How To Do an At-Home Manicure That Lasts
I have a love/hate relationship with manicures. I love neat cuticles and nail polish, but I hate waiting for the polish to dry and then scuffing it within the 1st hour. To remedy that, I’ve tried gels, shellac, and acrylics, but, for a myriad of reasons they’re just not a good fit for me.
I decided to try to polish my nails at home using a combo of salon techniques and drugstore products to see if I could get a fast-drying, long-lasting, shiny manicure… Shockingly, it actually worked!!
Here’s how it’s done:
- Rub each nail with a cotton round moistened with alcohol
- Wash hands with soap and dry thoroughly
- Apply 2 coats of polish to right hand using left hand
- Wait 2 minutes
- Apply one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry
- Wait 30 seconds
- Repeat on left hand using right
The combination of removing any oils from the nails with the alcohol, plus the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat did the trick. The Sally Hansen really works!! The polish was dry in 30 seconds, so I didn’t have the opportunity to mess it up while waiting. It was really shiny, and it lasted for 7 days. I just can’t figure out why they don’t use a quick drying topcoat at nail salons.
Obviously this isn’t a full manicure, so when I need my cuticles cleaned up I’ll get the full manicure (maybe once a month or so) and do the polish changes myself in between.
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