1. The Beauty Blotter Is the One Place You Don’t Need to Put Oil

If you’ve ever rolled your eye and wondered why you’ve had such a crappy manicure, it’s time to put that all to rest. We spent a lot of time talking to a professional about how to pamper your nails. All the common mistakes on our holiday list are finally being addressed. Here’s where to start.

(Tip: check out the tips to how to grab super-quick manicures that your nails probably don’t need or touch.)

If you really want to save yourself from stressing out about your manicure, try DIYing your finger polish application like you were doing your tattoo. “I recommend trying one of the online tutorials on YouTube, such as Lindsay Harm. She’s a highly skilled nails lady who teaches videos on my tooling. She has a polish touch-up tool that is absolutely amazing at removing some of the crazy nail polish we have here at B.S. I learned this from her, and I think she’s a great teacher,” Nina E. Walker, an Allure resident photographer, shared.

2. Never Paint your Hand Toe Keys With Anything But Oil

Investment: your hands

When is the last time you touched your toenails? Think five years ago? You might be surprised to know that you could be leaving your fingers exposed to a whopping 10,000 forms of bacteria.

The dangers aren’t just mental. From HIV, to chronic diseases, to malnutrition and even rheumatoid arthritis, the odds are most of us will need some sort of care after we finally let the bad old days of shitty toenail care go. In fact, it might be time to reconsider oil and polish entirely.

3. Pulling Off Deep Engravings

If you’re attempting to get all inked or broken in on your fingernails, it’s wise to consider what kind of nail art style will work. Amanda, the senior manicurist at B.S. Etc., only broke into the nail industry a little over a year ago, and she’s already seen nail art go in two different directions.

“The biggest change is with the red polish trends we are seeing now. Many nail salons don’t believe in doing water-based coloring anymore, so we are making sure our clients can pump their pens or craftspersons up, and using acrylic paint (and recently both see pinking) is a viable option for completing a style,” she shared.

4. Not Keeping the Cracks Within a Levee Line

Not to mention, wearing old, worn-out nails is an excellent way to wind up with a case of nail recession, or more specifically, chipped toenails. As Dr. John Holden, Dr. Everett Oiratchi, and Sandra Anthony, nail specialists at Aroma Diare, explained to POPSUGAR, at least 3 times as many people are suffering from chipped nail recession as are developing it. That’s almost 300 people (almost 30,000 people) a year in the US alone.

(Tip: have we mentioned that waitresses earn just about all of their money on tips?)

5. Keeping Your Nails Nail Worn Out

Last week we wrote about what happens to your nails when you don’t switch them out every three or four weeks. Your digits may feel super fresh but they’re in fact showing signs of overexposure, especially if they’re being bounced around your fingers quite a bit while you’re working (your fingers definitely appear a lot more clean when you don’t touch them or mix products).

According to Dr. Dana Udelson, dermatologist and cofounder of Dermalogica, there are a few things to keep in mind when trying to find a new manicure. “We spend the majority of our time under the sun, so natural moisturizing skin products such as Origins Illuminating Gel Gel are designed to minimize the appearance of white scaling and dryness, and are often a go-to product for our nails and hair,” she explained.

“A layer of my own hair product, semisweet shampoo, and conditioner (or a formula like Bumble and bumble Surf Spray deodorant) will also help improve dryness and make sure the polish job is done in the perfect condition before it is polished,” Urska, an Allure blogger, said.

While all this sounds great, here’s the warning: brittle, worn-out nail conditioner isn’t the solution we need when we need the perfect weekend manicure. It’s better to put in some R&R as your nails get worse.

6. Picking Green Hand Tar

We can’t blame you for pulling all of your color out of your nail beds to