Beautiful nails go a long way in boosting a woman’s confidence and making her both look and feel more “pretty” and glamorous. Beautiful nails are not limited to only “one” type of nail; a do it yourself French manicure is beautiful. Investing in false acrylic or gel nails is beautiful. Choosing a trendy shade of nail polish or decals or going all out and airbrushing your nails can give you beautiful nails. Here are some ways you can give yourself beautiful nails from home.

How to Choose “The Right” Nail Polish Shade

Walk into any beauty, department or drug store and you will be confronted with hundreds if not thousands of different shades of nail polish. Which one should you choose? What will work best for you?

A good way to first begin looking into nail polish is checking in with your own behaviors and characteristics. Darker nail polish shades require a whole lot more upkeep than a sheer, shimmery, or light color of nail polish. If you have the time to fix up your nail polish on an almost daily basis, go for the darker shade.

Not sure what shade to choose? Flip through any number of beauty magazines the next time you are at the bookstore, at work on break, or standing in the grocery store line. You will be able to see the hottest shades of the season within seconds and can begin to plot out what shades you will use.

How can I Make my own Nail Decals?

Not so happy with the nail decal options that you have available to you? Not a problem – you can actually make your very own nail decals to truly tailor your nails to your own unique personality. Here’s how:

1. Find a clear plastic bag (one that you may find at the grocery store to bag you produce might work).

2. Next, choose out any number of nail polish colors or shades that you would like to work with. Using the nail polish brush or a toothpick for those finer details, draw a design on the plastic bag. You will want to be sure that the nail polish is being applied thickly so that the polish/decal will not “break” when you are lifting it from the bag later on.

3. Allow the nail polish to dry for up to 60 minutes. While you are waiting for it to dry, clean your fingernails by soaking them in soap and warm water. Clip your nails and file them to the shape you would like them to be in. Follow up with a clear polish base coat.

4. While the base coat is still wet, it’s time to loosen them up so that they can be applied to your finger! Lift the edges of your homemade decal with a toothpick and gently peel it off of the plastic bag. Carefully place your decal over top of the wet polish and then firmly press it down into place with the toothpick. Take particular care to not allow the edges to come up off of the nail polish.

5. Seal the decal with another application of clear nail polish.

Follow up with a new coat of clear polish every 3 days (or less) to ensure that the decals stay in place.