My Nail Care Routine

This tutorial is going to be about my daily nail care routine. It's extremely simple. I do this routine when I know my nails need a little breathing to do!
The basic tools I use are:

• Cotton balls
• Nail polish remover
• Nail file
• Nail clipper
• Cuticle clipper
• Cuticle remover
• Cuticle pusher
• Cuticle butter
• Nail strengthening polish      

These are just the general tools. I'll go into greater detail on the tools I use.

Step 1: Wet the cotton ball with the nail polish remover and gently remove the nail polish. In this tutorial I am using the No Odor nail polish remover.

Here are the nail polish removers I use. Both are from ONYX Professional and I purchased mine at Wal-Mart. The acetone on the left is 100% pure acetone and used when I'm in a hurry or to remove the tough messes (ex. glitter). The bad thing about it is it dries your nails really bad. The acetone on the right however, conditions and hydrates your nails and is a green odorless color. I use this one when I do my usual nail care routine. When using the green remover I usually wash my hands after because they become really oily.

Step 2: Once the nail polish is completely off, I apply the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover all around the cuticle and on the side edges of my nails. I let it sit for about a minuet so it can soften and melt all the excess cuticle.

Step 3: After the cuticle remover, I grab my cuticle pusher and from the center of the nail I start pushing back. By starting in the center of the nail it picks up and removes dead skin that accumulates on top of your nail plate. You continue to do this to the rest of your fingers. The orange cuticle pusher I'm using is from Sally Hansen. I bought mine at Wal-Mart.

Step 4: After my cuticle is pushed back I slowly start cutting it away. You only want to cut away the excess cuticle, you don't want to cut too much because the cuticle is very important. It keeps germs and infections from entering the matrix of the nail. The cuticle clipper I use is Sally Hansen as well.


Step 5: After I'm done with my cuticles, I either clip my nails or go straight to filing them. I do this because if my nails are already at a desired length I just go ahead and shape them. The nail file I'm using is called Pro File. I actually bought this one at a local beauty supply store here in Texas, but I believe any nail file will get the job done!

Step 6: Once my nails are completely the size and shape I want them to be, it's time to apply my nail treatment. I use Orly's Nailtrition. I really love and recommend this stuff. It works well because my nails are very weak and used to split very often. Once I started using this product, my nails became a lot stronger and the splitting occurred less and less. It is a 2 week treatment, but I apply it now and then whenever I do my nail care routine. I sometimes also use it as a base coat but very rarely. I purchased my Orly Nailtrition at Sally Beauty Supply store.

Step 7: As soon as the nail polish dries, I massage Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream on my cuticles and nails. I always carry the cuticle butter with me because I have very dry hands making my cuticles dry as well. It leaves them very soft and moist. I really love this stuff; plus it has a soft lemony scent which doesn't bother me at all. It's also 100% natural and nourishes weak nails.

Ta-Da! This is the result! My nail care routine is very quick and simple. Most of the products I use are inexpensive. The most expensive product is the Orly Nailtrition. It ranges from $9-$10 depending where you buy it.

I hope this routine was helpful. If you have any questions or concerns about the products being used please feel free to ask. Thank you and hope you enjoyed. Please, stick around for more tutorials!