Your prettiest hands are only minutes away

Beautifully manicured nails are delightful. But they do need to be at the tips of lovely-looking hands. Keep yours in great shape by doing the following (and often!).

Apply hand cream every evening taking care to focus on commonly dry areas such as the skin between the thumb and fore-finger and knuckles. The super keen might like to apply a pair of cotton gloves before sleeping. This will allow any cream to penetrate deeply.

We like Avene Cicalfate Drying Repair Lotion, $21.95. avene.com.au

If polish or treatments have caused your nails to stain or yellow, spend five to 10 minutes soaking them in a bowl of luke warm water with a hearty squeeze of lemon juice. Lemon juice is an effective yet entirely natural bleaching agent. Do it nightly for seven days. Follow each soak with a liberal dose of olive oil or commercial cuticle oil.

Try OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go, $17.95. opi.net.au

Each morning apply an high level SPF to prevent future damage! A beauty editor we know started doing this as a teen and today, a good 20 years later, her hands are youthful, elegant and lovely.

Our current favourite La Roche-Posay Anthelios Nutritive Oil SPF 50, $36.95. laroche-posay.com.au