Pretty much every other girl is bound to make one or two or more mistakes when doing DIY pedicures. Face it. Doing your nails by yourself at home isn’t as easy as it may sound to some people. Don’t believe me? How about you try it out and see for yourself. Mastering how to DIY pedicures from home is no easy feat. First, you will not have the recommended Pedicure Chairs that are used when one is getting a pedicure. If anything, pedicures involve much more than what many people perceive as treating your nails.
Remember, you are looking to get some seriously smooth and relaxed gorgeous-looking nails after all the work is done. All the more reason why you must pay close attention to these common mistakes that are more likely to land you and your nails in hot soup.
Steer clear of these pedicure mistakes at all costs
Shaking the nail polish bottle
Shaking your nail polish bottle is a NO-NO mustn’t do rule when it comes to DIY pedicures. Or any other pedicures for that matter. When you shake your nail polish bottles, you are more likely to create air bubbles in your nail polish. These air bubbles can also end up on your DIYed nails and look nothing like you had imagined. To prepare your nail polish, you can roll your nail polish bottle gently between your flat hands to get the polish inside the bottle moving.
Painting over your cuticles
As if cutting your cuticles wasn’t bad enough, you go on ahead and paint over them too. As if you couldn’t make your pedicure day any worse. There may be no health risk to painting your cuticles. However, choosing to do so kind of makes your whole pedicure job look sloppy. But if you accidentally polish one or two cuticles while working, then you can always polish them using a Q-tip that’s dipped in nail polish remover. That ought to give it a quick fix.
Exfoliating with dry feet
This is yet another silly mistake many girls make when DIYing their pedicures. Sloughing off dead, dry skin before wetting the area first. If anything, doing this can end up doing more harm than good. It’s not like you just roll back in one of those sassy-looking Pedicure Chairs and start sloughing off dry skin and hope that everything will be alright at the end of the day. Instead, wet your feet first by soaking them in warm water for a few minutes. 10 to 15 minutes in warm water is perfect. Afterward, you can use a gentle foot scrub or pumice stone to remove the dry skin with ease.
Applying a thick polish layer
As tempting as it sounds to want to polish a thick layer of polish, don’t. Even though thick polish layers ensure you get the color you actually see on the polish bottle, it can also work great to your disadvantage. In that thick nail polish are also more prone to chipping. So, instead of applying the thickest nail polish you can, apply two to three thin layers. However, it is wise to let each of the nail polish layers dry out first before you apply the next layer/s. You can wait for between two to three minutes.
Using quick-dry products
Okay, so quick-dry products can help save you some major drying times especially if you are in a hurry. However, these products can also wreak havoc on your nails. Quick-dry products not only dry your polish, but they can also dry out your nails as well. Instead, how about you try running your nails under cold running water. Doing this helps set your polish in place as well.
Storing nail polish in the bathroom
Girls are more prone to make this mistake. Keeping your pedicure basics in the bathroom might seem like a logical idea. But it’s actually one of the worst environments to keep your nail polish. For one, the hot, steamy air from your shower work to separate the pigments in your nail polish. This can eventually cause your nail polish to thicken and become gelatinous. Instead, try and store your nail polish in cool, dry places. Most Pedicure Chairs now come with pouches and pockets where you can store some of your pedicure items. You can start there.
Applying nail polish immediately after soaking your feet
Again, many females, out of excitement I guess, tend to be very impatient and can’t always seem to wait for their just soaked, wet feet to dry before applying nail polish. However, even the pedicure experts advise that you must give your toenails ample time to dry out completely before you go on a painting plunge. Your nails absorb moisture when soaked in water. When this happens, they slightly expand and start to shrink as they dry. So, if you apply your nail polish when they are still wet, you could end up messing your whole DIY pedicure. It is, therefore, best that you wait at least ten minutes after soaking your feet before you apply your polish.
Skipping base and top coats
Skipping a base or top coat might also look like a time-saving step to skip, but it may not be a wise one. The base coat works to protect your nails from any harmful chemicals that are in the nail polish that might find its way into your nails. The base coat also helps to level your nails, so you have a smooth polish application. The top coat, on the other hand, helps to keep your nail polish put. Besides this, your top coat also helps to give your pedicure its ultimate shine. And that’s precisely what you want. Nobody wants to do their pedicure only to look at them after getting done and see dull-looking polish on their legs.
Final thoughts
DIY pedicures can be fun if you do them right. But they can also be a disaster especially if you ignore following the right pedicure procedures to save on time. So, ensure you have ample time on your hands before you start your DIY pedicure. This will help keep you more focused on your pedicure and not want to rush it which is the primary reason why everything gets messed up.