Waiting For Sunday: Mackie's Tidbit: How to Keep a Manicure Longer

Ciao tutti. Happy Friday to you. This has felt like such a slow but fast week. Know what I mean? You might have noticed the (long overdue) blog overhaul going on: new design, better post layouts, more consistent posting too. So, I thought today I'd bring back a little known series that will be making an appearance on Fridays here on WFS--that'd be Waiting For Sunday. The series is called "Mackie's Tidbits."

When I was younger, my mama would share random pieces of advice and she'd say, "There's a Mackie's tidbit for you." I have no idea why she phrased it this way and no, my mother's name is not Mackie (it's in fact Amy) but this is always what she'd say. The advice ranged from silly to somewhat serious and over the years many of these tiny pieces of wisdom have stayed with me. Molly, my childhood (and now adult) best friend, was around for many Mackie's tidbits, too. Even now we'll joke with one another and share something and say, "that was a Mackie's tidbit for ya. Tuck that one away."

And so, I'll be sharing Mackie's Tidbits with you all, too. These may be things you already know or maybe you'll learn something new now and then. To begin, how to keep a manicure longer:

I don't know about you, but I love that first day after a mani/pedi. The cuticles: perfectly trimmed. The polish: shiny and un-chipped. The nails: smoothly shaped. But after a while, the manicure can start to fray around the edges due to dishes or moving furniture or fishing for your keys or blow drying your hair or doing laundry or...

You get the point.

I've figured out three ways, though, to help stretch the manicure a little longer.

1. Wear rubber gloves while washing dishes. My mom does this and though it may feel strange at first, it really does keep your polish from chipping. I've even thought about wearing the rubber gloves in the shower...kidding! Mostly...

2. Apply a clear coat every other day. This may seem like a lot, but as you shower and wash your hands and go throughout the day, the clear coat is worn down leaving the polish looking lackluster and more vulnerable to chipping. One quick clear coat with your morning coffee and you've re-shined and re-protected your nails.

3. After a week or more if you still want to keep the color but need to save the quickly fading polish job, add a quick coat of glitter polish. You can do a clear glitter or a colored one. Not only is this a sparkling way to jazz up a beginning to fade mani, but glitter polish tends to be super durable because of all the glitter in it. It chips less easily and if you chose to add a coordinated colored glitter, you give yourself a whole new look.