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.

This brand new nail polish was the victim of a senseless chopstick tragedy.

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:

1. Rub each nail with a cotton round moistened with alcohol
2. Wash hands with soap and dry thoroughly
3. Apply 2 coats of polish to right hand using left hand
4. Wait 2 minutes
5. Apply one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry
6. Wait 30 seconds
7. 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.