If you’re anything like us, and the brief glimpse of the sunshine in recent days has got you itching to dig out your summer sandals, you’ll need to make sure your feet are ready. From nixing hard skin to cutting cuticles and picking the perfect polish, here’s how to prep your feet for sandal weather.
Whether your sandals are Alaïa or Arket, they deserve to be shown off in style, so crusty heels and overgrown nails simply won’t cut it. “Nothing looks worse than feet with dry cracked skin,” agrees Margaret Dabbs OBE, founder of her eponymous foot care brand. “Warm weather can cause dehydration and cracked skin, so make sure you use a dedicated foot cream or foot oil daily.” To make sure you start the summer season off on the right foot, she also advocates booking a medical pedicure – a treatment performed by a podiatrist which tackles some of the more arduous tasks like corns and calluses.
First, file
Tackling your toes at home requires a few basic tools, so don’t start until you have everything you need clean and laid out in front of you. “All the foot creams and foot moisturisers in the world won’t work if you leave the hard, dry skin in place,” says Dabbs, who recommends using a professional grade foot file to do the job properly. You’ll need a fairly abrasive file that can remove all the hard, dead, dry skin easily, but only remove what’s necessary as you want to leave your skin soft and smooth and not sore. “Use on dry feet before you have a bath or shower on areas of thickened, calloused or dehydrated skin,” adds Dabbs.
Margaret Dabbs Professional Foot File
£30
Margaret Dabbs
Buff and trim
If you prefer to keep your nails nude, then you’ll need to get the natural nail plate looking spotless. To do that a buffer is a useful piece of kit as it offers an instant high shine finish that looks bright and healthy. Once that’s been taken care of it’s time to think about trimming your nails. Whether you use nail scissors or clippers is personal preference, but clippers with gently curved blades can be helpful as they offer a subtle shape guide to follow. The Margaret Dabbs Professional Curved Toe Nail Cutter is a great option for this. If you’re not confident enough to cut your own cuticles then pushing them back at the very least is non-negotiable as it will ensure a neat and tidy contour and that everything looks fresh and groomed.
Margaret Dabbs Professional Curved Toe Nail Cutter
£22
Margaret Dabbs
Tweezerman Dual Sided Pushy Cuticle Stick
£16
John Lewis
Scrub and soften
How your feet feel is just as important as how they look. Dry skin can feel scratchy to the touch and areas of hard skin can become painful if not properly tended to. “Don’t underestimate the benefit of using a foot scrub to bring dull, dry skin back to life and reach the areas that the file can’t touch,” says Dabbs. The type of scrub is up to you but Beauty Pie’s Peppermint Leg & Foot Scrub is infused with peppermint oil for a cooling sensation as well as pink Himalayan salt and vitamin E to soften even before you’ve applied lotion. Speaking of which, not all foot cream is made equal and you will need to find something fit for purpose, as a quick swipe of leftover body cream isn’t enough. “The skin on the feet is 12 times thicker than the rest of the body,” adds Dabbs, “so it’s so important to use a dedicated foot lotion as regular body moisturisers simply won't work.” CeraVe’s SA Renewing Foot Cream has been specially formulated for the skin on your feet and is a good price point if you don’t want to splash out too much on your foot grooming kit.
Beauty Pie Super Tonic Peppermint Leg & Foot Scrub
£21
Beauty Pie
CeraVe SA Renewing Foot Cream
£9.50
Boots
Prep and polish
Once your feet are looking pristine, it’s time to choose your polish. Although the options are endless, keeping it classic is easy, timeless and will work with any look. “I love a French pedicure all summer long,” says nail artist Georgia Rae. “It feels so clean and makes the toes look so much more elegant and feminine even if they are short.” If a classic French pedicure feels a little too prim, try one of the hottest new nail trends. “I also did a ‘naked French’ on my toes recently which is a quieter interpretation of the classic French using all sheer shades like a neutral base and a milky white for the tips. This allows you to blur any imperfections and colour correct the free edge resulting in a natural yet refined look.” If you want something brighter and bolder, Rae suggests vibrant reds with an orangey undertone.
BioSculpture Nail Polish In Transparent Beauty
£12
BioSculpture
Chanel Le Vernis In Glaciale
£29
John Lewis
Chanel Le Vernis In Incendiaire
£29
Chanel