How to: Treat your feet with the perfect summer pedicure.
In our opinion, feet take more effort than hands as we need to sort out those hard, winter feet. Here is our guide to achieving the perfect summer pedicure!
1. File your feet - expect arm ache! File away at hard skin until your feet feel silky soft. We suggest investing in a decent foot file such as Bliss Diamancel Classic Foot File. It is best to file your feet dry, not wet, to really work away that dead skin.
2. Soak your feet in warm water for 10 minutes. We like to add a foot soak to the water, such as Body Shop's Peppermint Reviving Foot Soak.
3. Dry your feet and use a cuticle remover such as Mavala (below) - leave on for 2 minutes and use the angular tool to push the cuticles back:
4. We think its best to file your nails down as opposed to cutting them as this often results in an uneven shape. File your nails in one direction towards the tip into the desired length and shape. A squarer shape suits toes best.
5. Buff your nails with a nail buffer to ensure an even surface for paint application. Our fave buffer is by Models Own:
6. Wipe your nails free of any residue simply with a damp cotton pad and dry.
7. Apply your Base Coat. This is important as it will make your summer pedicure last longer and ensures and even surface for your colour. You can now buy base and top coats in one, such as this OPI Start to Finish:
8. Now for the colour. Apply your colour to your nails - you will need two coats and wait for the first to dry before applying the second. Our colour choices for Summer 2014 are these!
9. Apple a Top Coat - this is where the handy 2 in 1 comes in from OPI (above). Remember to paint over the tips of your nails in top coat also to seal and prevent chipping.
10. Tidy up any mishaps with a corrector pen. This one from Nails Inc is a good choice:
And Voila! To keep your pedicure lasting longer, keep your feel and nails moisturised daily!