Attention all mani-addicts, we have compiled a list of the top 10 hacks that will make painting your nails so much easier!
- Use thinner coats of polish – this reduces the drying time and risk of bubbles. It seems obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how many people I see who opt for 1 thick coat of colour instead of 2 thinner coats, and then complain that it takes forever to dry!
- Fix smudges by licking them – it sounds crazy, and it doesn’t taste all that pleasant either, but it does really work! Every girl knows all too well the annoyance at one smudge in an otherwise perfect mani. The way to fix this is to use your tongue to gently push the polish back into place.
- DIY dotter tool – by sticking a pin into the eraser end of a pencil you can make your own dotter tools. For some variation you can use different sized pins to create different patterns on your nails. (We know dotters only cost around $1 each, but if you desperately want to add some spots to your mani and don’t have one at hand this is a great alternative). If you don’t have any pins, try the end of a bobby pin.
- Use netting from a loofah to create a quick and easy nail art – as a nail polish lover who cannot do nail art to save my life, I’m always on the lookout for quick and easy nail art that looks live you’ve spent ages on it. This trick gives you just that!
- Dab, don’t paint, the first coat of glitter polish – this allows you to distribute the glitter where you want to for a much more even coat.
- If your polish colour is 3 free, make sure your top and base coats are as well – if the top coat isn’t 3 free and the polish is, the top coat will dry much quicker and leave smudges and dents on your nails the next morning, even though it appears dry when you go to bed.
- Don’t waste 5 cotton balls when taking off your polish – it is SO much more economical to rip up one cotton ball into little pieces and use those pieces to remove polish one nail at a time. Quicker and more economical, we LOVE this method!
- Use a makeup brush to remove polish from skin – we love this tip so much, we wrote an entire article on it.
- Use white polish to brighten up your mani – by painting a white base coat you can achieve a mani that makes the polish look just like it does in the bottle. This tip is extremely useful for neon polishes.
- Use eyeliner to pick up nail decals and place them perfectly on your nails – the slightly tacky pencil end of eyeliner gives you just enough grip to pick up rhinestones or studs and allows you to place them on your nails with much more precision than your fingers. Alternatively use a pin with some blu-tak or wax on the end.
Comment below with some of your hacks you would like to share!
– Mette Jorgensen
