Who else paints their own nails?

[Globules]

I feel like I'm in a minority painting my own nails with a block colour.

Most of my friends pay £30+ every fortnight to get theirs done professionally.

I'm happy that it gives them a buzz, but I just don't understand the appeal myself.

Do you get your nails done regularly?

I get mine done every couple of weeks - just plain gel - and keep them short and tidy. I have a professional job with lots of in person meetings and I just feel it looks tidier. I pay £25 at a walk in place on my local high street. Previously they were always breaking - the gel has stopped that!

My nails are long and I always shape and varnish them myself. I use a normal polish and a topcoat that gives a gel like finish. If I'm going anywhere special, or at Christmas for example, I put on little stickers that cost next to nothing, apply a top coat, et voila! Lots of people admire them. I wouldn't dream of paying salon prices.....gels and acrylics aren't good for your nails anyway.

I always do my own - I like changing the colour often so I don't think it would be worth getting them done professionally

I like Essie Good to Go 🙂

I also use nail oil every night rubbed into my cuticles.

What kind of polish do you use at home? Do you use one that requires a lamp or just an ordinary varnish? I use an ordinary polish and I leave at least half an hour between 2-3(thin) coats. It shouldn't take two hours...

I do my own (quite badly) as I can't have polish on at work, so weekends or time off only. I also like different colours, so I would hate to be stuck with one set for a whole holiday

I also use Essie on the rare occasion I treat my nails to a bit of colour. It's the only one that doesn't chip and peel within hours of applying.

I've never had them done professionally in my life. I paint my own toenails and occasionally fingernails in summer, and fingernails slightly more often in winter when my toes aren't on show. I nearly always do a plain colour but occasionally do a spotty effect with lots of different colours on my toes, or a glitter topcoat on either. I don't like the trend for one nail in a different colour (on me anyway) and I need to keep my nails very short for two activities I do - luckily my nail beds are quite long so they still look long enough not to look silly with varnish.

I always do my own because I like to change the colour regularly. I have ridiculous amounts of nailvarnish
I am very lucky though that despite the rest of me being a mess my nails grow very well and are strong - often people think they are acrylics

I used to get them done occasionally, but they grew out enough to look crap within a week and it was too much faff getting it removed properly. So these days if doing anything that merits it, I do my own. An hour while sitting on a conference call. Sadly it is rare that my weekends involve restaurants rather than rooting in the garden, so I don’t often bother any more.

I paint my own. I quite enjoy doing it and love to change colours a couple of times a week. My own nails are strong and grow well.

I've never had a professional manicure and I don't paint my finger nails either. Too much maintenance, as I found it chips easily if I do it myself and I wouldn't want to be spending time or approx £30 every 2 weeks at a nail salon.
I dye my own hair and paint my own toe nails. I've not had any Botox or fillers and never intend to.
I'm low maintenance.

This is a great product I have just discovered via Dragons Den
www.nailpad.co.uk

What do you splash out on instead?

I wear press on nails when I need a little pick me up. With the right prep they last 2 weeks with no pop offs.

Me. I have a short attention span and get bored of the same colour after a couple of days. I get gels maybe once every 2 years, it's a treat as it's about £60 here and think my nails suffer with the removal. Also I hate the feeling of that gap when they start to grow out and love how good plain nails look in the sun.

I have acrylics on my fingers, but gel my toes myself. I did attempt my own acrylics for a while, and can do it, but not a particularly good job

I've thought about getting mine down at a salon for a treat but I do like doing my own nails. I make sure I have plenty of time to do them, like to go for the whole buffing etc before the bottom coat, polish generally two coats, top coat and then sit around for a while so I don't end up ruining it. Any bits of polish that have ended up outside the nail gets removed with the help of ear buds and there we go. My own work has often been mistaken for a salon job which always makes me proud!

I always just paint mine myself, I don't see the point in paying for it when it's so easy to do at home.

I once went for a pedicure and she looked at my nails where I'd done them myself previously and told me not to bother paying in future because I did such a good job!

Inspired by you all, I've bought some nail stickers today ready for Taylor Swift next week.

What should I do to make them look fabulous? Do I need tweezers? Do I paint a top coat over them?

I have enjoyed doing my nails for over 45 years now (I’m 60!) I was always the one that got told off at school for wearing nail polish n sent to science labs for acetone to remove it
I could never afford acrylics or the maintenance but started having gel polish about 10 years ago for special occasions - then became more frequent until covid
Then I did my own - or sometimes did nails for DD and vice versa - we bought lamp and all the materials
More recently I have gone back to having them done every 4 weeks at salon they last longer as they do a better job than me - I’m struggling sight wise in my 60s and enjoy a bit of a treat - I don’t spend much on other beauty stuff so will continue as long as I can afford it

I’ve only had mine done a couple of times on my life. I do my own.

I always did too and have managed to finally stop at the age of 38!

I paint mine myself now. It's part of what helped me stop biting them. I found a quick drying top coat that made all the difference.

I even do nail art!

I have a pedicure every 6 weeks and have done for over 25 years. Fingernails I get done for holidays and special occasions

I can't be bothered doing them myself, I've tried it but soaking off and reapplying takes me hours! And I really struggle to remove the gel.
I get them done fortnightly, in and out in an hour with perfect nails!