“Pedicure at Home”: it’s a pretty well-known expression, but indeed it takes the deepest meaning where you speak of feet beauty. As it’s often noticed, it’s really the most neglected part of the body – alongside the back perhaps – and it’s really a shame, cause clean, well maintained and beautiful feet are the final touch of elegance when wearing open shoes. It does not mean having the trendiest nail polish, fake nails or the longest nails, it means taking care regularly of your feet so that they can be presentable and attractive in any occasion and so that the care does not consist in “heavy works” from time to time but rather light but constant attention.
We all appreciate a visit to the pedicure salon and having a professional to take care of our little feet but not everyone can afford or has time for those kind of visits regularly – every week or two – so it’s nice to be able to do it at home and to be independent, foot care wise, and go to the salon as a treat.
Here are the five key steps to realise an easy yet efficient pedicure at home in the comfort of your home with little effort:
Preparation for Pedicure at home:
As your feet will be most likely unusable, we recommend that you get everything ready near you before you start not to interrupt the process.
- Towel
- Basin with warm water and foot soak or heated foot spa unit
- Pumice stone or scrub
- Nail clipper/file
- Cuticle stick
- Nail polish if desired
Step 1: Soak
Whether you use a regular bucket filled up with water or a heated foot spa machine, soaking your feet for about 15/20mins is the primordial step to all successful pedicure at home. Choose warm water (not cold nor hot) and add foot soak/soap/salt for a nicer and more effective effect. This will soften your skin and make all the following steps more efficient as the skin will be soft, relaxed and ready to receive treatments.
Step 2: Smoothen
When the skin of your feet is soft enough (towards the end of the 15/20 mins), start using a pumice stone or a strong scrub to remove the calluses and dead skins from the rough parts of your feet, especially the heels and the external sides. Some people use the pumice stone/ scrub under the water and some just lift their feet above: either way it will work. We have a preference for doing this outside of the water as you will have better control of the process and your feeling will be intact (and not numbed by too hot water for instance).
N.B.: Don’t overdo it and irritate your skin or even injure yourself with a pumice stone.
Step 3: Shape
Once the feet are completely smooth and free from any rough part, dry them gently but properly: hygiene is really important when taking care of your feet and we bet some people might not dry properly the part between the toes.
Now we can proceed to the most “technical” part. Start by gently push back the cuticles thanks to a wooden cuticle stick. There are also today some polishes or pens to remove them but you can go for the easy way and just push them back. We don’t particularly recommend to cut them as they are pretty small and soft (after soaking) and the risk to cut yourself open is quite there. After you pushed back the cuticles, cut your nails with a nail clipper if they are really hard or long or simply file them if they are soft and/or short. If you cut them, do it little by little and finish up with filing them. The safest and easiest way to obtain the shape you want. Keep them short or mid-long: we often wear closed shoes and socks and long toenail can be disturbing
Step 4: Moisturize
The feet are smooth, the skin is soft and ready to receive and the nails are freshly shaped: it’s time to give those feet some hydration! (you can hydrate your face twice a day and put cream on your hands easily as well, but how many times to you go until moisturising your feet ?)
There are plenty of options on the market or t home, you can choose what you prefer or what is most convenient to you : cream, balm or even oil. From time to time, for an intense moisturising session, prepare a balm out of olive oil and honey: apply on your feet and put on some loose socks or cling film (loose as well) and leave it for 2-3 hours and then rinse: silky smooth feet guaranteed.
Step 5: Polish
This step is not really mandatory as a natural look can work very well (if clean), but honestly, except for some individuals with very nice bone structure and beautiful feet, most of the feet are not so attractive by themselves, so a touch of colour will help to bring some light and sexiness down there.
To apply easily a nail polish, make sure it’s still good: if there are filaments where you remove the brush, it’s probably gone, so trying to apply it will be difficult and it won’t last anyway. No need to waste our time. Some nail polishes have a flat, quite large brush: it’s very convenient. In any case, it’s nice to test different brands and see the ones you like the most and stick to them. As for the application, the ideal would be base coat/ first coat/second coat/ top coat with a proper drying time between the coats. That’s really the ideal, pro like steps to follow, if you are running out of time or simply do not feel like doing all this, we would suggest to apply at least the base coat before your coloured nail polish: it will protect your nail and avoid discoloration on you nail : it’s very annoying and frustrating to remove your nail polish and face a stubborn part that does not want to go away. You can also use cotton buds between your feet or a toe separator for an easier application.
For the colour choice, several trends appear often and if you like fashion you won’t be able to miss it, otherwise you can opt for a very classic, safe and all time chic red (the new classics also include, black, beige, pink (light) and bordeaux)
Conclusion:
If you followed all those steps, you have officially done a complete pedicure at home by yourself and hopefully enjoyed this “me” time. It does not take so much time to have beautiful feet all the time but it requires some efforts and self-discipline as you have to take the time to do this for you. After a while, it will simply become a routine that you will enjoy and will do it automatically. You can save the salon visits for special events or as occasional treats and even go for the more extensive sessions (as you have been saving by doing your routine weekly pedicure at home.
We hope you enjoyed this article and method and that now you, also, will have super attractive feet.
