When it comes to at-home nail care, sometimes our collegiette budget only allows us to do the bare minimum by just throwing a fancy polish on our nails and calling it a day. If you prefer the DIY manis like us, we’re about to make your day! Here a few nail hacks you probably don’t know about. Feel free to share our secrets!
1. For split/cracked nails: tea bags
Broken nails are never fun. Luckily, there’s another solution to repairing broken nails that doesn’t involve cutting them off. We talked to Dr. Dana Stern, a board-certified dermatologist and nail specialist, about how to repair split nails, and she provided us with a simple hack involving tea bags.
“It’s called a poor woman’s silk wrap,” she says. “Empty a tea bag and cut out a patch of the bag to mend the split. Apply a layer of clear nail polish to the nail followed by the patch. Then apply two more layers of clear nail polish.” Sounds easy enough!
2. For graphic manicures: Scotch Tape
Despite what you’ve seen on Pinterest, you don’t need to be an artist to do seriously cool nail art. If you’ve ever wondered how some girls manage to get perfectly geometric nail art, the answer is simple: Scotch Tape. Just apply a piece of tape on your nail wherever you’d like to create a straight line, apply nail polish and strip away the tape while the polish is still wet. Be sure to wait until the paint is dry before adding any more tape to make lines!
3. For painterly nail art: toothpicks
Toothpicks can be used to create complex nail designs. A toothpick can turn any drop of nail polish into a mini work of art, be it animal prints or ombré dots.
An easy design for this hack is polka dots. To achieve this, just apply a base color to your nails. Then, take some nail polish of a different color and use the toothpick to make small dots over the base color. Apply as many dots as you’d like, then apply a topcoat when you’re finished.
4. For dry cuticles: olive oil
Sometimes we neglect our cuticles, only thinking about them when we’re spending money on a real manicure. We may think our cuticles are just things that hang out on our hand, but they’re actually there to protect our nail beds, so it’s important that they stay healthy. Luckily for us, making a cuticle oil of your own is as simple as taking a cup of olive oil and warming it up in the microwave for a few seconds. Once it’s warm, you can apply the oil with a paintbrush or your hands. This is an easy trick that will keep your nails in mint condition.
The next time you find yourself worried about breaking the bank for a manicure, just remember that some of the tools that you can use for an at-home manicure might be right in front of you!