You may find it tough to make your manicure last for a long time because you use your hands in almost everything that you do. Here are a few tips you can use to keep your hands soft and smooth and your nails in super condition for a longer time.
- Protect your hands from excessive exposure to water
Exposing your freshly manicured hands to water for a long time may cause their smoothness to wear out quickly. This will also cause your nail beds to expand, weakening your nails and making them prone to chipping. Water can also weaken the strength of your nail paint. Wear gloves if you are doing the dishes in the kitchen or while having a shower. This will protect your nails from water and chemicals present in detergents, soaps and shampoos. - File your nails before your manicure
Whether you are going to a salon for your manicure or doing it yourself at home, file your nails after clipping them before starting your manicure. Filing your nails will give them a smooth edge, especially in the corners. This will prevent nails from breaking easily. No matter how good your manicure is, it can look terrible if your nails aren’t perfect. So file your nails before you get a manicure to make it last longer. - Re-apply nail paint a few times
Just because you went to the salon for a manicure, the beauty routine for your hands doesn’t end there. After a day or two of your manicure, your nail paint will dry completely and it will be time for you to re-apply one more coat. This will ensure strength of your nails and prevent them from chipping off. Apply one more coat of nail paint in the week to ensure that your manicure lasts as long as possible. - Apply a nail strengthener over your nail paint
A nail strengthener is a transparent nail paint that is meant to be applied over a nail paint to keep the color sealed for a long time and give nail paint some extra shine. Make sure you apply the strengthener after re-applying your nail paint for a second or third time in the week as you will not be able to use nail paint after using the strengthener. You can use a strengthener directly on your bare nails if you have had a French manicure or a manicure without any nail paint at all. - Moisturize your hands before you go to bed
Manicures feel and look beautiful because they make hands soft and supple. After you get your manicure, moisturize your hands with hand cream before you go to bed every night. Applying cream at night will keep the moisture in your hands intact for a couple of hours straight. This is better than using cream in daytime because hands can be exposed to water which will remove the moisturizer quickly. - Push back your cuticles after a shower
Pushing back your cuticles after a shower will help your nail paint to get maximum coverage on the nail instead of the skin. If you are using gloves while bathing, you can use special cuticle softeners to moisten your cuticles before pushing them. Working with dry cuticles will crack nail paint towards the nail bed. Do this once before your manicure starts and once after a few days of your manicure.