1. Intro
If you have ever wondered what your manicure routine is, and why you do it, then I am going to tell you. You are not alone. I bet lots of people have wondered what they are doing, why they do it and how they do it.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me share with you what my manicure routine is like.
I don’t think I will ever get into a manicure routine because there is no “routine” like one. My nails don’t grow and I don’t trim them regularly. That isn’t my routine, but the reason why there are no routines at all is because we have a very different view on life than many people do and we prefer to enjoy our time doing things in whatever way we please at whatever time works for us in any given situation. If that doesn’t make sense to you, then maybe more explanation is needed:
If you ask me for an example of a manicure routine, I would say that there is no difference between what I do before going to bed at night (or work), when I wake up in the morning (or before work), when I go to school in the afternoon (or after school), when my father gets home from work (or when he gets home from work), and how I get ready for work each morning before leaving home each day (and while eating breakfast).
In other words… none at all!
If you think about it, nobody does anything essentially differently every day of their lives! And if you think about it carefully enough, nobody has a “routine” either! This whole idea of “routines” might be almost completely alien to us; Our lives are very much full of spontaneity! In fact most people who do routines actually only follow their own personal “routines” for as long as something works for them reliably every single day! Multiply that by a few days/weeks/months/years… and life becomes even more random and unpredictable than it already was without routines!
If your thinking process matches mine exactly – if you question whether or not your daily life has anything resembling a “routine,” then yes… ALL of those actions happen the same way every single day regardless of which activity(s) you choose to carry out first thing in the morning or
2. Getting Started
When it comes to getting started with your software product, there is a lot of advice out there. I read one post on Hacker News titled “How to start a new software project.”
It starts by noting that every startup needs a “nail-biting deadline” and recommends writing a blog post about what you are working on to set yourself up for success.
The author goes on to recommend using sites like Medium and hiring someone to help you get started.
While this advice is helpful, it is also wrong in two ways:
1) It assumes that you have zero experience with software development and the process of creating software, which comes from being an experienced developer with a background in other fields (e.g., math, physics). This isn’t true for everyone — some people who want to do software development should start as hobbyists or self-taught developers.
It also doesn’t address the fact that today’s world of business software applications is completely different from the world it was 10 or 20 years ago (or even 1 or 2 years ago).
2) It assumes that there are no user stories in your code base, which isn’t true for most new startups — sometimes even for good startups — especially those built on open source platforms. User stories can be extremely powerful storytelling mechanisms and can make your code much easier for others to understand and use; don’t ignore them! Just be aware that they can be difficult to work with if you aren’t familiar with them first (and often require additional steps during development).
3. The Tools
A lot of designers will tell you that software is overrated. In our opinion, though, it’s a crucial tool in the designer’s toolbox. We’ve seen a lot of your work: we use Photoshop and Illustrator every day, and they are well worth the investment in time and money if you can build a solid workflow that makes editing your work easy. The same goes for design software: not only will it help you to develop new ideas but also improve your design process.
We have written about the tools we use here on MacRumors before (here, here and here), so you may have seen us mention SketchBook for iPhone development (SketchBook is an iOS app that lets designers quickly create offline wireframes or prototypes from their iPhone). SketchBook isn’t just for designers — it has become a popular tool for developers as well:
Like any great creative tool, it has its limitations — adding new functionality to SketchBook often requires extensive training, so we don’t recommend it as a primary development tool (or at least not yet). However, if you are looking to integrate sketching with text creation or 3D modeling — or even just want to make brainstorming sessions more fun with the idea of drawing lines and circles on paper first — then we highly recommend SketchBook.
4. Preparing Your Cuticles
There is a common misconception that dry skin means you should use lotion on your hands, feet and cuticles.
The truth is that dry skin is normal and will grow hair (in the case of men) and nails (in the case of women), but it can be uncomfortable to have it in such a state. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of your cuticles, though — they are soft and delicate, and need to be protected from dirt, oil, etc.
On to our next topic…
5. Cutting Your Nails
Let me first start by saying that I am not a nail expert. While I have been manicuring my nails for years, I was never really aware of the kind of science behind them until a few months ago, when Jay Baer paid me a visit on the topic. And while I do have some basic knowledge about the science behind it, these are just my observations:
There are six parts to a manicure – base coat; colour; cuticle oil; base polish; top coat; and buffer. The tools used to apply each of these are different depending on who is doing it.
The base coat is mostly what we used to refer to as “manicurist” back in the day (you would have had your hands full with such tools), and what you might now call “manicurist” or “beauty technician”. It is basically just an “additive” product that helps strengthen the bond between your nail and your nail file, without affecting the shape or strength of your nails themselves.
The colour has three parts: base (the one you apply first); polish (the next layer most often applied); and top coat (the last layer). The colour in itself does not affect how strong your nails will be, but it does hold them together at that point where they need it most – when you want to cut them or peel them off after using them for long periods of time.
The cutting tool is used primarily in combination with your other tools (such as a filing tool) so that you can get more precise cuts into more difficult-to-reach nail surfaces like cuticles, etc. The cutting edge is also specialised for removing little nicks out of material like crystal clear acrylic nails: if your cuticle doesn’t get cut off easily enough by this specialised cutting tool, then it can become permanently damaged — which could lead to painful healing times later on!
The buffer has two parts: a masking cloth and a buffer pad. The masking cloth allows you to get rid of any stubborn layers on top of one another and forms a nice protective barrier between each layer so that they don’t bind up together and prevent you from getting an accurate trace over the same area — this makes perfect sense for acrylic nails! The buffer pad also removes any remaining layers from underneath all of your other layers (this ensures that no existing layers remain once you peel off any old
6. Buffing Your Nails
People tend to say things like “the nail is the window to the soul” or “all that you see is what you get.” But I think “nail salon” is closer to the truth. Applying polish can be a way of hiding something (although not always, as we will see). In fact, some of us do it because we don’t want our real feelings about a person to show through; we want to pretend that we are nicer than we really are.
I once had a client come in after a particularly bad breakup and tell me how awful he felt about his ex-girlfriend. It was too much for him and he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror without feeling upset. His nails were already pretty long — but he decided that he needed something with more polish on them so he could make himself feel better about being so miserable about her. He asked me for suggestions, which I gave him:
He then got out his nail scissors, cut his nails off and applied more polish — completely forgetting that this was not an option at all — until they were just right for him!
That was what I call manicure routine: tinting your own nails to make yourself feel better about yourself by pretending you are more self-assured than you really are.
7. Nail Polish
Do you know how many manicures I have had? Probably around 100. More than that, I bought a box and each person who has these on their desk has gone through at least one bottle of nail polish. That’s a lot of polish. So, when I look at the world of nail polish — both on display and in my own home — it seems to me that there are four main groups:
• The mass market (people like me)
• The niche (people who like to do nails)
• The artistry (people who have a sense of style and image)
I think it’s important to note that there are many other examples of products which combine nail polish with other accessories (e.g., jewellery, earbuds, hair ties). Perhaps manicure should be considered a “nail art” or an accessory? But I agree with the above three groups as they are the ones most likely to buy nail polishes. If you don’t belong to one of them, then you aren’t doing this right.
8. Conclusion
In this post, we have discussed the importance of launching a product to create value and form a value proposition. As a result, your product will be able to leverage the power of your company’s name and brand. But it is not enough to just have a great name; you have to also market it well. The goal is to make sure that your product is front and center in people’s minds.
One way you can do so is by setting up an elaborate marketing plan, one which includes cover letters, emails, social media posts, videos, press releases and so on.
But this is not enough for your own personal success; for the success of your company too. Your company needs to be seen as the kind of company that could be willing to take on new challenges and go beyond expectations in order to achieve its goals. This means that you will need to find ways of attracting attention towards yourself or at least get people talking about you — even if they are only briefly (which often results in less engagement later on).
That’s why we talked about creating viral campaigns on social media (which can work even without any explicit promotion) or even sponsored reviews from YouTube channels like Mac Rumors . In this post we mentioned how important sustainable outreach efforts are for your company’s reputation as well as for building an audience through word-of-mouth marketing channels like Facebook Ads . These are very important methods for getting your products noticed. However, there is another way you can do it: by using one of the many tools out there that let you create content more efficiently than ever before: automation!
This allows you to easily produce content as much as necessary while also having complete control over what goes into each publishable piece of content; which means that if something goes wrong with one piece of content (in terms of quality or quantity), then all such pieces can simply be undone rather than having to rework entire campaigns based on new data. For example:
*Note: Our article “7 Ways To Create Viral Content Successfully” has some tips on how automated publishing tools can help with this process too (see our How To section).