Step by step home pedicure

Whipping your feet into shape – smooth skin, trimmed nails and neat polish – literally takes half an hour, not half a year. “You don’t have to go to a spa to have immaculate-looking feet; you just need to know how to look after them,” says Helen Thomas from Sydney’s Spa Chakra.

 

1. Soak and smooth
Soak your feet in warm water for 10 minutes to soften dead skin. You can add an essential oil such as lavender to soothe and disinfect the feet. Dry your feet thoroughly and, using a pumice stone or foot loofah such as Manicare’s Pedicure File, $4.95 (stockists 1800 651 146), work in circular motions, exfoliating the heels, toes and balls of the feet. Using a damp towel, wipe away any excess skin and moisturise with a product such as A’kin’s Replenishing Body Moist, $20, which contains shea butter, jojoba and avocado oils. If your heels are particularly cracked, try a product such as FootSmart Heel Conditioner, $13.95 (stockists (02) 9736 3811), which contains powerful exfoliators and hydrators to restore smoothness. (For very cracked heels, apply the product and wear socks the night before your pedicure.)

2. Shape
Cut the nails directly across the tops, using nail clippers. Leave a couple of millimetres of nail at the tips; just enough to give your nails a trim edge of white. Shape with a coarse emery board, positioned slightly under the nails – the result should be square-shaped nails with softly rounded corners. Using a fine-grain file, smooth the edges. If the nail surfaces are ridged, gently buff them with a buffer. (If you’re short on tools, Manicare has a good range; look for the Crystal Nail File, $12.95, Nail Clippers, $4.85, Miracle Shiner, $4.95, and Cuticle Sticks, $1.95.) 

3. Push back cuticles
Most people are not adept enough to cut their own cuticles and be certain they won’t cut too deeply and cause infection. The safest way to neaten the cuticles is to use the flat end of an orange stick; using small, backwards and forwards motions, gently push them back. Try using a product such as Sally Hansen’s Medicated Cream Cuticle Remover, $12.45, which helps loosen the cuticle so that it easily slides away from the nail. (Alternatively, you can try a cotton bud dipped in olive oil.)  

4. Polish
Clean any excess lotion from the nails with a non-acetone polish remover such as Cutex’s Nail Polish Remover Acetone Free, $3.95. Separate toes with a folded tissue (as pictured), then apply a base coat such as Cutex’s 2 in 1 Base Coat with Pro-vitamin B5, $6.95, to protect the nail. To apply polish, hold the brush like a pen, resting your hand on your foot, and paint the nails, making an arc from the base across the top of each nail. Once you’ve drawn the first arc you should only need an extra two or three strokes to fill in the rest of the colour (less for the smaller toenails). Wait about five minutes then apply another coat. Finish with a top coat such as O.P.I’s RapiDry, $22.45 (stockists 1800 358 999), a fast-drying, high-gloss top coat that protects the polish and prolongs the pedicure.

 

Words: Nikki Goldstein. Photography: Steven Chee. Hair & Make-up: Laura Dominique.   Model’s Pedicure by Helen Thomas at Spa Chakra.