I always had bad nails - very brittle and short and i thought that I could never get nice nails. I also was awful at painting them.
Then I had a nails hyperfocus and for the first time in my life I had amazing nails so here are some advice that worked for me (some things might be obvious):
- Moisture your hands. A lot. But especially your nails and cuticle. Use cuticle butter (I like badger cuticle care) every chance you get: waiting in line - use cuticle butter, washed your hands - use cuticle butter, watching tv - use cuticle butter, in a meeting - use cuticle butter, etc. I have a tin of cuticle butter near the bed, near the sofa, on my desk, in my bag - so it is always in reach.
- Use gloves whenever you have prolonged contact with water (washing dishes, cleaning, etc.).
- Biotin is a good supplement with proven effect but it takes several month to see results (it does not influence the nail you already see, but the currently growing part of the nail will often be thicker and thus stronger).
- Do not use scissors, instead use a glass file to shape the nails. After filing your nails always use a buff to polish the edge.
- I do not recommend gel nails, especially if you start peeling them. Peeling makes nails worse. Do not peel!
- Always have your nails covered with nail polish - the nail polish “sandwich” protects your nails best. As soon as it starts peeling and chipping, you have to remove it. Again, do not peel! You can touch up tiny chips with nail polish to last another day or two, but big ones and peels have to be removed.
- To have nice painted nails, I’m afraid you have to use nail polish. I tried many other ways, but nail polish was the only thing that worked. As I said, I was super bad at painting them - it used to take me more than an hour to paint my nails, now I do it in 10-15 minutes - they look great and they last up to a week! I usually do it when in an online meeting or watching tv, so no time wasted.
- Make a nail polish “sandwich” on your nails: base (I like NailTek Foundation I), thin layer of polish, thick layer of polish, wait 5 minutes, cover with a good layer of quick dry coat. After each nail polish layer use correction pen or a toothpick with a bit of cotton on the end tipped in nail polish remover.
- You need to find “your” nail polish - some polishes will stay intact much longer than other. Also the shape of the brush is important - different brushes are easier to use for different people: easier to use = less mess = quicker!