Pinterest Test... Manicure Tricks

If you're like Mary and I, you have a Pinterest account overflowing with recipes, tips, tricks, and DIY projects!  I try to test out a few pins each week so I can see how well they work and delete anything not worthy of my pin space :)

Last night, I decided to try a few manicure pins.  I had lots of chipped polish from a manicure I had done for a wedding the weekend before; so that had to go!  I decided I'd test out 2 pretty popular pins.  One says you can dip your wet polished fingers in ice cold water to help the polish dry and remove any you got on your skin.  The other directs you to put lotion around the nail to let you wipe off any polish on the skin.  They both sounded easy enough!

Got my supplies!

I cleaned the old nail polish off and washed my hands well.  First I put on a base coat (which is really a top coat, but hey it's clear, right!?).  I let that dry like normal.  While that was drying, I fixed a bowl full of ice water.   

Next I polished my left hand.  This is the hand I decided to dip in cold water. 

Notice I got some polish on my finger tips

Now, for the moment (or 3 according to the instructions) of truth!  I stuck my finger tips in a bowl of ice water... UMM IT WAS COLD!  I'm sorry, I'm not trying to get frost bite, so I didn't leave my little fingers in there for 3 solid minutes.  That's just crazy talk!  I left them in for about 30 seconds, took a tiny little break to regain feeling, and stuck them back in the water.  Maybe I'm a baby, but oh well.  

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

After about 3 minutes of dipping them in and taking them out, I touched a nail.  It was definitely pretty dry, but still slightly tacky.  Maybe because I didn't totally commit?  So I did the same in and out business for a few more minutes.  And what do ya know?!  Totally dry!  So that part of the pin was true!  But, sadly, I still had polish on my fingers that did not wipe off easily.  

They're dry!  But boo for polish on my fingers

For my right hand, I used the lotion trick.  I put some hand lotion on a q-tip, and rubbed it around my nails.  I didn't completely rub it in; I wanted to make sure there was enough to wipe off. I painted my nails like normal.  Of course I got some on my fingers because I immediately revert to toddler coordination when painting with my left hand!  

Lotion around the nail to wipe off smudges

I have to say, this lotion trick really worked!  I took a dry q-tip and was able to wipe it right off!  I did notice though, there where places I didn't really get lotion around.  Those areas definitely didn't come right off.  

You'll see I didn't quite get the lotion around my pinky... so polish is left over

I used a q-tip and nail polish remover to clean up my right hand (the ice water hand) and my left hand where I missed applying lotion.  I definitely didn't have as much to clean up on the left hand as normal.

Overall, I like both these tricks!  I would probably use the ice water trick only in a pinch as it was slightly painful.  I will definitely do the lotion each time I do my nails from now on!

Enjoy!  Let us know how your experiences with each tip go!