How to Give Yourself a Salon Quality Pedicure at Home

Pamper your feet at home with a pedicure.

Smooth feet and freshly painted toenails can add some spring to your step when you wear your sandals. Beyond cosmetics, removing dry skin and caring for cuticles will keep your feet healthy. Get a salon-quality pedicure at home with a few tools and techniques.

Things You'll Need

• Fine grit nail file
• Orange wood Stick
• Polish (clear topcoat and color)
• Tissues
• Nail polish remover
• Pumice stone

Instructions

1. Soak your feet for 10 minutes in warm water.

2. Scrub your feet with the pumice stone. Begin in the driest part of the bottom of your foot, applying moderate pressure. Give extra attention to rough spots and calluses.

3. Pat your feet dry with a towel. Push back your cuticles with an orange wood stick or trim them with a cuticle clipper.

4. Shape each nail with the nail file, rounding the corners very slightly. Use the smoothing side of the file to smooth the tops of each nail to get rid of any ridges or unevenness in the nail bed. Rinse and dry each foot to remove filing debris.

5. Fold a tissue in half and lay beside each foot. Open your polish remover and put a small amount into the cap, then lay beside the tissue with your orangewood stick. Apply the base coat to each nail. Paint each toe slowly using three stripes: middle, left and right. If you make a mistake, dip your orange wood stick into the polish cap and run it over the mistake and wipe the stick with the tissue.

6. Use the same technique you used for applying the base coat to apply two coats of color and a top coat. Wait up to 10 minutes between coats before applying the next.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to have the cap of polish available to clean up mistakes with the orange wood stick quickly. Wet polish is easier to clean without leaving an obvious streak of color on your skin.

• For best results, use a top coat that has a UV filter in it to prevent your color from turning muted and drab.

• Always be careful using the Orange Wood Stick or Cuticle Remover Stick. If you do puncture or cut your skin, use a septic to quickly stop the bleeding.