Nail Tech Secrets

When you are finished with whichever treatment you choose, take your lap towel and with your finger behind the towel, give those cuticles a push back and you will find a good deal of any remaining cuticle rubs off. Get the lotion out from under your nails and out of the groves on the side [...]

At this point there are a couple of things you can do, or you can do them both. This is also the time where you could perform the treatments that I will talk about when we are finished with the Basic Manicure, the Facial for the Hands and/or the Paraffin Treatment. I will include [...]

Going back to the first hand, put it back into the warm water for about 2 minutes. Remove it, dry it off, and then spray the fingertips with a spray or two of your Blue Cross Cuticle Remover. This is the best product out there (if you didn’t get that earlier—I am not a representative [...]

Place the fingertips of one hand in the warm, soapy water. After about 30 seconds, remove your hand and dry it off well. With your file, file in one direction only for strength and to avoid peeling nails. I recommend a length no more than 1/3 of the length of your nail bed, and [...]

If you are doing this for the first time, you may or may not have polish on that needs to be removed. If you do not, no traces at all, then skip on to the next step. If you do:
Use the 2×2 gauze (or paper towels—remember NO COTTON BALLS) and acetone to remove your polish. [...]

Prepare yourself and your work area
Disinfect metal implements and your scrub brush. Follow the directions on the package for strength and timing of your solution. This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to soak them, and give them a rinse off. Gather together everything you need while they are soaking. Find a place [...]

Before we get into the gory details of the spa manicure, I want to start by showing you a “map” of a fingernail, identifying its parts the way I will refer to them in this blog. I am not going to bother you with “proper” terminology, because those words are useless in real life. If [...]

You probably don’t know this yet about me, but I am a huge stickler for sanitation, made even more paranoid about it because of my husband’s near fatal battle with MRSA last year. One of the truly great reasons for doing your own nails is the avoidance of bacteria that will thrive in a [...]

The salt and oil are used for a scrub similar to what you receive with a spa manicure at WAY less than you pay for at the spa. More about this when we get into the spa treatments!

Brand and color are your preference. I have found that if you use a quality base coat and a quality top coat, then you can use whatever brand of colored polish that you choose. My preference is Jessica or OPI, but truly, just about any of them will do. Make sure that the polish [...]