Nail care routine

Yay, a post about nails! Nail care is essential if you want to grow your nails longer and keep the lenght. I started concentrating more on my nails when I was about 13 or 14 years old. Before that I was a severe nail biter - yes. I found it very hard not to bite or rip of the tip of the nail when it grew out, so to keep myself from destroying the nails I started doing nail art. If I spent three or more hours doing my nails, I wouldn't just want to throw out all my hard work and mess up the design. So, nail art is the thing that stopped me from biting my nails.

I usually do a new design once or twice a week, but before I start painting, I like to do a nail care routine and give my nails some TLC. The routine helps a lot with growing the nails, and also provides a nice canvas to paint the nail art on.

Here are the tools I use:

- nail polish remover (preferably acetone free, it's more gentle to the nails)
- buffer block
- cuticle oil
- hand cream
- orange wood stick/something to push back your cuticles
- a good quality nail file
- nail brush
- cuticle scrub (optional)

So here's the starting situation: one week old manicure. Ugh. As you can see, I'm still really talented at peeling the polish off during the week..and I'm not proud of it :D Let's get rid of these, shall we?

I removed the designs using cotton pads soaked in acetone free polish remover. I also used the cuticle scrub, and after that, rinsed my hands with warm water and used the big nail brush to get rid off the polish remover that might be left on my nails. To get rid off rough edges, use a nail file. My nails tend to peel a little, so I like to buff them so that they're smooth and the finished nail art lasts longer.
Here are my natural nails cleaned, buffed and filed:

After shaping my nails I like to moisturize them properly. I applied some cuticle oil on each nail along with hand cream.

I waited about 5 minutes to let the oil and cream soak in, and then pushed back the cuticles. Be very careful and most importantly, gentle when doing this. If you use cuticle oil a couple of times each day, your cuticles will become a lot softer and easier to push back. Pushing them back makes the nails look neater and gives you a bit more space for doing nail art.

Now it's time to choose a desired nail design! If I'm lacking inspiration, I like to go on Google and search, for example "colorful nail art". There are thousands and thousands of pictures to draw inspiration from. I chose a design that looked interesting and and modified it slightly. Before doing nail art, always apply a base coat! It will protect your nails from staining and help other polishes to adhere better. Here are the polishes I used:

- Konad Hardner as a base coat
- Dermosil "Snow"
- Color Club "All That Razz"
- Black polish from a local clothing store
- Amazing Shine non-yellowing top coat

                                                                     After base coat

                               I applied two coats of "Snow" and painted the sides with "All that Razz"

                                             I did the black details with this small nail art brush

         
And there's the finished design! I hope this nail care routine was helpful to any of you wondering how to take care or your nails :) Just a few more tips for growing your nails:

- Dry your hands and nails thoroughly after washing them.

- It takes time for your nails to recover from damage, so if you've been using fake nails for a long time, your nails might grow a bit slower. It's worth the wait, though.

- Use cuticle oil or balm multiple times each day! It really helps to keep your nails stronger and prevents you from peeling dry cuticles. Keep a small pot of cuticle moisturizer of your choice with you at all times. Whenever you feel the urge to pick at your cuticles, apply some oil on them. Also, don't forget to use hand cream.

- Be gentle on them. No biting or peeling. If your nail suddenly breaks, file the ragged edge as soon as you can so you won't be tempted to peel the whole tip off. It's best to keep a small nail file with you just in case this happens.

- Experiment with different shapes to find out what suites you best. Nowadays I prefer having the tips almost square, rather than round.

Take good care of your nails, guys! Have a great week.