20 Life-Changing Hacks for Doing Your Nails

Doing salon quality manicure is so much easier with these DIY nail hacks!

1. Line your nails with petroleum jelly or white craft glue before painting them for an easy cleanup.

If you’re working on a nail look that’s messy, use a cotton swab to rub petroleum jelly like Vaseline on the skin around your nails first. This creates a barrier between the polish and your skin so that after you’ve painted your nails, you can wipe off the Vaseline and any polish mistakes along with it.

Another way to prevent paint from drying on the skin around your nails is to paint around your nail with Elmer’s Glue first, and let it dry. Then, paint your nails with polish and peel off the glue when you’re finished to clean up.

2. To prevent the tips of your painted nails from chipping, paint two basecoat layers: one on the top half of your nail and the second coat over the entire nail.

Paint the first layer of your basecoat polish on the top half portion of your nails only. After your nails have dried, paint a second coat of polish, but this time cover the entire nail as you normally would. This technique will help the polish on the tips of your nails — which are more prone to chipping — last longer.

Visit Cosmopolitan to read the full post.