Are Your Feet Ready for Sandal Season? The Best Gel Nail Pedicure

Summer is in full swing, and it is high time to start getting your feet ready for sandals instead of hiding them away in runners. It’s easy to neglect your feet during the winter, but they deserve better. Make amends and give them some pampering. If you know how to do gel nails at home and have your own gel nail kit, you can get your toes as gorgeous as the rest of you.

Pampering and caring for your feet is not a big chore. It’s a treat! Sure, you could just put some gel nail polish on your toenails and hope no one looks too closely, but don’t you deserve more than looking good? What about feeling good too? Our feet work so hard, a little foot pampering is the least we can do. And it is fun to do a gel nail pedicure.

For starters, your feet will be healthier if you wear a variety of shoes. Yes, to sum up – it is medically necessary to go shoe shopping. Wearing the same shoes every day is worse than boring; it means in summer you are probably spending all of your time in shoes that don’t offer good support. Enjoy your cute strappy sandals and flip flops, but alternate them with shoes that offer good support. Walking barefoot on the beach is lovely and does a bit of exfoliating too, but if you are going walking or hiking, make sure you wear shoes that offer good support and protect your feet. If you are walking on safe surfaces such as paved trails, you can even wear trekking sandals and show off your gel nail polish pedicure.

How to Treat Your Feet from Basic Foot Care to Gel Nails

1. Prepare: Start with the basics. It is best to keep up on foot care all year around, but realistically, few of us are ready for sandals without a bit of extra effort. So relax and set up your own foot day spa at home. Soak your feet in a basin of warm water, perhaps with a few drops of tea tree oil. After they have soaked a while, use a pumice stone or foot file to remove hard skin paying special attention to your heel. Give yourself a foot massage with a nice thick lotion.
2. Maintain: Keep your feet happy by giving them a weekly soak followed by a massage with lotion. Walk barefoot on the sand whenever you can; it feels great. Watch out for blisters. No matter how cute those shoes are, it isn’t worth it. And speaking of shoes, try to rotate them so you don’t wear the same pair two days in a row. This gives your shoes a chance to dry out properly because feet do sweat, especially in summer, and putting on shoes that are even a bit damp can cause problems. (See, you have a great reason to go buy more shoes! Who doesn’t love that?)
3. Get Gorgeous: The most durable colour for your toenails is gel nail polish. It will last up to 14 days and look great the whole time. You can chose from a huge range of gel nail polish colours including classic reds and pinks as well as sparkling glitters. Check out some of the fantastic and festive tropical colours available so no matter what you’re doing, your toes are ready for a pool party or a spin on a sailboat.
4. Protect: Once you’ve gotten your feet in great shape, you want to make sure they stay that way by avoiding any foot hazards. If you are wearing socks, change them promptly if they get dirty or wet. Even on holidays, avoid wearing the same socks for more than a day. Always wear flip flops in communal showers and at the side of the swimming pool. You’ve got gorgeous gel nails now, and you certainly don’t want any kind of foot or nail fungus.

Gel nail polish is ideal for your summer pedicures. It’s durable so it stands up to being out in the open, walking barefoot. It is an amazing new nail technology that means you don’t have to worry about peeling or scratches the way you would with regular nail varnish. If you can do gel nails at home, which is not that hard, you can have endless fun with the selection of colours available. Gel nail polish comes in fantastic shades to enjoy year round, but the bright summer colours really pop. You can even match your sandals! Go glittery or stay subdued, your gel nails will look stunning for a full 14 days either way.

How to Do Gel Nails at Home

Doing a gel nail polish pedicure is really the same as doing a gel nail polish manicure – aside from the need to be a bit more flexible to reach your toes! But you can actually go one better than flexibility, and that’s trading pedicures with your bestie. You can spend some quality girl time together and both walk away with trendy toes.

Prepare your toes in the same way you would your fingernails. Trim and file them, and make sure they are clean and cuticles are pushed back – not cut. You’ll need a gel nail kit with a nail lamp. Simply apply your base coat and cure it under the lamp, then do your first coat of the colour. This is a little bit tricky because toe nails are smaller and you want to leave a bit of an edge where the colour does not cover the base coat. Cure the first coat of colour and apply and cure a second coat of colour, leaving the same uncoloured edge. Then apply your gel nails top coat and cure that. And you’re good to go with gorgeous toes that will stay free of chips or scratches for 14 days or more.