It’s easier than you think.

As a Beauty Editor you learn many things: How to have the confidence to walk into an event where you know no one (and not cry); how to chase down an arancini ball from across the other side of room and make it yours and how to walk down stairs without spilling your champagne. You also learn a thing or two about makeup application.

But, what you don’t learn is how to paint your nails. I mean, you’d think with all the free manicures we would master it, but nu-uh, not this beauty ed.

When I was editing I used to regularly paint my nails at at my desk when a new shade came in, when I was bored, or when I needed to find another way to say “lips” in the same sentence (so every couple of days, then). I found the process therapeutic. Meditative even.

However, because I’m a little bit lazy and a lot of a perfectionist I only ever did my left hand. I’m a rightie, so I’d get the left side perfect and then just lose the will to do the second side because I’d inevitably mess it up and then have to take the whole thing off. Instead, I preferred to live in denial, looking on lovingly at my left hand like I was some kind of rockstar manicurist . Often, I’d go out with just that hand painted, much to the horror of my beauty gals. Still waiting for the day when one-handed colour becomes a thing.

Anyway, that was until one day when I saw this AWESOME, stupidly easy YouTube hack for painting your non-dominant hand – which of course I tried immediately. And because it really, truly works I’m sharing it with you. Ready?

So, instead of keeping your dominant hand still (in my case, my right), and trying to maneuver your gammy left hand to paint in straight strokes, KEEP YOUR LEFT HAND STEADY AND MOVE YOUR RIGHT.

That’s it. Seriously. The theory of course, is that you have way more control over your dominant hand so by choosing to move that around to where you need it (even going as far as up and down to help the strokes) you end up having way more control over the whole process. And perfect nails to boot.

I’ll just leave that with you while your mind quietly blows.