I should just preface this post by saying that it's very rarely that you will catch me without nail polish on. I think it's kind of a dark circle once you get into wearing nail polish, the varnish stains your nails, so after you take it off you cover it up with a new exciting shade, and before long, your nails haven't seen the light of day in years. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to break out of these habits after they have set in, because your natural nails are left looking horrible and you don't really want to reveal what they look like underneath, but recently I have been trying to put a better routine in place in order to make my nails a little bit healthier and nicer looking, and I thought that I would share it with you today.
Tip #1: If you're going to go bare with your nails, I think it is really important to get the shape right. Start by cutting with clippers or nail scissors, depending on your preference, and then file down into your preferred shape. At the moment, I'm loving the gently curved look, and I've also cut them a lot shorter than they were recently, because I was finding that they weren't strong enough, and kept splitting.
Tip #2: My best tip if you are wanting to go bare would have to be this; soak your nails for about 10 minutes in a solution of weak hydrogen peroxide, water and bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda). It whitens your nails like nothing else, getting rid of a lot of the yellow, returning them to their almost natural colour, and making it okay to go bare. Make sure that you do use some kind of oil or moisturiser on them afterwards though, because it will weaken them slightly. Tip #3: Going bare bare, might be a slight un-truth for two reasons, one superficial, and the other not so much. 1.) I think nails look nicer with a little gloss on them 2.) I don't think I ever realised how much protection a nail polish gives, without it, they are unprotected and crack much more easily. To combat this I used one coat of Sally Hansen's Top Coat, but any would do, and I really like the way this manicure turned out.
This will definitely be a look I sport more in the future now that I have worked out how to do it right, I think it looks very sleek, polished and professional. What about you, will you try out this routine?
