So today I wanted to talk about how I take care of my nails in my general nail care routine.

So this is something that I've taken more seriously in the past couple of years.

If you have your nails done, the whole outfit that you put together looks just more wealthier, more put together, more chic, more grown up.

So if those air any of the things that you're trying to do with your wardrobe, then your nail care is going to be really important.

I used to find that I would be so embarrassed when I meant to touch up my nails or, like, take off my old nail polish and it just was not part of my routine.

And I would forget all the time.

And so I always, like, be so embarrassed trying to hide my nails, you know, like from my pockets like, Hey, how you doing today?

And so it was just one last way that I am, like, awkward.

As for my routine, I never get them done by a manicurist anymore.

Like I always do it myself.

So what I do first, as I always have a nail file on hand.

So if I have a pack of them, which they generally come in a pack, I'll leave one by my bedside table one in my bathroom, because you know when you're drying your hair, if you have a little snag, it's very obnoxious.

So I always keep one in my bathroom.

I keep one in my purse dust drawer, anything like that.

That is how I make sure that my nails are always clean and just ready to go.

They're not gonna snag and break or anything like that.

Next for nail polish remover, I try to get the kind without acetone in it, so I try to get one that very friendly on my nails and won't damage them or drive them out too much.

Extra cool if I confined with like vitamin E and it more frequently, I can use nail polish remover and keep one clean coat of nail polish.

At least one clean coat that's going to make them even better.

So I personally don't always adhere to this next step.

But if I want my nails to look extra good, then I use a cuticle pusher downer.

I don't ever cut them.

I just always gently pushed down my cuticles.

And then that means that I won't get as much nail polish on the ridges of my nails next.

When it comes to actually painting my nails, I use a little bit of my art background to figure out how I want to actually go about painting my nails correctly without getting them all over the sides.

That means that I paint down the center of my Neil, starting pretty much in the center of my nail, and then I go on the sides, and then I go more toward the base with what's left on my nail.

And if there's any little drops extra on the top, that really should have cleaned up.

I try to touch up the tip of the kneel at the end.

The first coat tends to dry a lot faster than 2nd 3rd coats, so I try to go in when it's dry on the sides.

I try to just touch up as little bit as I can on trying to fill in those little empty spaces, and that will help a lot compared to slathering it on and trying to clean up the edges later.

So just minimally, like putting little bit extra on the sides will take you a lot further.

So when it's time for the second coat, I always think that it's time when it's way too soon.

I usually put it on too soon, and then it's just a mushy part.

Early mess if I am not careful.

So one way I try to speed up the process is all.

Dunk them in cold water with, like, one or two ice cubes, so I'll wait about a minute for them to dry.

Then I'll dunk them for two or three minutes and then I tryto see like how the water droplets on it are doing will make sure that everything's okay, but it's really just a sub step.

You can always wait about 15 minutes to be able to put on the next coat, or even just like put on one good first coat and then maybe a few hours later, put on the 2nd 1 The final step is a top coat.

A lot of people skip this step and they've told me like you know, I really haven't ever found the value of having a top coat, but a top coat is so important for several reasons is going to, of course, make your nail polish last longer so you won't have to repair him quite as much.

But then also, it gives us a really nice, sleek, shiny, smooth look to your nails.

Really good finish.

Also, your nails aren't gonna break his much.

Not only won't they chip as much, but they're also going to be really strong.

I also find that if I've got two or three coats of polish on without a topcoat, they just dent and stuff like that.

So having a topcoat is just one more way that I can layer on extra polish and you won't really see any denser scuffs or weird Harry marks or anything like that.

So as far as what shade to go with, I always go for more of a neutral shade.

I do that for several reasons.

First, I think that it's really good at hiding if it chips at all like if your nails chip, it's going to be very obvious if you go with a darker color.

Also, I think that having a neutral shade is going to make your nails look longer.

So if you're going for a longer nail look, It's going to be really important that you go with a neutral shade just because if you were to wear something very dark, you'd definitely be able to make out the exact size of someone's nail in their shape in all of that stuff.

I also wanted to just briefly talk about general nail care tips.

Number one.

I really liked to use any face or neck cream that I've got in my hands at night and just rub all that extra into my hands.

And that just keeps all of my cuticles and everything like that looking, ah, lot fresher and doing her.

There's nothing extra dry going on.

The next thing that's really helped me keep my manicure looking great is that I always wear gloves when I clean anything.

If I'm just washing one or two dishes, I throw on some gloves and then that just helps me to not have all of that harsh rubbing of dishes and scrubbing.

And plus it just makes the whole thing more pleasant and less graphic.

If I have gloves on, I just really appreciate that it actually makes cleaning stuff more enjoyable for me and I have better nails because of it.

So to prevent the old days of finding out that I didn't touch on my nails before I left the house, I actually put my nail polish, whatever shade that I have on.

I put that with all of my make up in the morning.

So it's just part of my makeup routine is touching up my nails a little bit.

Finally, if I end up breaking a nail, I don't just go off in, like cut them all down to that one size.

I'll wait until, like to break before I cut all the rest of them.

I can kind of bear it and deal with it if one nails a little shorter than the others.

And that's just generally how it goes like my pinky nails grow really, really, really long.

But my index fingers, they do a lot of the work of everything that I do in a day, and they just get shorter.

They don't last as long.

So that's just something that I try to do is you know, I let one break, but the minute that two are broken, I cut them all down to size, so that's pretty much it for my nail care routine.

This was fun to talk through.

And you know, it's so important to have your nails done for little things.

Like a first impression when you shake a hand for the first time or you know the special occasions like date nights or, you know, weddings, anything like that.

But then also, if you have, like a job interview, you know those first impressions matter a whole lot.

And just having Queen Nails even if they're not painted, is so important.

I hope you haven't an awesome day and I'll see you guys next time Bye.