Make Your Beauty Treatment Last

Protecting Painted Nails

A long-lasting manicure or pedicure starts at the salon: Choose a light shade of polish, which won't readily show chips. Ask the technician to push your cuticles back instead of cutting them, says Jin Soon Choi, a salon owner in New York City, as cut cuticles become ragged-looking faster.

• Each day after your appointment, apply a cuticle minimizer to slough off dead cells and preserve smoothness and paint on a clear topcoat to maintain the polish's shine.
• Touch up any chips with a polish pen in a neutral color (with light shades, you don't have to worry about matching exactly).
• Moisturize hands frequently, and when feet begin to get dry, exfoliate in the shower with a gentle foot file; follow with a rich cream. Avoid using gritty scrubs, since they can dull polish.

Maintenance Tools

1. Foot-smoothing file.
Diamancel the Conqueror, $38, blissworld.com.
 
2. High-shine topcoat.
Orly Won't Chip, $10, orlybeauty.com.
 
3. Touch-up polish pen.
Sally Hansen Color Quick Nail Color Pen, $8, sallyhansen.com for stores.
 
4. Cuticle minimizer.
Butter London Melt Away Cuticle Eliminator, $20, drugstore.com.