Repeat after me: I will not buy or use metal cuticle pushers! Metal cuticle pushers can damage cuticles and lead to infection! Instead, go with orangewood or birchwood sticks, which are gentler. You can find these wood sticks in drugstores or nail salons.

When using a cuticle pusher, work gingerly You don't want to shove the cuticle so far back that it disappears into the nail fold. You also don't want to remove the cuticle outright. Your goal is to clear any bit of skin that has crept onto the nail plate. Do this by shimmying cuticles back toward the area where the nail fold and nail plate meet.

Here's a surprising fact: The nail polish we use today is a reftned version of car paint.

Nailbrushes

A nailbrush is a great thing to have. You can use it to scrub away dirt, clean off oily vestiges of cuticle cream or hand lotion, rub away callused or dry foot skin, and even to gently nudge back cuticles. A nailbrush needn't be expensive; all you need is something that feels comfortable in your hand and that features slightly flexible plastic or natural boar bristles.

A tip on choosing a nailbrush: Bristles that are too soft don't have enough resistance to work well, while bristles that are too stiff can damage the skin under and around nails

Buffers

Buffers are used on bare fingernails, bare toenails, and polish-coated nails. These tools usually come in the form of a rectangular block or a two-sided board, with a different strength of buffer on each of the block's or board's sides. The buffing material can be fiberglass, rubber, fine-grit sandpaper, chamois, or even leather.

Here's the origin of that pink glow that appears when you buff your nails: buffing removes the top layers of the nail plate, which in turn makes the nail more translucent. You also generate heat by way of friction. This heat encourages blood to flow to the nail bed's surface. The newly thinned nail plate makes it easier to see the blood below.

A buffer is not an essential piece of nail-care equipment. If you decide you can't possibly live without a buffer, go ahead and get one - I don't recommend using it on pose fingernails, where it can cause thinning of the nail plate. Buffers are best used on bare toenails (which are thicker than fingernails) or to give a gleaming finish between manicures to polished fingernails and toenails.

Clippers

Clippers are handy for large jobs, such as eliminating a half-inch worth of fingernail (either real or fake) or shortening toenails which, because of their thickness, don't yield easily to nail files. They're also good for trimming hangnails. The most important quality in a pair of clippers? Sharpness. Depending on the brand of clippers, what you use them for, and how often they are used, a pair should remain sharp anywhere from 6 months to 2 years.

If you notice that your clippers have lost their edge, head to a drugstore or nail salon and buy yourself a new pair. Your nails will thank you.