Winter can be a challenging time for beauty, especially for the parts of you that are normally exposed, such as your face, hair, and hands. The drying effects of cold and windy weather outdoors added to heating indoors can leave hair and nails brittle and fragile, and skin dry and chapped on your hands and face.

There are lots of great winter beauty tips out there, but here we are going to focus on your nails. In winter, everything is a little more demanding and so spending a lot of time giving yourself manicures and ensuring your polish isn’t chipped can be a hassle you could do without. Your nails may also be weaker and more prone to breakage. You, therefore, want a way to keep your nails looking pretty and well-groomed without too much effort, and if this also reinforces your nails, all the better!

Here are three ways to have great looking nails all through the winter season:

Nail Wraps

Nail wraps provide you with instant color or even elaborate designs in just a fraction of the time it takes to paint your nails. They also tend to be more resilient than polish, so you won’t need to worry about chips ruining your look. Nail wraps are easy to apply yourself, even for first-timers, and there are some fantastic designs out there, from cool metallic effects and animal skin designs to simpler block colors or even themed designs like flags – perfect for sports fans. If you have never tried nail wraps and are interested, you can currently order a Jamberry Nails free sample online.

Acrylic Nail Extensions

Acrylic nails need to be done in a salon, and after the nails have been applied you will need to go for maintenance appointments to have the part where your nails have grown filled in and to have your acrylics filed down to your preferred length. However, these nails are effectively semi-permanent and require almost no maintenance at home. They hold polish and nail art far better than natural nails, and you can also have them created with a French manicure design, so your nails have a permanent French manicure look with no effort from you.

The only thing to bear in mind is that when you do eventually want to remove them, you need to use the right products or visit your nail technician. Otherwise, this will damage the nails underneath.

Gel Manicures

Gel manicures have a gorgeous shiny look and last much longer than polish, as well as protecting your nails to some degree. They can be done at a salon or at home – if you have a UV lamp designed for drying gel polishes and the right sort of polish. Gel nail kits are relatively inexpensive, so it may be the cheaper option to buy the lamp and learn to do it yourself if you plan to have gel manicures regularly.

These are just three of the ways to get beautiful nails that don’t need a lot of work this winter!