Rinse and dry your hands; use an orange stick to remove any dirt from underneath your nails.
Massage in hand cream; wipe any excess from your nails and apply a base coat of nail polish.

Add a coat of colored or neutral polish on top; allow it to dry, and add a second coat. Apply a top coat to seal the polish and stop it from chipping; keep a bottle of this handy, so that if you are wearing colored polish you can keep applying it to maintain the colour.