Treat Yourself to a Manicure & Pedicure

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of taking care of my hands and feet.  Hey, they're the only set I'll get, right?

I'm finally using rubber gloves to wash my dishes and clean my home.  Although I do not pay for mani/pedi's at a local salon, I do give myself  mani/pedi's at home every other week.  This ritual keeps my hands and feet soft, moisturized, and ready to take on anything that comes their way!

I use the same products on my hands that I do on my feet, except that I am very gentle when using exfoliator on my hands.  The reason why I do this is to #1 save money and #2 save space - I don't find it necessary to have two sets of products that do the same thing just because one set is advertised for use on the hands and the other for feet.  However, I do use a different moisturizer on my hands, because I find that lotions for the feet are greasier.  I'm assuming that's because skin on our feet is usually a lot drier and thicker than on our hands.

I start by removing nail polish and then soaking in Bath & Body's True Blue Spa Effervescent Foot Soak.  Then, I scrub with True Blue Spa's Walnut Shell Smoothing Foot Scrub.  Now, you don't have to necessarily use these products, any exfoliator or soaking agent will do.  You can just soak in plain warm water and use a regular scrub, Target's Up & Up brand (it's actually marketed for use on the face) has a good one too.

After the scrubbing, I push cuticles back using a cuticle pusher or an orange stick.  I only use a cuticle nipper on hang nails or built up dry skin near the cuticle.  I don't cut cuticles because I want to prevent infections in those areas. Leaving your skin open after cutting cuticles makes them vulnerable to all types of germs.

I also use a callus shaver, which is a sharp blade, to remove excess skin from the balls of my feet.  Use caution when doing this ladies!  The key is to make sure your feet are still damp from soaking before using this thing!  If you use it on dry skin, you have a bigger chance of getting sliced, just sayin'.

Once I'm done with those steps, I cut my nails to the desired length (SHORT!  LOL) and file the edges.  I lather my feet up with 2 lotions.  I use True Blue Spa's Glycolic Acid Spa Strength Callus Treatment, followed by, True Blue Spa's Avocado Butter Malibu Beach Pedicure Foot Cream.  The glycolic acid removes dead skin cells and helps bring new, fresh skin cells to the surface.  The foot cream moisturizes and locks in the natural oils.

For my hands I use a regular, dense hand lotion.  A new one I was introduced to is by Essie Spa, called "Many Many Mani Intensive Hand Lotion".  I was sent a sample of this lotion via mail by Target.  The sample was great and it included a $2 coupon, so I went ahead and used the coupon (regular price at Target is $8.49)!  This lotion is thick, but not greasy.

Before polishing my nails, I do clean up the nail beds with polish remover to get rid of any oils. This helps the base coat and nail polishes stick better so that my mani/pedi lasts longer.

I refuse to show any pics of my feet (those bad boys are U-G-L-Y, they don't got no alibi,  they UGLY) but here is a pic of the final result of my latest manicure.  Ok, so the hands are not so great either ;-)

I'm wearing Deborah Lippmann's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".  And yes, yes we do!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Deborah Lippmann

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