Nails get bored and grow dull and scaly after a while. You definitely notice that in the shower with a base coat, but some long-lasting treatments just don’t cut it. Even things like the season, the wind, or dirty car have a way of sticking in your mind long after the last day of Summer and the last meal of Fall. You walk around with an awful collection of lime-green, tomato-skin polish smudges and chips because of rain or dirt, and you spend countless hours scraping off that mark left behind by Mother Nature.

To combat this issue, you should consider adding some high-quality nail polish to your routine. There are so many different types, from dark, slightly matte colors to sparkly, eye-catching hues, which is what much of my skin-care routine is founded upon. Nail polish is a multitasker when it comes to its benefits — it needs to protect your nails and work as an even “preventative” layer if there’s a storm, or, of course, it should help go off when you want to make sure you don’t have any oil smudges or dirty nails left behind on that shower-day combo.

There are beauty-related benefits to manicures, too.

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Massaging a moisturizing nail polish into the nail bed can strengthen your nails, improve circulation, and make your nails look longer, shorter, and bluer. Add in the fact that most manicure-supplied polishes are low-fiber, with only a few trace amounts of vitamin C, and you have a recipe for all-around longer, healthier nails.

The only downside is, deep, dark and lustrous or tropical balsam-infused nail lacquer is time-consuming to apply on a daily basis. All your life, you’ve been like, “screw it, I’ll just paint my nail tomorrow.” But sometimes, we go weeks and even months without adding the one little touch you might need.

So, how do you get a manicure done every day, right now? The secret is in the nail sandwich and the polish glass (which is my favorite product, by the way). The nail sandwich is the same sandwich used for the paraben-free Polish Sandwich Gloss ($45), which looks exactly like a Neoprene-covered sticker. Though you could use a tube to scoop the glue onto your nail, which could be irritating to sensitive, wet nails, I prefer mixing the glue and shaping the strip on your own, since it requires less effort.

Now, I’m not as productive a nail lover as I used to be. My nails haven’t changed color since a girl named Katie was in my headband class, but every day, I’m making an extra effort to polish them up. Also, mixing the nail glue and the glass has added another layer to polish that’s been worn too much. Now, my nails are five shades from the end, and I don’t have a nail that’s still un-decorated. I don’t want to go two weeks without applying nail polish. But this woman’s nail situation has transformed, and I think I’m living every bit of it.