Have hot hands and feet!

How to Have Perfect Hands (and Feet)

Basically, caring for your hands and your feet is the same. Yes, it’s true that you need to change the polish on your fingernails much more often than on your toenails, but everything else is very similar. Here are some beauty tips for both.


1. Shock Treatment

If it has been a long time since you’ve taken care of your hands and feet, and you’d like to change their appearance, this treatment will help you. You’ll need a little time and these tools and beauty products:

* Nail Polish Remover

If your nails are painted, the first step is to remove the polish. Make sure you use a non-acetone nail polish remover, which is much gentler on your nails.

* Home-Made Exfoliant (or a Body Exfoliant)

I use salt mixed with olive oil, but you can also use a gentle body exfoliant. Be careful when using it on your feet and dry them really well so that you don’t slip when they’re covered in oil. The best thing to do is to apply the exfoliant in the bathtub before you take a shower. The second step is to exfoliate really well to remove all the dead skin cells. Pay special attention to the heels and soles of your feet.

* Orangewood Sticks

Once your hands and feet are dry, use an orangewood stick to push your cuticles back. I never trim my cuticles, unless I have a “loose” piece of skin – but never the cuticle itself. If you push your cuticles back every once in a while and you keep them well moisturized, you’ll see that trimming them isn’t necessary.

* Polish and File

If you need to cut your nails, use nail clippers: they’re much better than nail scissors and they’re easier to use. I generally polish my nails only once in a while (not too often) to keep my nails clean and shiny. I use a normal nail file. Never in my life have I been able to use crystal or metal files (they send shivers down my spine J) and after having tried a lot of different files, the basic ones work best for me.

Normally my nails are filed in a square shape. My fingers are pretty long, but if you want to make your fingers appear longer, you can file them in an oval shape (only on the hands – toenails should always been short and square). The oval shape is popular and lengthens and defines the hands. Try to file your nails in only one direction. Clean away any remaining dust and continue with the next step.

* Nail Polishes

I don’t use a lot of colored nail polishes, but I always use a protectant by Essie. It’s called Protein Base Coat and it strengthens the nails, leaving them with a very attractive white color. You can also use it for a French manicure instead of a pink shade.

* Moisturizing Lotion

Once your nail polish is very dry, which means waiting at least three hours (yes, three hours, so it’s best to follow this ritual at night or when you’re lying down on the couch), the next step is to apply a moisturizing lotion.

You can follow this ritual very two weeks. Once you’re maintaining the condition of your hands and feet each day, you’ll see that you don’t need to spend as much time on them.



2. Don’t Trim Your Cuticles

It’s important not to trim your cuticles. If yours are really bad, my advice is that you go to a salon to get a manicure and then maintain them from that day forward. Trimming your cuticles is difficult and also makes them grow more. If you moisturize them daily with a hand-and-nail oil, for example, you’ll soon see that they’re smooth. People always ask me what I do to keep my cuticles in such good condition, and the truth is that what I don’t do is more important – that is, I don’t touch my cuticles. And if I have some loose skin, I cut it with special cuticle scissors, very carefully.



3. The Importance of Nail Polish

I suppose it has happened to you, too: after using dark nail polishes for a while, you notice that your nails are more yellow than they used to be. This tends to happen with dark nail polishes, especially when you don’t use a base coat – that is, a base that protects the nail from the dark pigments in the nail polish.

I really like the nail polishes by Essie: they don’t damage the nail and they last a long time (which is really important), but they are also easy to remove. With some other brands, you literally have to spend half an hour removing the polish.



4. Weekly Routines

The idea is to have perfect hands and feet all the time – not just sometimes – so it’s important to create a weekly routine. Write in your personal calendar when you’ll take care of your hands and feet once a week, changing the polish and filing your nails. And every two weeks, or as necessary, apply an exfoliant or remove calloused skin from your feet with a special file. To keep your nails looking their best, try to alternate dark- and light-colored nail polishes, and also let your nails breathe at least a few days each week.



5. Daily Routines

It was really hard for me to adopt this habit until I put the hand-and-nails hydrating cream by Alqvimia (one of my favorite beauty products) on my nightstand. Now, before going to bed each night, I gently massage my hands and feet, being careful to moisturize the cuticles really well. If you have really dry hands, try the “Grenada” hand cream by Weleda: I love it for wintertime, when I need a more intensive moisturizer.



6. My Favorite Nail Polishes

In contrast to eye shadows and blush, as I said before, I’m not really into colored nail polishes. My favorite brand is Essie, and the must-have colors that you need in your beauty chest are:

* A matte white, a subtle pink, and a shiny top coat: to create a French manicure
* A dark brown: ideal for the fall, for feet and hands with really short nails
* A dark red: perfect when wearing sexy sandals
* A bright orange: ideal for summertime when you’re tanned
* A coral shade: this summer’s color
* This year, people are wearing a lot of beige and matte milk chocolate shades, but they’re extreme and you really need to have perfect hands to wear them well. But if you’re daring enough, go for it! You’ll find some lovely shades by Chanel.

Thanks to Asun Parra for this great info!