Some guys enjoy doing nails! It’s a patience thing-getting the smooth coat-nice and even-no runs, drips, or sags.
Kinda like painting a really small car. With a brush. But faster. 
Speaking as one who has never in her life received a manicure (I have an extreme aversion to strange people touching me), I have to ask: What are these manicurists doing that could possibly break the skin? How malicious can they get with an emery board and a bottle of nail polish?
Another vote for OPI. I just find the quality of their pigments and their choice of colors among the best.
I can’t wait until my next at-home manicure so I can try zweisamkeit’s “recipe”!
Marlitharn… they could nip you with nail clippers or dig too deep with the cuticle trimmer. Either can break the skin if not wielded properly. This can also cause problems with blood born diseases…
They use more than just an emery board and nailpolish! They also (for a basic manicure) use lotion, orange sticks, cotton, nail polish remover, towels, bowl/hand dish, nail clippers, buffer, cuticle trimmer… as well as the emery board and nail polish! I can’t think of anything else but I may have forgotten some things. It’s been awhile since I did one for a paying customer (about 5-6 years) and that was during training.
Another OPI user here. At the moment I have on “My Throne for a Cranberry Scone.” My nails are acrylic and are professionally done once a month. Otherwise, they would be hopeless.
A tip. If you need a polish that goes with orange or pink or red, OPI’s “All Rose Lead to Rome” will do the trick. I was amazed.
I keep all of my polishes in a big bowl in the frig. They last forever that way. In fact, they have out-lasted the Tupperware they were in.
If you can’t find a certain color that you love, sometimes you can find it on eBay. That’s how I found “Jewel of India” when it was discontinued or sold out.
My manicurist said that she hadn’t done as much red polish this year – more burgundies, silver, gold.
Ich Bin deserves a standing ovation for doing pedicures for his pregnant wife!
I have nail polish “pens” - you can draw with them! I like to have stripey nails. Or draw little smiley faces on them.
Constant typing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 15 years has made my nails rock hard-strong and they grow like crazy, so I do my own manicures and love funky colors (right now they are a happy X-mas green).
The best high priced polish I’ve found is Lancome and on the lower end Orly is great.
A good tip is to always use a ridgefiller as a base coat.
Correct. I had a woman in Key West that I went to once. My nails were bloody when I left there. She nicked me with those cuticle clippers at least four times and maybe more. I was pissed at myself that I didn’t just leave in the middle of the manicure. I would if it happened now.
I get manicures as gifts from girlfriends…who are always a bit irritated that even though I bartend, my nails rarely break and are usually attractive and pristine. They tell me it’s because of all the cheese I eat–I love cheese more than anything–but I think it’s genetic. (Lots of women get all kinds of calcium, and their nails are still thin and fragile. And since I got a lot of not-so-great genetic traits from my mom, I’d like to at least thank her for the nails. Not so grateful for the inability to keep a tan. sigh)
I adore manicures, but I just never think about it unless someone buys me one; I just don’t ever feel like sitting in that chair for half an hour while some strange person does my nails. Is that weird?
But recently I have been lusting after a manicure I saw in Cosmo; very short nails, painted a dark, matte-finish brown.
I dunno. I just thought it was so sophisticated.
And as for manicurists cutting you and drawing blood…I went through an acrylic-nail phase years ago, and on my very first try, the guy made my cuticles bleed four times with his evil Dremmel sander.
I hate Dremmels. Pay more and go to a manicurist who does it by hand. Even the friction from a Dremmel can make my nail beds painfully hot. Ouch!
I love getting a manicure once in a while, but I usually do it myself. I need new equipment though…mine is just about worn out. I love those emory blocks for smoothing my nails. When they’re in good shape, they’re very long and lovely. Right now, rather short, but getting there.
So, do you self manicure types trim your own cuticles? I think - having decided to do this - that cuticle trimming is one thing I either need to leave to the professionals, or have my girlfriends do (maybe I can teach the hubby - or maybe I can trade with Ich Bin’s wife). Sharp trimmers in my left hand close to my skin at the wrong angle doesn’t sound like a recipe for success.
I think I could live with having them trimmed once a month or so by a professional - when I decide that the manicures are too expensive.
My manicurist charges $23. Plus tip. Plus the bottle of nail polish or shampoo or whatever bauble catches my eye. Its a pricey weekly habit, so now that they are in shape, I’m cutting back to every two or three weeks. Told my girlfriends this - because at the end of the year I don’t want to have spent $1500 on my nails…seems like have spent $500 is a reasonable expense.
(It is cheaper than a therapist though).
:eek: $15.00 every two weeks. $5.00 for a polish change plus tip. $23.00 is a lot to pay. Shop around maybe. Unless you really, really like her.
Using cuticle nippers or scissors takes time. I still feel a tad wobbly when using the nippers in my left hand. If you use a good cuticle cream (Burts Bees Lemon Wax Cuticle stuff is great), it makes trimming the cuticles MUCH easier.
Dangerosa, try some of the schools around town. Aveda is pretty inexpensive and they do a great job.
I have always been told never to cut your cuticle because it can open the nail bed to all sorts of infections. I mean if you have like the little hangy thing off the side of the nail then cut that off but never to cut into the actual cuticle.
So I use a cuticle cream (Burt’s Bees is excellent) and push them back.
Right now my nails are a mess because of my move. I think I will treat myself to a manicure. And OPI nail polish is incredible. Don’t forget to check out Nicole by OPI. It is a funkier brand.
A manicurist told me years ago to apply hand cream and push my cuticles back gently with a towel just after showering. That way they never need clipping.
$23.00 doesn’t sound like a terribly high price for a manicure to me, but it’s more than I will pay, since I can do my own just fine. In fact, polishing the nails on my right hand is about the only thing I can do well with my left hand.
I love Sally Hansen’s nail polish corrector pen - it’s no good for removing a lot of polish, but you know that one teeny little bit you sometimes get just on the very edge of your finger? It’s perfect for that. Just touch it on, then wipe the tip of the pen off with a tissue.
I, too, know my manicurist’s life story. One of her two sons even had my cousin Rachael as a fourth grade teacher. It’s amazing, the things you fin out when you live at the mall.
That’s it. I now have lovely Slut Red nails to bring in Christmas - while I’m singing at Church.
I generally try to keep at least one clear or translucent coat of polish on my nails, because my nails tend to chip and split quite alarmingly if I don’t. Years ago, I read a hint about putting a thin layer of petroleum jelly on the bottle threads. This way, any polish that drips on the outside of the bottle will not bind the cap and bottle together. Sometimes I have to re-apply the jelly, but manicuring is much nicer when I don’t have to struggle to remove the caps.
Anyone know what to do for a really badly split nail? One of my nails is split right down the center into the quick. I’ve tried using crazy glue, and having a manicurist apply an acrylic shield, and all sorts of stuff. It STILL catches on everything and splits further every week or so. Of course it’s on my right hand, I’m right handed. Very annoying.
I’ve heard the same thing…anyone know if this is true?
Oh, I go to one of those foo-foo salons that charge way too much but have a doorman and someone who kisses your butt while they take a credit card. I’m this horrible mix of really cheap and a terrible snob - so I won’t get my hair cut at cost cutters where its cheap and won’t pay less than $60 for a haircut - but I’ll hack at it and have my mother do it for me (she was a hairdresser, when I was little - 35 years ago). When I got my hair colored at a salon it was $100 every six to eight weeks, now I buy a box at Target…but if I go back, I’ll go back for $100 hair color. If I’m going to pay for something, I pay - getting me to open the wallet at all is the hard thing. Same thing with the manicurist. This one is very convienent to home, I like the job she does, she can fit me in the Saturday before Christmas when I forgot to make an appointment, and they’ll make me a latte while I wait for the manicure (ok, not quite - the doorman was a Christmas thing, and they don’t do lattes - but do have good coffee with real cream and cookies out) They will even send someone out to the car with me to handle my keys so I don’t ruin my polish.