I was under the impression that once you reached a certain age, you became less ticklish. Apparently that doesn't apply to me, as I can barely think about someone touching my feet without flinching/kicking/flailing around. On the rare occasion when I treat myself to a pedicure, I end up splashing around in the water so aggressively that the manicurist can't even tackle my cuticles or calluses. But since sandal season is officially here, I thought I'd share some of my tips for getting my feet looking pretty, pampered and polished.
Step 1: Soak feet. This softens up the calluses and dead skin. If you don't have a tub I suggest buying an inexpensive portable plastic one.
Step 2: Scrub feet to exfoliate and remove dead skin. I like this one and concentrate on all parts of the foot, making sure not to forget the heels and tops.
Step 3: Use a pumice stone or foot file to smooth out the calluses. Since I wear heels so frequently, the ball of my feet are always hard, so I tackle that first. My mom recently gave me this foot file and I'm totally hooked - after just a few minutes, it gets rid of all dry skin.
Step 4: Apply cuticle oil.
Step 5: Massage feet with a rich, emollient lotion. I find that something with the word "butter" in it usually does the job, but clearly I'm not too picky (I'm currently obsessed with the coconut body butter from Trader Joe's). If I'm doing this at night, I'll occasionally slip on a pair of socks so that my feet are extra moisturized in the morning.
Step 6: Polish toes. I've been rotating between three main colors lately: pastel blue (Essie "Borrowed and Blue", a reddish/orange (OPI "Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It") and barely-there pink (Essie "Ballet Slippers"). When I have a bit of color on my feet and want them to look really clean and pretty, I think a cotton candy shade always looks great.
For my pedicure, I use one coat of base coat, two coats of polish and then one coat of topcoat.
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