My nails were always breaking – since I changed this in my manicure, they are finally healthy and long

With this tip from our beauty editor, your nails will finally stop breaking.

I've been doing my own nails since I was 13. I've tried pretty much every at-home method there is: nail polish, gel polish, shellac, UV polish, and nail stickers. Over the years, UV polish has become my personal favorite—it's easy to apply, long-lasting, and gives my manicure a high-gloss finish. I've been to the nail salon a few times, of course, but I was never satisfied with the results. After filing and painting my nails myself for over a decade, no one knows my nails better than I do.

The reason that has driven me to the nail salon every now and then: the length of my nails. As beautiful and practical as I find short fingernails, some manicure trends simply look better on long nails, and a little variation is necessary. My problem is that, contrary to the manufacturer's recommendation, I usually just rip off the UV polish with a rosewood stick instead of filing it down and then removing it with acetone. That simply takes too long and is somewhat cumbersome. The result: My nails are thin, brittle, and keep cracking on the sides before they grow properly.

By chance I discovered nail hardeners for myself

That's what happened to me a few months ago. My manicure was still nice, but two of my nails were cracked on the sides. However, I didn't have time to completely remove my nails, file them, trim the cuticles , and apply new UV polish . That can take up to two hours. So I just removed the old polish, filed them a bit, and then spontaneously grabbed a nail hardener from Alessandro that I'd received as a gift at a press event. That would have to do for now. To my surprise, the first coat dried in just a few seconds (or rather, absorbed into my dry nails), so I quickly applied a second one. Again, it dried immediately. True to the motto "more is better," I immediately applied a third coat, and headed off to my appointment.

Nail hardener is an integral part of my manicure – and it even saves me time

My hope was that my nails would simply survive the next two packed days without breaking. Because then I would have time for UV polish, without which my nails would naturally break even faster. To my surprise, I noticed that all of my nails were still there and they actually felt pretty strong. Without thinking twice, I took off the nail hardener and applied the UV polish. And after a few weeks, I was amazed again – the polish had actually grown out before a single nail had broken. While filing, I discovered the nail hardener in my nail kit again and it dawned on me: That was why my nails were now stronger! Since time was short again, I decided to go for the same intermediate step with nail hardener as last time. And lo and behold, my nails continued to grow.

This is what my ideal nail care routine looks like

My nails are now the perfect length for me to try out trends like the sunset manicure , and the nail hardener has become an indispensable part of my routine. Not only does it do my nails good, it actually saves time: One evening, I remove the old polish and file my nails into shape, then apply three quick coats of nail hardener. One or two days later, I quickly remove it with nail polish remover and apply UV polish from Néonail, which lasts for two to three weeks. Here's another tip: Néonail's "Revital Base Fiber" further strengthens the nails under the UV polish. For me, it's the ideal nail routine – if I can now manage to file off the UV polish instead of tearing it, I'll probably have to resort to using nail scissors soon to keep them from getting too long.

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