I was once asked by a friend, how she should go about applying nail polish perfectly, without smudging, dripping or painting her skin.

At the time I was setting up workshops on make-up application for women with disabilities and I had a few tips I had come up with based on my experiences (and from asking lots of questions of the women I had worked with of course). I told her the truth – that in my experience applying nail polish perfectly is impossible – not even my regular nail technician (who is pretty darn good) can do it without smudging or painting a bit of my skin. In fact, the real question is how do you prepare for the inevitable smudging and how do you quickly and easily clean up any mistakes that you make…because you will make them, that is inevitable.

Based on this conversation, here are a few tips that we have sourced from our community and around the Internet – they might make things quicker and easier for those pf you who like a perfectly polished nail, but find application tricky…

Nail Polish Hacks:

*These suggestions were provided from a number of different sources, some will only be applicable dependent on level of ability / disability.

For those who have a visually impairment

Apply a little Vaseline to the skin surrounding the nail – this way, when you apply the nail polish, you can easily rub away any mistakes you have made without staining the skin.

Don’t overload your brush – using just a small amount of polish can make application much easier and more accurate.

Don’t worry about the edges of the nails, applying nail polish right up to the skin on the sides of nails can make nails look less elongated and will also create more opportunity for painting the skin – much better to apply nail polish only in the centre and on the tip of the nail.

Remove excess polish with a cotton wool bud rather than a pad – hold the tip for accuracy and gently go along the skin with light back and forth strokes – you will also save on polish remover too!

For those with limited mobility

If you can, it might be an idea to plan your nail polish application well in advance – in the same way you would plan an outfit or hairstyle – this will avoid the need to rush the process.

Opt for a nail polish with a wider brush (or purchase a sperate brush) to apply the polish, a thicker brush means less strokes are needed, which means less work.

For those who with young children and or limited time

Always opt for quick dry nail polishes. Try drying your nails on a bowl of cold water to speed up the process and to prevent smudging.

If you have any tips that you would like to share, go ahead and leave them in the comment box below.