Painting Your Own Nails! 10 Tips for DIY Polish

If you like painting your own nails, you’ve likely noticed it’s hard to get that flawless finish at home. Nail techs at the salon can make it seem so easy! Unless you’re ambidextrous, painting your non dominant hand can be especially difficult. Here are 10 great tips for polishing your own nails at home, make it a part of a well deserved DIY Manicure!

1: Which Nails to Start Painting?

Start with your left hand little finger, working left to right. Then do your right hand, and work right to left. The idea is that you don’t want to be passing over the nails that you have already painted. Give yourself less chances to mess up your work!

2: A Steady Hand

Some of us may have a more steady hand than others. This tip can be especially helpful if you get a bit shaky, but also just to keep your aim sure. The trick is to use anchors. To do this, place the back of the wrist on the hand you are painting on a steady flat surface. Then anchor your painting hand pinky on a safe unpainted area of the hand you are painting.

3: Perfect Practice

Yes, the old adage is true. Practice practice practice. You will get better over time. The more you polish your own nails, the easier it will get. If you’re regularly painting your own nails, you can also offer to practice on other!

4: Brush Tactics

The angle of your brush can make a big difference as well. Use you brush at a more flat angle while painting on the color. Use the rounded edge for sealing in the edges. Before you paint, completely wipe off one side of the brush and the top half of other the other, including the stick part.

5: Prepare for Pretty Polish that Lasts

Preparation is key! Your nails should be properly cleaned and groomed before you polish them. You should paint a stroke down the middle, then the two sides. Also, do not push your polish into the cuticle. Get as close as you can without touching it. Use an adequate top coat. Don’t forget to seal your edges! You should brush across the top edge of each nail with your top coat to seal it in. Your top coat should go beyond the color to seal it in.

6: Using Good Products

Make sure your polish is in good shape before you use it! If your polish is old, clumpy, and thick, you are not going to end up with a pretty paint job. To prevent this, make sure you are closing your polish completely when you are done. Do not shake your paints! This gets air into the paint. Instead, before using it you can roll it between your hands to mix it back up.

If your polish needs saving because it is already old, thick, and/or clumpy, you can get some nail polish thinner. Add in a very little bit at a time, you do not want to add too much.

7: Reverse Painting Your Non Dominant Hand

Instead of trying to paint strokes with your non dominant hand, try holding the brush still, and moving the fingers of your dominant hand instead. Roll your finger to paint the sides. This makes painting your own nails a lot easier!

8: Painting Designs by Creating Your Own Decals

Creative designs can be really hard to paint on your own nails. One way your can do this is to paint on top of a sandwich bag or laminated type of surface that you can peel off easily after it dries. This you can use top coat to put the design on your nail.

9: Cleaning Up

A great way to clean up around the edges is to use a brush or wooden pusher dipped in remover. After your polish is dry you can also use lotion or simply wash your hands. If your skin is moisturized the polish won’t be as hard to get off. You could also use lotion before polishing (see DIY manicure steps), as long as you make sure to clean off the nails before polishing. Sometimes I paint my toes and then in the shower the next day the extra bits around the edges work themself off effortlessly.

You can use a small bit of cotton wrapped on a wooden pusher to make it absorb more remover, and press and hold on skin if necessary.

If you are doing an extra messy design or want a fast way to remove the excess, you can also use liquid latex. You basically paint the skin around your nail with it, and then you are able to easily peel off the liquid latex with a clean polished nail left behind.

10: Drying Your Paint

If you have trouble with your paint not drying fast enough before it gets smudged, it’s quite likely you are using too much polish. It does take a full 24 hours for polish to be 100% dry in most cases, but it will make a big difference if you use less polish. Opt for two layers of thin color, rather than one opaque layer.

You can also use fast drying top coats, spray nail dryer, or a nail drying fan.

And there’s your 10 Tips for painting your own nails! Share with us any other tips your have in the comments below.