Manicure At Home: A Step-By-Step Guide To A DIY Salon-Grade Mani

But if your nails are ready to go, here are our tips. 

Before you get started, you need to gather your materials. This includes polish of choice, base coat, top coat, file, buffer, some sort of cuticle pusher, trimmer, polish remover, and cotton pad (if you are wearing polish). If you don't have all of these at the ready, that's OK; we'll walk you through how to make do, but for a top-line experience, these are the tools: 

Seems obvious but bears repeating: "You can't achieve a clean manicure if you have remnants of a past one. This will cause uneven lines. Now when you go about removing the polish, don't rub: Instead, saturate the cotton with nail polish remover, count to five, and pull forward, and nine times out of 10, the polish will come off completely,” says celebrity manicurist Deborah Lippmann. 

Soaking the nail is actually not a vital part of the salon experience, so you can feel free to opt out in your at-home version. In fact, many manicurists avoid it on purpose: "When your nails are soaked in water, they expand," says manicurist and founder of Varnish Lane, Lauren Dunne. This distorts and widens the nail's shape; then, when you paint polish over the nail and it dries "[this causes] your polish to chip prematurely." (Soaking tends to be more important for pedicures as the water helps soften the thicker, coarser skin on the foot; it's just not as needed for your fingertips, which have more delicate skin anyway.) 

To achieve this look, first trim the nail (if needed) so they are all the same length. Then, with your file, file in one direction: Start on one outside end and sweep toward the center; then flip to the other outer side and do the same. Do not use the "saw" motion as that can be too abrasive to weaker nails. 

Follow up with a cuticle oil. Jojoba oil is nutrient-dense and fast-absorbing, but even a light, natural hair oil will do. "Barely dot it at the base of the nail, massaging into the cuticle," she says. Then follow with a hand cream to treat all of the skin (our frequently washed hands could likely use it). 

"The most important being your base coat because that is what is touching your nail and seeping into the skin," Nadine Abramcyk, co-founder of clean salon tenoverten tells us here. So even if you don't have a clean polish around the house (see our favorite clean polishes here if you're looking for some new options), do try to make sure you have at least a 7-free base polish. 

Grab your favorite polish, then follow this motion, from Lippmann: "Place the brush about an eighth-inch away from the cuticle. As soon as you see polish flow, pull the brush straight down the center to the tip. Your nails get a bit wider at the side, so apply a little more pressure and let the bristles fan out. The next thing is to cap the nail. To do this, take the very tip of your brush and swipe it across the very tip of your nail, and that will keep your polish on for days longer." Follow up with a top coat, let it dry, and your mani is good to go.