It’s no secret: if your nail shape isn’t quite right, you know you won’t like that manicure. A proper shape makes all the difference when it comes to a tidy overall result, yet most beginners skip this important step when it comes to filing their nails. It may seem easy, but it takes practice to master this crucial skill. Shaping requires a steady hand and patience. You want to ensure that both sides of your nail are even, or at least as close to even as possible, and when your shape is off, your polish is bound to reveal the flaw. It’s important for a beginner to master nail shape, and the first step is simply to slow down. Don’t feel rushed, and be aware that you are working on the whole nail and not just the free edge.
When considering nail shape, the most common mistake is focusing solely on the free edge, rather than the sides of your nails. In this case, the nail will be uneven on either side. For the best result, start by holding your nail steady and viewing it from the front. Tilt your head to either side so you can view both walls of your nail. If you see that one side has more of a lean or flare than the other, use small filing motions instead of long and hard ones. The latter is more likely to remove too much nail. You must keep your strokes consistent and small, and avoid filing down both sides simultaneously. You want to avoid over-filing, which will make the nail longer than it needs to be, creating a mess and wasting your time.
For a beginner, it is often useful to choose a shape, and stick to it for a full week of practice. For example, you may want to pick out a shape (such as the soft square or the almond) and nail the look throughout the week. Avoid switching between different styles (such as square to oval to round) because your brain will be unable to recognize when one is correct or incorrect, and you may have to constantly ask, “is this square or round?” Pick one style to master. Focus on one hand at a time, and when you sit down to shape your nails, visualize what shape you want before you start filing. After every few strokes, examine your nail and check it against the nail next to it. You want to avoid over-looking nails until the end, as your eyes have grown used to them and it’s difficult to spot inconsistencies. Compare your current nail to the next in line and the one prior. This is your best chance to spot a mistake. If you find yourself unsure as you file, take a second and compare the current nail to its matching finger on the opposite hand.
It is common for beginners to become stressed when their nails just won’t stay on task, and it’s in moments like this that you are most likely to make an error. Don’t get discouraged when you encounter this problem, because often all that needs to happen is a bit of pressure reduction. Beginners often file more heavily in order to achieve a smooth line, and unfortunately, this often results in your file getting stuck in a corner. Instead, try to be more gentle, as well as mindful. The way you hold a finger is also an important element in shaping. In most cases, your other hand should be stable throughout, or otherwise the nail may move as you file and your line may change. Be sure that the finger is in place before you file it. Don’t be afraid to file with shorter strokes. To find out if your filing is effective, try to ask yourself the following: is my nail center straight? Do the wall lines match on both sides? Does the tip match my natural nail width? You can find your answer to this question in a few minutes’ time.
Practice is always necessary, and you may find it to be useful if you carve out a few minutes each day. Use the first minute to practice your nail shapes, and don’t touch the nail or your file yet. Use a couple of minutes to work on two nails with your eyes focused on them, and stop every so often to check them from different angles. The next minute is used to improve the free edge and sides of your nails; you aren’t doing your nails entirely in this case. When you’re finished, look at your hands together to find similarities and differences. One finger may always need sharper corners on the same side, and your thumb may always be wider than the rest. This will be your time for self-correcting, as opposed to mindlessly repeating a bad habit.
Shape isn’t the only skill you’ll need to master, but a good shape will make all the work that follows that much easier. You will likely find that at first, you won’t notice much change in your skill. Over time, the improvements are subtle. You won’t notice that your hands are more symmetrical, that you’re doing fewer rescue operations, or that you’re not trying to hide your nail flaws under polish. If you’re feeling unsure, you have every right to work slowly, and to leave a nail as it is for another day if the next stroke is likely to ruin it. It is possible to get too ambitious. Patience is as important as action, and as you begin to shape your nails, keep your hands close and steady. It’ll make everything much easier.