How To Do An At Home Pedicure

Posted by Tammy | Wednesday July 20, 2011

Step 1 Start by removing the old nail polish you have on. You always want to start your pedicure with clean, residue-free nails. Use a cotton ball/pad soaked in nail polish remover and rub your nails until they are free of polish.

Try: (1) Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover

Step 2 Soak your feet using Epsom salt, or use a foot soak, to relax tired feet and help soften skin so it'll be easy to slough off. You should soak them for about 10 minutes in a large bowl or basin, or even sit on the edge of your tub and fill it up to your ankles (you'll need more salt in this case as you're using more water).

Try: (2) All About Feet Relaxing Foot Salt Soak

Step 3 Pull out and dry one foot and massage a drop of cuticle oil onto each nail. Use a cuticle stick and gently push back any dead skin that might be clinging to the nail plate. Switch feet (putting the first one back into the water) and repeat.

Try: (3) Revlon Gentle Cuticle Remover

Try: (4) Revlon Cuticle Trimmer with Cap

Step 4 Take your first foot out of the foot bath and wet your leg up to your knee. Using a granular foot stone, massage along the bottoms of your feet concentrating on stubborn calloused spots like the balls of your feet and dry/cracked heels.

Try: (5) Dr. Scholl's For Her Beauty Stone

Step 5 Use a foot scrub to exfoliate your feet up to your knees and let soft new skin come through. Scrub your feet in an upward motion for two to three minutes and then rinse them using your foot bath.

Try: (6) The Body Shop Pumice Foot Scrub

Step 6 Time to trim! Dry your feet and then use a curved toenail trimmer to cut the corner of each nail at a 45-degree angle to help prevent painful ingrown nails, then cut the nails straight across if you like a square nail or follow your toe's natural shape for a rounded tip. Smooth and shape nails with a flat file. Next, swipe a nail remover-soaked cotton ball/pad over nails a final time to remove any hidden residue. Use a toe separator (or weave tissue between your toes) to space them out for polish.

Try: (7) Revlon Toenail Clip

Try: (8) ProFoot Toenail Nipper (Good for ingrown toe nails)

Try: (9) Sally Hansen Compact Sapphire File

Try: (10) Forever Natural Flip-Flop Pedicure Set

Step 7 Apply one thin layer of base coat, followed by two thin coats of nail enamel in your chosen colour, and one final thin layer of shiny top coat. Let each coat dry for about two minutes between applications.

Step 8 To make your pedicure last longer, apply a fresh coat of clear polish every three days.

This week, there is also a chance to win a prize by writing a review on nail polish. Go to the review section and start writing!

Got any tips on how to do the perfect at-home pedicure?

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8 Comments

	on July 26, 2011 mamaluv STAFF said: @Kissmekatie - I seriously doubt if that's true. Perhaps if you left it open too long, the chemicals would evaporate out and then you'd have issues with consistency. I have probably 20 nail polishes and none of them newer than 3 months (most are well over 6 months old and at least half are several years old). The only ones that I need to toss are those I've used many times and I'm getting to the end of my bottle. The amount of times I've opened and dipped are the reason they're starting to clump up. I have many that I've only used a handful of times and they are still in perfect shape after 2 or more years. Just give them a good shake and I'm ready to go. It's different for lip, eye or face products that chemically interact with your skin/mucus membranes. You definitely want to be careful there and use both your own judgment and the recommendation of the manufacturer. I have never heard of older nail polish being bad for your health, but of course I'm no expert. I suspect that the original source of the information you were given was possibly a cosmetics salesperson.
	on July 26, 2011 KissmeKatie said: The only thing I would add is a candle, some great music and maybe a glass of wine... I have found NailSense a brand by SeneGence (sold at a home party) lasted a really long time on me and had almost a glassy look. Someone once told me nail polishes only have a shelf life of about 6 months before they start to get thick and clumpy. Anyone know if that is true?
	on July 20, 2011 TammyK 1,073 said: Thanks Gingercorsair, great tips! That's exactly the number of coats they do in nail salons too so I guess that's why.
	on July 20, 2011 gingercorsair 971 said: @ TammyK, I find that the better quality polishes (OPI, Essie) hold up much better in general. As a rule of thumb, you don't want more than 3 coats of stuff on your nails. It builds up too thick and chips off after that. Start with a base coat to seal the nail, then do 2 coats of colour allowing to dry in between. Follow up with a topcoat of your choice and make sure everything dries properly! I like to do mine in front of the computer at my desk, especially when watching Netflix. I know my hands won't be moving or touching anything and the time spent in front of the screen is long enough for them to dry. If you get paint all over your fingers and cuticles, just shower after it's totally dry. It will begin to flake off your skin in the shower. Follow up with a moisturizer and pick off the remaining little bits. The plumping and shrinking of your skin in this process will help it to flake off! ...Or just learn to apply better. LOL
	on July 20, 2011 GlamGal 2,378 said: Thanks for this article. DIY pedicures are always fun....
	on July 20, 2011 TammyK 1,073 said: Becky, I'm the same way. My feet are always good but my nails on my hands chips like no tomorrow. I heard that every other day you should put on a top coat to avoid the chipping but I'm wondering if anyone has another tip because I find that the more coats I put on, the thicker the nail polish becomes and it's actually easier to chip off for me.
	on July 20, 2011 AlexJC 50 said: I have the worst feet. The worst. Like ever. I'm actually even embarrassed to bring them to a pedicurist so I might have to do a DIY before hand!
	on July 20, 2011 Becky 13,128 said: Thank you!! I'm pretty lucky with toenail colour, it basically lasts for almost as long as it takes to grow out. Meanwhile, my (hand) finger nails are a different story!! I will go to bed with good polish and wake up with chips galore. Also even while putting on the colour it will go all over my cuticles and fingers. A total hot mess. Any tips there?