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If you want more than a busy manicure, you’ll want nails that sparkle. How to get beautiful nails starts with a little research. Though it seems obvious, your nail is the most often exposed part of your skin (even above the lips), and we’re here to tell you how to keep those tired, hard-to-locate jewels in place.

Here are 10 tips on how to have beautiful nails.

1. Focus on something you like.

If you’re reading this tip and you think your hands are fine, don’t worry. “Men might not have thought you actually have nails until they saw them for themselves,” Dr. Sharon Stutson, an aesthetician in Malibu, California, told Refinery29. To keep your hand clean, don’t touch it after washing, and look for products that contain natural extracts to help you maintain a healthy and refined cuticle, such as Anew Family Skin Nail Treatments.

2. Start with a great base coat.

“The base coat will finish making everything look good and will prevent your nails from peeling,” Stutson said. Try Essie’s Pussycat Stripe Base.

3. Add color where you want.

“Nails should always be bright. To keep your nails going, you should always keep them bright, no matter how the weather is,” Jay Rafferty, nail expert and founder of Nail Art Company, told Refinery29. To help you keep things bright, choose colors that you love, instead of simply picking any color you find.

4. Use a tapered paraben-free nail file.

Use a paraben-free file to keep your nails clean and bright and to help them thrive. Using a paraben-free hairbrush also helps with removing debris.

5. Add texture by using a conditioner.

“Keep the nails softer and wavier with coconut oil or shea butter as they have more shine and they’re more manageable. Also, pick your favorite types of conditioner for the look you want,” Rafferty said. One of his favorites is Maybelline’s The Makeover Kit.

6. If you’re using acetone, always get second-hand.

“Using an acetone — nail polish remover, it could be worse for a nail, so always ask around and ask if it’s been treated for color and apply it carefully and only to nail beds as it’s very abrasive.” This can also kill any bacteria on the surface of your nails.

7. Drink plenty of water and take vitamins.

“Drink lots of water and take vitamin D,” Rafferty said. “This also helps to keep nails soft and healthy.”

8. Buy one good nail clipper and use it often.

“One is ideal. That’s a lot of stress at once,” Svetlana Tarnopolskaya, cosmetologist in New York City, told Refinery29. That doesn’t mean you should live and die by a single nail tool, though. Keep two or three of them around at all times, for best results. This includes tools like acetate nail clippers, with protective tape on the end, that slice into nails without damaging them, and those with a torque-driven brush that cuts deeper into nails. There are also nail file attachments for things like tapered pen or scissors.

9. Use a few products to make your fingers look neat.

“Accessorize nails with some eye shadow, lipstick, stilettos, jewelry or nails to add a touch of glamour and sophistication to your nails,” Rafferty said.

10. And keep wearing your nails until they can’t be kept intact.

“Most top-end dermatologists will advise that nails should be wearing sandals, flats or trousers until the third or fourth week of treatment so that your nails are holding a bit better,” Rafferty said.