Exactly How to Get Your Nails Long, Strong & Healthy at Home
Jo is a former Adore Beauty staffer and qualified dermal therapist with over decade of experience in the beauty industry.
She co-hosted our award-winning podcast Beauty IQ Uncensored for 4 years, interviewing names like Caroline Hirons, Katie Jane Hughes and Chris Appleton to name a few.
Fact: I do my nails at home once a week.
I'm not really a fan of gel or shellac, and I hate sns nails *shudder*. Plus, I get bored of my colours and DIY nail art pretty quickly.
So, every week, I sit down and go through my at-home nail care routine.
It's time-consuming, but honestly, I find painting my nails therapeutic.
Even when we are able to have our nails done professionally in-salon, I'll still probably be doing my at-home manicures.
If you're wondering how to make your nails grow faster or how to do nails at home, keep scrolling for my nail care tips and tricks for keeping nails long, strong and healthy.
I'll also share my favourite nail polish colours, and the one product I never do my nails without.
*Hint: It's the answer to how to dry nails quickly.
Home Manicure Tools.
Before we get into the main tips, let's touch on tools.
The basic ones I think everyone needs are:
- Nail file - OPI Edge File 240 Grit
- Nail buffer - Manicare Buffer 4-Way
- Nail clippers - Manicare Toe Nail Clippers - With Nail File
- Cuticle pusher (a wooden stick to push cuticles back).
- Cuticle remover, cuticle clippers or a cuticle cutter.
Now, I know the cuticle clippers are a little bit controversial.
Some nail experts don't recommend using them at home, and fair enough!
As for how to push back cuticles and how to use a cuticle trimmer, you don't want to push or trim your cuticles all the way back.
I'm very, very careful with them, and I only use them to trim the drier parts of my cuticles and the skin around my nails when it starts growing over the base of the nail.
How to Grow Nails Faster.
If you're trying to grow your nails long and strong, and you just can't get them to grow past a certain length, I have some recommendations for you.
These are my top tips to avoid nails breaking, peeling and splitting when doing at-home manicures or nail care routines.
1. Cuticle Oil.
Never forget your cuticle oil. It's one of my best nail care tips.
Chelsea Bagan from Trophy Wife Nail Art actually recommended I start using cuticle oil every single day. I've been doing it for around 18 months now and I swear by it.
If you're like me and trying to break a bad habit of picking the sides of your nails, the cuticle oil stops you from doing that because the skin's nice and hydrated, so you don't get those dry, flaky bits and you're not tempted to pick at them.
Pop a bottle on your desk, by your bed or next to the couch - wherever you think you're going to use it the most. You can also massage it into your actual nails as well if you don't have polish on.
There's nothing that's made my nails healthier or stronger than applying cuticle oil every day.
Shop some of my favourite cuticle oils/balms here:
2. Supplements for Nails.
Another thing I've found has made a really big difference to my nail strength is introducing collagen into my daily repertoire.
Nearly every day, I take Vida Glow Natural Marine Collagen - Original and that's helped my nails not to break as they grow longer.
You can dissolve it in a glass of water, or because it's heat-stable, your coffee or tea.
3. How to File Nails to Avoid Breakage.
My next tip, which I also learned from Chelsea, is to file your nails in only one direction.
Instead of filing back and forth, file the nails one way and try to stick to that one direction.
With the way our nails are made up, going back and forth can make nails more prone to breakage while filing.
4. Take Breaks From Gel, Shellac & SNS Nails.
Back-to-back nail enhancements like gel nails, shellac, acrylic nails and sns nails are great, but when you do finally take a break, your nails are going to be very weak and brittle.
If I'm getting gel nails, I tend to have them on for three weeks, and then I'd take a two-month break because it takes your nails that long to recover from the actual nail enhancement.
And for any nail biters, check out how Adore's Senior Editor Amy finally broke her nail-biting habit in this how to stop nail biting YouTube video below.
Best Nail Polishes for Doing Nails At Home.
Now, let's move into what I think are the best nail polish colours for doing your nails at home.
And yes, I've realised all of my favourite nail polish shades are all very similar (but different, I swear) shades of pink...
Here they are (pictured left to right):
I'm absolutely loving this beautiful light beige brown shade from Essie's new expressie collection. They're vegan nail polishes that are meant to dry a lot quicker than regular nail polish.
Bubble Bath is such a beautiful everyday or bridal nail polish shade. And I love you can get it in the Nail Envy nail strengthener version, it's great to apply after taking off gel nails.
Another very translucent sheer pale pink shade - this formula is long-wearing and high-shine like a gel manicure.
Don't quote me, but this is the shade all the Royals are meant to wear to weddings. Even The Queen. Again, it's a very, very pale pink shade. Quite translucent but very, very beautiful.
As for best top coat nail polishes, I rotate between essie gel couture glossy top coat and OPI Infinite Shine Top Coat for a high-shine, chip-proof finish.
How to Make Nails Dry Faster.
OPI Drip Dry Drops is honestly one thing I can't go without.
I legit never do my nails without them.
They're the best because they make your nail polish dry in 30 seconds, and they're pressure dry in five minutes.
Definitely add to cart.
The Best Nail Strengtheners.
Finally, let's run through some of the best nail strengthener products you can apply in place of regular nail polish.
This is the same formula as above, but in a subtle reflective sheer pink that's essentially your nails, but better!
3. OPI Nail Envy Original.
Last but not least is the original Nail Envy strengthener. It's an oldie but a goodie, can't go wrong!
You can shop more nail polishes here. And for more expert tips on how to look after your nails, listen to our latest episode of the Beauty IQ podcast below.
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