When you don’t have the time or money to get a manicure, but feel as though you can’t paint your own nails cleanly enough, take a shower.
That’s right. Take that bottle of nail polish, and after putting down the base coat, slap down a coat of your favorite color. Don’t worry about being neat, just make sure the paint covers the whole nail and is relatively smooth. It’s going to be a mess, and it should be.
Once the paint dries completely, take a shower. Do your thing, and at some point before you get out of the shower, run your fingers under the hot water and scrape away the excess paint. The hot water will loosen the extra paint on your skin and let you remove it with ease for a clean finish.
Finalize the look with your clear top coat. Voilá. Manicure on a dime.

I recently found out that this works great. It is a great way to get the excess paint off your fingers, especially if you are a bit clumsy when it comes to painting nails like me!
Everytime I paint my nails it looks like I did it in the closet with a push broom! I found out about this trick about 10 years ago and it has saved me soooo many times! Thanks.