I Paint My Nails Twice a Week—Here Are 9 Products I'm Actually in Love With

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(Image credit: @erin_jahns)

I might be the only person in this world who actually prefers painting my own nails to getting a professional manicure. (Maybe my mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby? I honestly don't know.) Of course, I never, ever refuse a professional paint job—I'm not crazy—there's just something incredibly self-placating about the entire process for me. For one, I'm pretty much forced to set down my phone and laptop for a good 30 minutes, and it's soothing to go from step to step. Plus, nothing makes my day more than a fresh, sparkly paint job.

Even though both my mom and dad used to paint my nails for me when I was little (my dad's incredibly artistic and has the steadiest hand I've ever seen), I've perfected my own process over the years and have even gotten to the point where my own results are just as good as the ones I'd receive in the salon (not to boast or anything). I'm pretty perfectionistic when it comes to my nails, and I tire of colors or get caught up on the smallest chip aggressively easily. Therefore, I end up doing my nails anywhere from two to three times a week and have honed my arsenal of products to a very fine-tuned T.

Over the past year, especially, there has been a handful of new nail products that have all the buzz of an inevitable gimmick but in actuality have proved themselves very handy when taking on an at-home paint job. Ahead, I'm sharing the summer-perfect nail products (some new and some old) that I rely on again and again to keep my polish obsession on point and professional-looking. Keep scrolling for all of my must-haves.

1. The Most Convenient Polish Remover

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2. The Best Pedicure-in-a-Pinch

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(Image credit: @erin_jahns)

3. The Ride-or-Die Cuticle Oil

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4. The Season's Best New Color

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5. The Season's Best New Collection

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6. The Best All-in-One Deal

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7. The Traveling Must

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8. The Best Brush Hack

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9. The Best Nail-Growing Supplement

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Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.