BEAUTY TIP

Q How do I get rid of yellowed nails?

AAfter one too many manis, you might have noticed your nails have a slight — or major, depending on how long it’s been since you had bare nails — yellow tinge to them. It can be tempting to keep covering it up with polish, but that’s just a Band-Aid — and it can actually make things worse.

“Yellow nails are mostly caused by wearing a highly pigmented shade of dark nail polish,” says Melissa Forrest of Tips Nail Salon in Toronto. While some people think yellowed nails are a problem you can’t fix, Forrest knows otherwise and has a few suggestions.

Start by lightly scaling the surface of your nail with a nail buffer. If your stain isn’t too deep, that might be enough to get rid of it entirely. If not, try a little whitening toothpaste.

“Apply the toothpaste on top of the nail plate and let it sit for about 10 minutes,” says Forrest. “Before adding water, use a toothbrush and dry brush vigorously.”

Want something a little more natural? Try soaking your nails in pure lemon juice for 10 to 15 minutes daily until you start to notice a difference.

However, the best defence is a good offence, and there are things you can do to prevent those stains before they set in.

“Apply a base coat always!” Forrest says.

Even if you’re in a rush, don’t skip this step. It’ll create a barrier between your nails and that stain-causing dark polish.

If you’ve tried all these things and your nail stains persist, it might be worth going to the doctor for a quick checkup. It could mean you have a fungal infection, especially if you’ve noticed a change in your nail texture, such as bumps or ridges.