How to Paint Toenails PERFECTLY!
The Three-Stroke Method
This article is specifically about how to paint toenails when doing a home pedicure or French pedicure, but the method works for painting your fingernails as well. When you are painting your toenails, it is best to use the three-stroke method. Before you start, make sure that your toes are cut, filed, clean, and free of nail polish. In other words, make sure you start off with pretty toes. 
Before adding nail polish to your nails, add a basecoat layer. For top basecoats, please refer to our nail care products post. To read about top nail polishes, please refer to our best nail polishes post.
Roll the nail polish in the bottle in between your hands (instead of the more common practice of shaking). This will make sure there aren’t any annoying air bubbles inside that could mess up your paint job later on.
When applying paint to the brush, remember to put on just enough to paint one toenail. You want to keep the coat on your toenail thin! It is less likely that the paint will smudge or chip on the ends of your nails if you have a nice, thin coat.
When you are painting toenails, it is a good idea to separate your toes somehow. Usually cotton balls will do the trick just fine!
Now you are ready to paint toenails! Start off with your paintbrush slightly away from your cuticle. Then push it back towards the area right before the skin, and then make a nice clean stroke towards the front.
First do a stroke like that on one side, then follow up with a stroke like that on the other side, and the last stroke like that down the middle. You should have a nice, even, and THIN coat. Remember, this is all done with one dip into the nail polish bottle. Do not re-dip the brush into the bottle until you are ready to proceed to the next toe. If a little bit of nail polish gets on your skin, that’s ok! The nail polish is still fresh, and so it is easy to remove. Keep a q-tip dabbed in nail polish remover or acetone at hand, and simply wipe the excess nail polish away with the moistened q-tip. Make sure the q-tip isn’t drenched in the remover.
That’s all there is to the three-stroke method! Once you have the toenails painted, be sure not to touch the nail until the nail polish dries completely! Remember to give it time, because the part you see may already be dry, but the part underneath might still be drying (so if you were to touch it, it might smudge).
Achieving the Perfect Nail Polish Application
1. Add the basecoat to perfectly clean and cut nails. This will protect your nails from the harshness of the nail polish, and make the paint job last longer.
2. Once that is dry, you are ready to do some nail painting. Add the nail polish using the three-stroke method (as described above).
3. Once that is done (and the nail is totally dry), apply a second coat in the exact same fashion.
4. Now add a clear, topcoat polish, which will give it a great additional shine.
5. That’s all there is to painting nails…so leave your ladies shoes at home, put on your favorite ladies sandals and show off your pretty feet!
