LOCKDOWN BEAUTY: DIY manicure at home

IF you are like every other woman in Ireland, at this stage you have picked or taken off your shellac or gel nails yourself, writes Megan Durkan.

Having done this will have left your nails incredibly weak and brittle, especially with all the housekeeping we are doing!

Our hands are taking a serious beating these days as we are washing them much much more (I hope) than we were before Covid-19, while also using hand sanitisers (full of alcohol) and wearing gloves is drying our hands out.

For all of these reasons some much needed care is needed for our hands. We have the time so let’s give ourselves a little home mani using my step by step instructions.

1. Start with a clean base so make sure your nails are clean and your hands are washed!!

2. Time to soak and exfoliate: using any body scrub, wash or bath cream that you have in the house, fill a bowl of warm water and your scrub and let your hands soak. A little nail brush is ideal here as you can give your hands a little rub with it and give a nice exfoliation of dead skin.

3. Caring for your cuticles is key. Rub a bit of oil on the nail bed area first. If you don't have a cuticle oil, olive oil would even do the trick. Ideally using a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick push back the cuticle all the way down the nail bed. If you have a thick overhang of cuticle this is where you would nip and get rid of the dead cuticle - be very careful with this step as this is where you can go wrong quite easily by cutting back too much and nipping the skin.

4. Once all cuticle work is done you need to shape the nail. I am not a big lover of clipping nails - I prefer to file down. File your nails back and into desired shape.

5. Get your hand cream, body lotion or hand moisturiser out and rub through your hands. Ensure this has penetrated the skin thoroughly.

6. Last steps: use a nail treatment such as Sally Hansen nail strengthener or nailtiques formulas for brittle nails. Paint the nail treatment on first. If you wish you can continue with your normal polish colour over and then lastly finish with your base coat.

That’s it ladies. I hope these little tips find you all well and healthy!!!

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