How to Dry Nails Fast In 3 Quick Steps

We’ve all been there: You paint. You blow. You wait. You reach for your phone and gahhhhh you went in too soon. Suddenly you’re left with a mangled index nail that you now have to re-paint and re-dry and re-waste your life. Why doesn’t nail polish dry faster? We even reached out to a manicurist, who told us it actually takes up to two days to set. Two. Whole. Days. So that explains why your thread count always ends up imprinted on your new mani. Well, we have a pretty easy trick for how to dry nails fast to cut your drying time in half. The best part? All you need is bowl of cool water. Here’s the breakdown. 

Fill any size bowl with cool water and some ice cubes (not freezing—hello, frostbite—but slightly chilly).

Choose your color (might we recommend one of these guys?) and paint your nails. Then let them air dry for one or two minutes.

Dunk your fingers in the bowl of cold water for two to three minutes. When you remove them, you’ll notice beads of water on top of the polish, meaning it’s all done. This is because the shock of the cold temperature will instantly firm up the polish. Magic right?

Now stare at your nails in amazement. You’re good to go. Now go enjoy those 15 extra minutes (or 2 days?) we just saved you. Lesson complete.