Manicure Types
There are 3 main manicure types that differ in the tools and methods used. A manicure should be selected to fit your skin type and the type of product application you are planning. Read about the different ways to get a perfect manicure with this step by step guide.
Classic Wet Manicure
Classic manicure is a wet manicure, perfect for oily or semi oily skin. It is done by first soaking the hand into soapy warm water, using a cuticle pusher and cuticle remover solution and skin nippers or manicure scissors.
This process is based on softening the skin around the nail and removing it with a chemical solution.
Step 1: Remove any gel or nail polish on the nails and soak the hand into warm soapy water for 5 minutes.
Step 2: Apply a drop of cuticle remover on each nail, helping it touch the sides of the nail.
Step 3: Use the cuticle pusher's rounded edge the push back from the free edge of the nail to the cuticle base, you should feel any dead skin on the nail is removed when the pusher can slide gently from start to bottom of the nail without bumping into skin.
Step 4: Wipe off the cuticle remover and wash the hands clean.
Step 5: Use manicure scissors or nippers to cut off any excess skin near the cuticle, do this very gently and carefully making sure to only remove white looking skin so you know it's dead skin, not pink skin which is still live tissue.
Finish the manicure by filing the nail to your desired shape.
Dry (E-File) Manicure
A dry manicure is perfect for dry skin, and is done with electronic nail file drill bits only. Each drill bit has a specific job - disconnecting the cuticle from the nail bed, exfoliating the dead skin on the nail plate, filing off any dead skin on the cuticle line and clearing the sides of the nail. It is completly dry and doesn't require any chemicals.
You have to master using an E-file to do this manicure well. If you haven't, try the classic manicure method.
Combination (Russian) Manicure
A combination manicure is a hybrid manicure that has took salons across the world by storm, often called a russian manicure. This manicure is still based mostly on e-file work, to file off dead skin cells, to disconnect the cuticle and clean the sides of the nail, but then it will include using nippers or scissors to remove the dead skin from the cuticle.
The combination manicure is an art work in and of itself, but you can mimic s simple similar manicure by using pushing the cuticle back and then using a gentle 180 grit hand file on your nail plate and nippers to cut off excess skin on the cuticle.