Keep Your Hands Satin Smooth by using HAND CREAMS | What is your favorite Hand Cream?

 

How do you prefer your nails?  How about your skin?

Natural, with no polish?  Or do you like experimenting with different nail polishes and nail art?  No matter what we wear on our nails, or no matter how old we are, our manicure (or natural nails) would look prettier and more crisp if the surrounding cuticle is healthy and our hands well nourished.  Not to mention, we ladies love to give each other a soft touch or a pat in the back (how about a handshake?) 

So, how do we keep our hard working hands happy and beautiful?  Please continue reading for some hand pampering tips and some hand cream reviews.

Give Yourself the Perfect Manicure & Fast Polish Drying Secrets

A few weeks ago, I posted a How To on "giving yourself a nice at home nail spa."  Have you tried it? 

After giving yourself a nice at home nail spa, now it's time to prepare your pretty little sassy fingers for more pampering.  Pick your polish colors, your designs, gather your tools.... and now you're ready to paint.  Any tips on getting the perfect manicure?  Of course! Here's some:

The Perfect Manicure in Four Steps
 

HAUL: Well Manicured | Nail Care and Nail Art Tools

A proper nail artist needs proper tools, won't you agree?

"To do a job well, one must have the proper tools.  

But the tools themselves don't do the job.  

One must attain the skill to use the tool well."

What tools do you usually use for your nail care routine?

Recently, a friend received a 50%-off-coupon from Julep with her Welcome Box.  Yes, she subscribed! Yay!!! I rode-on her discount and purchased some tools along with her order.  I got the  Plié Wand and the Well-Manicured Kit. (As well as the "Gem Collection", you may read about it more here.)

Your Own At Home Nail Spa | Nail and Hand Care

On the nails:  2 coats of Audrey by Julep
with pink iridescent hearts and micro-beads.

     Ever wonder why your manicure doesn't seem to last more than a few days? No matter what your manicure is, it would look even better when your hands and cuticles are healthy. Follow these simple steps to healthy, good looking hands and treat yourself to a very inexpensive at home pampering.  You can even play a relaxing spa music while at it ;)

STOP Nail Biting!!!

"How do those nails taste like?"  Asked my grade school teacher out of the blue.  She must have spotted one of my classmates biting their nails.  She paused from the lesson at hand.  "Self confidence is very important.  That's how people would take you seriously.  Even when you are not self-confident, you can fake it.  Nail biting betrays lack of self-esteem.  So don't do it."  She was forceful.  She paused and went back to the lessons.  Didn't give it much thought then.  I personally knew no one with this habit.

Photo credit: Jezebel.com

Those were the days... Today, it seems I see and hear more and more people biting their nails.  Too many that it's almost like a norm. Some even announces it quite proudly that it almost sounds fashionable.  I quickly clench my fist and gently tap my lips with it as I catch myself putting my nails on my mouth.  Being exposed to many who bite their nails is making me unconsciously 'follow their example.' Is there really something wrong with the habit?

How long does your manicure last?

 

How long does your manicure last?  

 Mine usually last for 4 days without chipping, gone on the fifth day.  I usually don't pay much attention because I want to paint my nails again... This time, I wanted to know just how long my mani could last... I broke the record and passed 6 days... here are some pictures :) ~ Some tips at the end of this blog ;)

Here's how the fresh manicure looks...
since I did this in the morning, this would be DAY 1

Here's some chores I performed today for reference on how hard this manicure worked.
Day 1 was an easy day,
usual tidying up of the house, dishwashing (i do this everyday ;),
and some beauty routines including nighly mini-facial and washing my hair.

DAY 2
Still looking great.
Chores include the same as yesterday's plus
handwashing about 10 pieces of delicate clothing.
BTW, i use hand-gloves when doing dishes or washing clothes ;)

DAY 4
Today I re-applied glitters on the middle finger
and clear top coat on the rest ;)
Out and about includes shopping... plus the usual.
Made stew for dinner :)  Mani still looking great!

DAY 5
Impressive huh?
Usually by today, my manicure would have been chipped to half of the are of the finger.
That is without the re-application of top-coat.
This time, still looking awesome at day five...
My nail growth isn't very noticeable yet, but when I removed the polish the next day,
my nails have grown a lot longer!
I think they still look nice because I use cuticle oil every night,
and hand-cream everytime I wash my hands ;)

I wonder if my mani lasted even longer if I re-applied the top-coat before going to the waterpark... :)
I was just too happy that I passed 5 days, I did not even think of it...
I could have patched up the chip and wore it longer since the rest of the nails are still looking great?
hmmm... the what if's, hahaha....

DAY 6
Baby-sitting day for my niece (6 yrs old) and nephew (2 yrs old) for the whole day.  Besides the usual activities, there's hiking to the park, playing in the park and the water sprinkler too...  The polish on my pointer finger (right hand) peeled off, the rest was still looking great.  Since I had one chipped, I started peeling off the rest, then it looked unpleasant ;( ~ bad, don't peel your mani, lol... must remove it properly... ~  Ok, so this mani retired at the end of the 6th day... that breaks my record of 5 days!

This is what helped my mani last up to 6 days:

* Applied basecoat to clean, dry nails before the color, and applied top-coat after.
* Cleaned out polish that got into my cuticles and skin before drying.  I find that if I do not do this, the excess polish cause lifting (peeling).
* Capped the tips of my nails when applying the polish. (I make sure I brush some polish on the tips of my finger nails too to seal it.
* Applied cuticle oil every night and hand-cream everytime I wash my hands.  Having healthy cuticles makes your manicure look better.
* And of course, I don't use my nails as tools.  I try to treat them gently and use gloves whenever I can.

Want to make your manicure last even longer?

* Try using Julep's Polymer Top Coat
* Even better, paint your favorite polish in between a gel polish base coat and top-coat (fondly called gelly-sandwich).  This may make your manicure last for up to a week.
* And the winner?  Wear your manicure for up to 14 days if you use gel-polish or shellac (but there's a price to pay... hahaha)

How do you make your manicure last longer?