Manicures and Pedicures

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Directions for giving yourself a manicure:

1. Wash your hands, remove old nail polish, and gather your supplies. You will need
2. • a bowl of warm water
   • nail clippers
   • a nail file
   • a nail buffer
   • hand lotion
   • nail polish remover
   • cotton balls
   • a hand towel
   • a clear basecoat
   • nail color
   • clear topcoat
3. Soak your fingers in the warm water for five minutes. Then dry them off, and clip your nails.
4. Use the hand lotion. Rub it all over your hands, focusing on any parts that are sore. Replace your fingertips in the warm water for 5 minutes.
5. Dry your hands off and carefully push your cuticles back. You want your cuticles to be out of the way of your nail polish.
6. File your nails. Run the nail file across your nail, in one direction only. Smooth out any sharp edges, and shape your nail if you want to.
7. Buff your nails. The buffer seems like a file, but it is much gentler. Use it on the surface of every nail, focusing on the edges that were just filed.
8. Put a bit of nail polish remover on a cotton ball and run it over every nail. You already removed your nail polish, this will remove oils from your skin and from the hand lotion so that the nail polish can adhere properly.
9. Paint on your basecoat. Remove the brush from the bottle, and smooth the brush against the edge of the bottle to remove excess polish. Apply one stroke to the center of your nail, and then apply stokes on each side working your way to the side of your nail. Repeat for every nail.
10. In two minutes, when the basecoat is still tacky, apply your nail color in the same way.
11. In two minutes apply a second coat of your nail color.
12. In two minutes apply a coat of your topcoat.
13. Wait at least half an hour for your nails to dry. Be careful with your nails for the next few hours after they seem dry; don't submerge them, don't run your hands through your hair, and don't put your hands inside gloves.

You are going to need a few things to start out. Get everything ready before you get started.

Materials:

• foil squares
• 100% acetone
• cotton balls
• small glass bowl
• nail file or emery board
• cuticle oil

If you are going to do this over any surface that can be damaged by acetone, start out by putting down a protective layer.

1. First, you are going to need to scuff up that polish. Use the file or emery board to sand off the glossy top. Be careful not to file down your cuticles, just the nails. You do not need to file down to the nail, only through the glossy top of the polish.
2. Get out five cotton balls and tear them into halves. Place them into the glass bowl.
3. Pour the acetone over the cotton balls until they are all wet.
4. Place the wet cotton ball on top of the nail, then wrap over it with the foil square. Do one nail at time, finishing the foil wrap before moving to the next.
5. After all 10 nails are wrapped, start timing. You are going to let them soak in the wrap for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove the wraps and the polish should come off. Wipe at it with the cotton balls.
7. If there are tough spots, don't dig into it. Just put the wrap back on and soak the nail a little longer.
8. Once all the polish is off, your nails may look dried out and white. This is residue from the polish and acetone. Wash your hands and dry them.
9. Rub the cuticle oil into the nail and cuticle area. Soaking in acetone can be hard on your cuticles, so be sure not to skip this step.