before you go in with your base coat. Don't leave any traces of lotion on your hands, or any specks of dust or fuzzies, because the lotion will make it harder for your polish to stick, and those stupid fuzzies will get under your polish and just piss you off!

CND Stickey Base Coat

2). Use two coats of polish, even if it's a "one-coat wonder." I like a quick manicure as much as the next person, but painting two coats of polish is well worth your time for a couple of reasons. The first is that the color itself has a chance to richen and the texture of the polish will have a chance to smooth itself out. I prefer to do a couple of thin/regular coats as opposed to one thick one. The second reason is that the more fortified the layers of polish are the longer they will last. I have personally noticed a direct correlation between chip time and number of layers worn. Every time I've done one coat my nails have chipped within days. 

TIP #1: Make sure you are allowing a few minutes of dry-time between coats. If you go in with your next coat before the bottom coat has started to dry you will get bubbling. 

TIP #2: Speaking of those dreaded bubbles, don't shake your nail polish bottle before using it. Roll it instead. Shaking creates air pockets that translate into bubbles on the nail, whereas rolling the bottle does not. 

Bahama Mama, Essie

3). "Wrap" your tips. While I am painting my nails I never neglect the tips, AKA the free edges. I treat them exactly like the nail itself, so that includes using base coat, polish, and top coat on each and every one. Not only does it help make your manicures last, but I also think it adds that extra little oomph to your mani that makes it look like you got them done professionally. 

TIP: Be careful not to have too much polish on your brush when you are painting the tips. But even if you do make a little bit of a mess you can always tidy that up in the clean up process! 

Fauntleroy, Smith & Cult

4). Invest in a good top coat (preferably a quick-drying top coat). A top coat seals and locks everything in and if you've been following me for any length of time then you probably already know which top coat I am going to recommend. If you buy any top coat at all, make it HK Girl by Glisten & Glow. HK Girl is infamous for good reason... It is fantastic. First of all, if you've never tried a quick-drying top coat before you absolutely must. It will change your life (dramatic much, Crystal?). I can hardly even imagine the old days of letting your nail polish air dry and being crippled by the inability to use your hands for the god-awful length of time it would take. And what good is a normal top coat if you still have to wait for it to dry? No, thank you! HK Girl is terrific because it a). Dries and hardens your polish quickly, b). Leaves your nails glossy and gorgeous, and c). Doesn't have all of the negative attributes that Seche Vite has. Seche Vite was what I used for a while, but after my first bottle got about halfway through I experienced the shrinking and the lifting and the goopiness that everyone talked about. I don't mean to say that Seche Vite is necessarily a bad product. I was very happy with it for a while and I even bought Seche Restore to help make it work (which has consequently now become my go-to polish thinner), but HK Girl is just better. As with any nail polish or top coat, as air gets into the bottle it may need a little thinning, but that's nothing my Seche Restore can't fix, and that's usually only once I get toward the last half of a bottle. There is absolutely no polish shrinkage or lifting whatsoever with HK Girl, no sheet marks in the morning, nothing. 

TIP #1: At some point I remember reading that cold water helps your polish set faster, and I'm not absolutely sure if it's true, but every time I paint my nails I pour cold water over them after I've top-coated. It's just something that I do that I thought I would share. 

HK Girl Top Coat, Glisten & Glow

Tip #2: If you want to spruce up your mani after it starts to get a little dull, re-apply another coat of your top coat to jazz it back up! Not only will it re-gloss your mani, but it will also re-fortify your polish!

Sunset Sneaks, Essie

5). Give your fresh manicure a little bit of time to really set. Even with a fabulous top coat you still need to err on the side of caution and go a little easy on your nails for the first 12-ish hours until it truly sets. That means avoiding things like opening cans, hitting your nails on hard surfaces, submerging them in hot water, etc. I usually wait until after dinner and dishes to pant my nails so that I can really take it easy when I'm done. 

Romper Room, Essie

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And those are my five tips for making your at-home manicures last! I hope you found this post helpful, and if you have an questions or comments feel free to leave them below. Until next time, happy polishing! XOXO