It’s no secret that I love having polished nails. Many years ago, I used to get manicures religiously every two weeks. But besides the fact that it was an expensive habit, I found that, with a little practice, I could easily achieve the same effect at home! Here’s how I apply my polish, so that it looks like a professional job.

I follow these steps for every coat; base coat, two to three coats of polish (depending on opacity), and top coat. The key is following the shape of your nail, making sure to get the polish all the way to the very edges, without making contact with the skin .

Getting the right amount of polish on your brush is also important. While it depends a little on the type / size of the brush, as well as the consistency of the polish (really, they’re not all the same!), I find that fully dipping the brush into the polish, and then clearing one side of the brush against the side of the bottle leaves the perfect amount of polish on the other side of the brush.

That’s it! Easy-peasy.