How to Give Yourself a Professional Manicure at Home

Self-care is defined as the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health.I think everyone sees self-care differently.To some it may be getting coffee from Starbucks,to others - taking a nice bath or reading a book.

To me self-care is taking the time to take care of my physical and mental well being.I love going on walks,meditating and of course - doing my nails.You could just go to a salon,too but to me there is something extra special in the time I take to do my own nails.That time is me time.I put some nice music on,relax and let myself be artistic.No worries if you don't have the patience to draw on your nails though - this Instructable can be customised to your own liking.Whether it's just plain nails or funky drawings,I will teach you how you can achieve a professional looking manicure at home.

You will need:

A UV lamp

A base and a top coat

Gel nail polish

Cuticle remover

Orange stick

Nail file

Block nail file

Dotting tool

Nail art tape (optional)

A hand cream

Napkins

Step 1: Prep Your Nails

Like an artist's canvas,your nails must be prepared before you apply your nail polish.This allows your manicure to last longer and gives it a more professional look.

Get started by washing your hands with some warm water and soap.Nothing too fancy - you just want to make sure your hands are clean.

After I wash my hands I like to start by filing my nails.I use a crystal nail file and I would recommend you to use one as well.I have found that metal files can be way too harsh on my nails and paper files,well they just aren't as good as a crystal one.If you,like me are intending to exclusively do your nails at home I suggest you invest in your tools.Quality tools equal quality manicure.The shape of your nails is up to you.Personally I like mine to be oval or round.

The next step is to again,wash your hands - just to rinse off the nail dust.

After that I use my cuticle gel to remove my cuticles.I never cut them.I use the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover.I apply the gel and leave it on for a minute and then use an orange stick to gently push back and remove the excess cuticles.I use a napkin to clean up my hands afterwards.

Last but not least - I use a block file to gently file my nail beds.This step is optional - you can skip it if you want.

And now your canvas is ready!

Step 2: Apply Your Base Color

I proceed to apply my base coat and base color.

I use my UV lamp to cure the nail polishes - 90 seconds for each layer.

I applied the nude color in two layers to achieve a better coverage.

You can stop here,apply your top coat and create a minimal manicure.You could however take a little more time to create an accent nail.

Step 3: Accent Nails

Accent nails are exactly what they sound like - they are the accent of a manicure.

You could use a glitter nail polishqput some rhinestones or draw something on.

To start I used a scrap piece of paper to put a little bit of the nail polish in order to make the application easier.

For my manicure I used a slightly darker nude nail polish to draw a diagonal line with a dotting tool.I dipped the dotting tool to the little bit of nail polish I put on the paper and began drawing.You can also use a nail polish tape to make it easier for you.After that I filled underneath the diagonal lines.I applied this nail polish color twice,too.

And as a final touch I created two black lines,again with my dotting tool - one vertical and the other one horizontal.