How to Paint Nails Like a Pro in Minutes

Well-manicured nails look beautiful and can express your personal style through a variety of colors, designs and nail trends. A professional manicure is fun and gives you some time to relax, but the cost can add up quickly for regular maintenance. Luckily, you can learn how to give yourself a manicure that lasts, from buffing your nails, to polishing evenly.

Things You'll Need

• Nail polish
• Nail polish remover
• Nail trimmer
• Nail file
• Clear overcoat/basecoat polish

Instructions

1. Remove any old nail polish that you have on your nails before repainting them. Use a nail polish remover that is gentle on your nails with a strengthening solution in it to maximize its effectiveness. Dampen a cotton ball with the liquid and briskly move the cotton ball across the nail’s surface. Try to make sure to get in between the cuticle and the nail to remove any remaining polish that is hidden in this spot. Repeat this process until all the old polish has been removed.

2. Use a nail trimmer or a nail file to touch up your nails before you paint them so that the job will look more professional. This step is very easy and can be done quickly as well. Don’t linger on one nail trying to perfect it; all you need to do is file or trim away any weak or ripped nail.

3. Select a clear base coat (which can be used as an overcoat on polish), and apply the base coat to the surface of your nails. To make this process easier select a fast drying brand of polish. When you are applying the base coat, only put on a thin layer of it. It does not have to be perfectly even because it is intended only to help make the polish stay on longer.

4. Once you have allowed time for your base coat to dry, then you can begin to paint the colored polish onto your nails. Since painting nails can take a long time, you can “cheat” a little by not applying two coats of polish because you have put on the base coat to hold the polish on. Apply the polish in thin strokes, covering the whole surface of the nail. Make sure that you apply the polish so that all of the brush strokes go in the same direction.

5. Allow three to five minutes to let the polish dry. Once you have finished doing this, you are almost done. Your last step will be to apply the clear basecoat again, though this time as a clear overcoat. The overcoat will help make nails appear shinier and protect the manicure. Put a thin a layer of the clear polish over the colored nail polish. You really don’t need to take much time with this because no one can see the mistakes.

6. The overcoat will dry in approximately two minutes or less. After it has dried fairly well, your manicure is done. It looks great and is very durable. The only caution is to make sure that you do not scrape the polish on anything for the next three minutes or so to allow the polish a little bit more time to set on the nails.