Taking care of your nails doesn't have to be anything but arelaxing, pleasing experience. There is just a few things thatyou need to think about when setting up a at home manicure. Takea good look at your nails, when planning what you want to do youneed to know what condition your nails are in. Are your nailsdry? Do they have lines or ridges? Are the nails peeling inlayers? Are they soft or brittle? In what shape are yourcuticles? Are you a nail biter and have hangnails? Each of thesequestions can be answered while deciding just how much or howlittle you want to do for a at home manicure. Make sure you haveeverything you need before you get started. Your favoritepolish, file Polish remover base coat top coat Cotton ballsorange stick bowl for the warm water towels Now you are setup,follow the steps and off you go. 1- Remove any old polish onyour nails and toes. If there isn't time to give yourself apedicure then having no polish on your toes in better thanchipped. Another tip when removing your old polish don't use apolish remover system that requires you to stick your entirefinger into a jar of solution. Remember polish remover isn'tvery good for your nails and avoid those that contain acetone orchemical relatives of acetone, even if they say they haveconditioners. The acetone and alcohol in polish removers damagethe surface of the nail, affect the nail's natural luster, andweaken the base of the nail. 2-You will want to rinse your nailsin warm water immediately after using polish remover. Then scrubthem cleanly with a soft-bristle nail brush. A really good ideais to of done this the night before and then applied moisturizerand slept with gloves. That would of seal in the moisture andjust really help your nails and hands. A super easy recipe to doat home for a hot oil treatment for your nails is 1/4 cup oliveoil oil from one vitamin E capsule Just heat the oil in asaucepan and let cool until just warm. Add the vitamin E to theoil then rub it into your cuticles and nails, massaging anyextra oils into your hands, put on your gloves and your handsand nails will just be wonderful the next day. 3-Filing may benecessary to shape and buff away anything not looking good. Justdon't file unless your nails are dry and free of any creams.Soft nails with may peel, tear chipped or even split. Just makesure your nails are dry. They say don't saw back and forth butdo it in one direction only at a time, it helps if your file inthe direction they grow to prevent splitting. You may want tokeep your nails even length and find the shape best for yourhands. Some fingers look good with square nails and others withoval tips. 4-Soak your nails for a few minutes in warm water,there are a few recipes to create a treat for your nails, so youcan look into that. If your nails are stained well thatsdifferent. Here is a real easy recipe to whiten your your nails.Use this twice a week till stain is gone 1 tablespoon hydrogenperoxide 1 cup warm water Soak for 15 minutes twice a week. Patdry 5- Now you need to push back your cuticles but never cutthem or push them back hard. They are what protects the root ofthe nail. Good idea is not to use a cuticle remover they areknown to contain alkali and that is one of the harshest productsout today in cosmetics. To gently push back the cuticle, byusing a soft moist towel or orange stick. The dead skin you cantrim off but leave living skin alone, just not a good idea todo. 6- Clean under your nails but be careful if you are toovigorous you may create a space under your nails for fungi orbacteria to grow, yuch so be careful. 7- Now its time to paintyour nails. Its best to have a base coat for that will fill inany ridges your nails may have and make your polish look better.First step: paint on a clean base coat. Its best to wait about 3minutes between putting on the polish so that layer has a betterchange of being dry. It also helps to keep your nails fromstaining or getting yellow. Second step: The best way to applypolish is to start at up the center, then up both sides from thebase to the tip. You really only need to use three strokes. Realgood idea is to avoid quick-dry polishes for they mostly containacetone which is not good for the health of your nails, try athicker, slower drying polish it will hold moisture plus giveyour nails more flexibility. Go over your nails with two coatsof polish letting each coat dry about 3 minutes Third step:Brush on your top coat cause it will seal the polish and helpprotect it from chipping. And there you go, you just gaveyourself you very own home manicure saving yourself money. I dohope this was good enough for you to be able to do a homemanicure, if not then stop by Overallbeauty.com and send meemail and I will try to answer any questions you might have