Waterless Manicure: Easy Tips on How to Shape Your Nails

Oh My Gel
by Oh My Gel
2 Materials
15 Minutes
Easy

I will start this waterless manicure tutorial with some tips for getting a nice even manicure, with strong nails that are less likely to chip or snag.


Follow along for some additional tips on using a nail file and shaping your nails. You’ll be giving yourself a professional-looking manicure in no-time!

Best cuticle remover!

Give yourself a waterless manicure with this cuticle remover set that Amazon reviewers swear by!


Tools and materials:

  • Nail file
  • Cuticle remover
How to use a nail file

1. File your nails

My preference is to use a 100/180 grit nail file. The 180-grit side is for filing, and the 100-grit side is for buffing the old gels on my nails so they are ready for soaking. 


Tip: I use the mini-sized nail files so I can use a new one for each manicure. 


File your nails to the shape you want. 


Another tip: Square nail tips can snag on things easily, while rounded corners are less likely to snag and break. 


Try to limit how much filing you do on the side nail wall, because too much filing there will weaken your nail overall. The side nail walls act sort of like the spine of your nail.

Checking nails

When you are done filing, check the nails for evenness and touch up the filing as necessary.

Checking nails

Try to check your nails from several different angles to ensure you have consistency in your nail filing.

Applying cuticle remover

2. Apply cuticle remover

Apply cuticle remover to the base of each nail and spread it around the cuticle.


Let it do its job before you use your cuticle removing tool to actually remove the cuticles. You can learn more about this in my video Waterless Manicure: Cuticle Removal!

Beautifully shaped nails

With these nail filing techniques, you will get healthier, even and consistent filing results.

Beautifully shaped nails

Waterless manicure: How to shape your nails

No matter what angle you look at your nails from, they’ll look perfectly symmetrical. 


If you have any questions about this waterless manicure process, or how to file or shape your nails, please feel free to ask by leaving me a comment.

Suggested materials:
  • Nail file
  • Cuticle remover

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