Good Morning, Everyone! I hope you guys had a fantastic weekend! Now it’s back to the daily grind. I ordered an extra large McCafe drink this morning from McDonald’s… it’s a Monday. haha Today for Mani Monday, one of my favorite holidays (it can be considered a holiday… right?), I’m gonna walk you guys through the steps on how to achieve your perfect manicure. While there is quite a few steps (and some products you’ll have to buy), it’s not a hard thing to do. Besides, it’s so worth it when people ask where you got your mani done at. Girl, you reply with the biggest smile that you did that shit yourself! Go you! So, let’s get talkin’!

First things first: I’m gonna give you the run down on all the products you need. There’s not really a need to splurge on any of these items, you can find them all right at your local drugstore in the nail isle! However, I did purchase my cuticle oil and various hand lotions and scrubs from a company called Secret (sounds kinda like a sex store, no?). I received it as a present, so unfortunately I’m not sure how much it was. But, since then, I’ve picked up everything at Walmart and Target, with an occasional trip to Sally’s Beauty Supply! The items you’ll need (you’ll probably already have some lying around your house!) are:

~nail file

~nail clippers

~buffing block (it has 4 different sides, each achieve a different task)

~hand lotion

~exfoliating hand scrub

~cuticle oil

~cuticle pusher

~cotton pads

~nail color(s) of your choice!

Like I mentioned earlier, all of this is readily available at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, etc. and you don’t have to break the bank! Once you’ve gathered all of these items, you’ve got yourself a one-way ticket to a perfect DIY manicure!

Now, I’m gonna share with ya’ll the 10 steps of prep work needed to have your mani turn out the absolute best. When using so many different products and tools, it’s important that you follow these steps in order to avoid ruining your nails. Obviously, you’ll never tear your nail off or anything catastrophic like that (or at least I hope not!), but going out of order could cause extra drying of the nails and brittleness. Take notes!

1) Clean your hands! I always like to start with a clean base, so lather up and rinse with warm water! Dry thoroughly.

2) Once completely dry, clip and file your nails to desired shape and size. I always leave mine short. Confession: I’m a nail biter! When filing down your nails, be sure to always file in the same direction, DO NOT file back and forth! That will cause tearing of your nail!

3) Get out your buffing block, it’s time for the manual labor! I have a few different buffing blocks from a few different places (none is better than the other) and they all have directions on how to use them printed directly on the block. Others will have it printed on the packaging, so be sure to keep that if that’s what yours does. You need to use each side in a certain order to achieve the best look, so read the directions before! This will be your most time consuming step.

4) Once your done using your buffing block, exfoliate your hands gently with the scrub. Rinse with warm water.

5) No matter what you exfoliate, always follow up with a moisturizer! Your face, hands, feet… moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

6) Now its time give some TLC to your cuticles. Start by dabbing on just a little bit of cuticle oil. Less is more! Rub the oil in and let it sink in for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

7) At this point, your cuticles will soften up and be easier to work with, so now you’ll push them back. This is important: NEVER, ever, ever, ever CUT your cuticles! This will lead to all sorts of problems. Just push them back! I know it’s tempting, but pushing them back will be better for ya in the long run. Promise.

8) Almost done now! Dip a cotton pad into your nail polish remover and just quickly swipe it over your nails to clean off excess product. Nail polish adheres better to clean nails.

9) Rinse with warm water and then….

10) Apply your polish!

This whole process shouldn’t take you too, too long… just around 30 minutes or so. But that’s not including the painting and drying time of your nails! So it’s just best to do this on an evening when you don’t have anything to hurry for. I always do mine on Sunday evenings while watching The Walking Dead. Now that the season ended (until October. Just kill me. I CANNOT wait that long), I’ll probably switch it up. This will take you some time and patience, but hey, can’t rush perfection, right? (:

Later this week, maybe even tomorrow, I’ll have up a picture of my newest manicure that I did last night, along with some mani tips and tricks about shortening drying time, fixing mistakes, etc. I’ll also have a post about how I do nails for my clients and how much I charge, because that can sometimes be a tricky thing for some people. So get ready for all of that! Apparently it’s gonna be a manicure kinda week this week! Thank ya’ll for spending time with me this morning! Now go rock that flawless manicure you did yourself (:

Happy Mani Monday!

XOXO, Megan (: