Manicure maintenance

Manicures aren’t always cheap, so our beauty expert Eminé Ali Rushton explains how to protect and prolong your handy work

Whenever I get a manicure, the varnish seems to chip really easily. I'm sure they put protective stuff on them, but it doesn't seem to do a lot. Are there any good products out at the moment that I can apply myself? - Kath

I can relate! I once spent £45 on a swanky manicure and was left with chipped tips in less than 24 hours. Nail polish can flake away for any number of reasons – the main one being that colour is applied to nails that have residual cuticle oil or hand cream on them, which prevents them from ‘gripping’ the nail adequately. It can also be due to an unevenly filed nail, which makes the edges more porous – and once water seeps in, the polish will come away.

Provided the nails have been thoroughly cleansed before painting (Leighton Denny Essential Remover, £4.89, www.leightondenny.com, does a great job of prepping the surface) and filed well (glass and crystal files are the best as they are less likely to splinter the nail) there are several products I swear by, which really do extend the life of your paint job. The most important is actually a base coat. Zoya Anchor Basecoat, £7.25 (www.zoyapolish.co.uk), is one of the best, as it forms a bond between the nail plate and the polish – and as the entire range is toxic toluene, formaldehyde and phthalate-free, it also does minimal damage.

Great topcoats should possess two qualities – anti-shock or flexible polymer technology, which will allow you to tap away all day without risking a chip and some sort of UV protection too, which will prevent nails from yellowing. Once again, Zoya Armor Topcoat, £7.25 (www.zoyapolish.co.uk), is the ultimate product. It was actually voted one of the ‘Top 30 Beauty Products of All Time’ by the Daily Telegraph and has a lovely super-gloss finish.

Once nails are no longer tacky, industry expert Leighton Denny also suggests smearing a layer of his Miracle Drops, £7.83, over the nails as they ‘reduce drying time and the chance of smudging the tips, which can cause premature chipping. Plus they also protect the polish from fluff and dust.’

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