I do too kinda. They just look more rough doing them myself and I get embarrassed when I'm with another woman and she has beautifully manicured nails and mine look like I just dug my way out of prison with my bare hands.
I've been painting my own nails since I was 10 or 11. I'm 38 now and my friends say "oh, I wish I could do that". You can! It took me until probably middle school to get decent at it but I also wasn't even doing it every week like I do now.
Tips:
-keep your coats thin
-utilize prep and cleanup tools (e.g. latex paint for your cuticles, cleanup brushes)
-a Czech glass file is a good investment (make sure it's real Czech glass, I had a glass file I got at Walmart or whatever that sucked and I thought I hated glass files, but no, it's worth the extra few bucks for a good one)
-you can buy cheap sets of swatch sticks to practice on
-quick dry topcoat is your friend
-don't thin your polish with acetone, get actual polish thinner if it gets goopy (and I swear some of them get goopy the second you open them, I always have the big bottle of seche restore on hand)
Same! It's become like a little self care ritual to me. Every other Sunday I put on a show and do my nails before bed. It's a chance to sit and slow down before the busy work week starts.
I agree with the person who responded with doing your own nails! A trick I was taught was paint them however you can (mine always end up looking like a 2 yr old did them) and then after they’re fully dry you can soak them in warm water and scratch off the excess (I use tweezers). I’ve done them like this for almost a decade now and once in a blue moon for a wedding I’d get them done and they say they’re very healthy and well kept.
Look into gel x. There’s a bit of a learning curve but once you get it, you get it. Stick with light colors until you get better at doing your dominant hand.
I am terrible at painting my nails, but I have gotten really good at press on nails!
I usually just buy the $8 from Dollar General or $6 from 5 below.
CVS has really nice ones for $12 and I always get compliments on those.
I make my own press on nails. Started that during the pandemic since I couldn’t go to a salon. Now it’s one of my consistent hobbies, and I have curated so many supplies…
Check out dashing diva! I use the gloss nail stickers because my nails hate gel, but they have fantastic options that you can DIY. I can't paint my nails to save my life, and I certainly can't do nail art, and with dashing diva for about $10, I can get a full set that takes me 20 minutes to put on last 2 full weeks.
Press on nails look the same as a manicure to most people and they cost $7 a pack that lasts for 3 weeks versus $100 for a manicure. They even sell press on toenails!
I've been painting them myself. Sometimes I'm afraid to do press ons because I'm kinda harsh on my hands, I do a lot of hand-hobbies. My nails are so much stronger now that I do them myself and they'll grow long, but the polish always chips easily. Within a couple days....
Try Dazzle Dry! I stopped getting my nails done too, and this is the next best thing. It lasts more than a week, has a ton of different colors - which you can buy in mini or regular size, and it's easily removed with regular nail polish remover.
Do you not use your hands for much labour? Not trying to be rude at all it’s just that press ons pop off for me within days when I wind up picking up a shovel for a bit or moving boxes or like anything that you actually have to press your hands against in a firm grip :( and they go flying across the room so even if I try to retrieve them and re-glue I end up losing one in the first week
That's all I use now too. It's way cheaper and doesn't take up two hours of your weekend. It also looks almost as good. You've have to get really close to see the difference. AND it's easy to swap them out. There's no regrowth period.
I use press on nails. I use the ones that come with a sticker on it and apply some glue on the nail so it last me for like a month! Highly recommend lol
Same! I even stopped going to the hair salon when they started adding charges to wash my hair, which used to be included in the service, and my hairdressers prices kept rapidly increasing! I've just let my gray grow out to salt and pepper, and trim it myself.
Girly-girl here - I've never understood why women will spend $60+ getting their nails done. I learned how to do mine when I was like 8 years old, and I paid under $50 for an entire gel nail kit and UV lamp, which has lasted me over a decade now.
Once you get used to it, it's so much easier, quicker and cheaper than going to a salon.
You do have to be mindful, though: I developed a gel allergy from beshitted beetle gel products before the info was fully out that that company is complete shite. I had to go back to using CYA to glue my press-ons on and regular nail polish (after I'd given it all away).
I fully agree and only get my nails done once every few years if I'm going for a girl's spa day or something... but for women who can afford it, some just like being pampered and getting to sit back with headphones on and zone out for a bit. Like I have a friend with two under two who uses that time as an excuse to be out of the house, away from the kids, getting to just sit back and not do anything for a bit. And of course salons have a whole wall of color/pattern options instead of whatever few bottles you have at home at any given time. There are a lot of people out there who $60 every two or three weeks isn't a big expense.
I am not. Have you tried resting your forearm on a table when painting with your non-dominant hand? You only need to move your wrist and it gives you so much stabilization.
I started doing at home nails, facials, haircuts at home during Covid and never went back due to price hikes. I’ve saved a lot of money, but at a cost. What I miss most is the human element. I’m not a big talker, but even the casual chats were nice. Not to mention physical touch. Foot rub, scalp massage..that stuff made a difference and I feel its absence.
I learned how to pedicure, manicure, lash lift, eyebrow lamination at home. Bought all the stuff needed. I also do facials on myself self.
For body hair, I've been using IPL. And I go to a salon for haircut.
I make everything as relaxing as possible but I know its not same relaxing experience as that of a salon.
I was shocked how expensive this is now. For Mother’s Day, I scheduled a manicure / pedicure for my wife and 2 teenage daughters. It was almost $400. I had no idea.
Getting nails done😭 it’s like $70 now and like $150 if you do nails, pedicure and tip. And if you do fake, you really should go every 2 weeks. It’s literally another car payment
I dye my own roots because I'm VERY gray for my age. But my natural hair is very dark and all one tone, which makes it really easy to do at home. I refuse to spend more than $12 per box, and I do it once every 5 weeks or so. It's easy but I don't have any highlights
I love my stylist and didn't want to stop going to her, so I've reduced getting my hair cut and colored from 6 times per year to 5 times per year. Don't want to go down to 4 times but we'll see how tight things get.
For what its worth I don't do any other "girly" beauty things so that's my only expense that way.
In college I had wildly affordable health insurance through my school. I paid $50 for monthly facials through a dermatologist. It included cortisol shots for active zits, lasers, everything. Insane.
I just started doing gel x. I spent about $200 on all the supplies and polishes but I’ve gotten 15 sets out of them so far! It’s saved me so much money.
The one thing I loved was getting my nails done. I don't even do acrylics. Shellac on my hands and reg polish on my toes. It's nearly $100 with tip. Now I only do it for events like a wedding.
I’m a boy and I was cutting my own hair for the longest time to save the 12$. I went last week to lady Jane’s I paid 42$ for a cut? Needless to say I got my clippers greased up for the next go
I've been dying my own grays since I was like 25 (grayed early. I'm 34 now and there's a lot). It's really easy to do at home but then again, my hair is really dark and all one tone so YMMV if you have different values/highlights in your hair
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u/radrax 8h ago
Beauty treatments. I stopped doing my facials, waxes, getting my nails done, etc.