All women know nothing competes with the euphoria of the first day you break out sandals after a long, snowy winter full of drab and practical boots. Unless, that is, you’re instead feeling the disappointment of having feet that aren’t quite ready for summer footwear. Misshapen nails. Chipped polish. Dead skin. Rough heels. Even callouses.

Sisters, don’t fret. Salt Lake magazine is here to help. We chatted with the toe experts at Nailed! to find out how to keep our feet forever, er, on their toes.

Find a salon that follows a strict hygiene protocol. Even better if they send tools home with you—trust us, you don’t want to share foot germs and dead skin with a total stranger.

Tend to your toes: “We can only do so much,” explains Nailed! Boutique’s master esthetician, Shelby Hamler. “You’ll get a better pedicure if you take care of your feet.” Exfoliate in the shower and moisturize each day to see gradual improvements in callouses, rather than expecting your pedicurist to be able to perform a miracle in less than an hour.

But don’t “pre-pedi”: Hamler warns against trying to do too much yourself. Let your pedicurist trim and shape your nails, otherwise she says, “you’ll end up with cracked, chipped nails and maybe ingrown toenails,” to boot (pun intended).

Rather than apologizing for not shaving your legs before your appointment—embrace it. If you remove hair too soon before your appointment, some of the products the nail tech uses on your could sting—like Nailed’s house-made sugar scrub.

Tips to make your pedi last longer, according to Hamler—use a long-lasting nail polish (Nailed recommends OPI Infinite Shine), bring your own nail polish so that you can reapply a top coat when it starts to chip, or go all-in and upgrade to a long-lasting gel polish.

Foot Fashion-Forward

Whether you call it an accent nail, a rogue nail or a sass piece—highlighting one or two nails is still a thing in pedicure style. As is nail art and “negative space”—leaving a portion of a nail uncovered by polish.

But, French manicures are out. Oui.

Nailed, 875 E. 700 South, SLC, 801-532-6245, nailedboutique.com

See more inside the 2017 May/June Issue.

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