Dunk your hands in a bowl of ice-cold water.

"The cold water freeze-dries polish, sealing and hardening it quickly," says Belinda Rivera, a nail specialist in Austin, Texas.

Allow nails to air-dry for two minutes, then submerge in ice-cold water for three minutes, which is enough time for the polish to harden completely.

Another option: Blast nails with cool air from a hair dryer in between coats.

This helps each layer of color dry as you go.

Quick tip: Old nail polish can take forever to dry, since time can turn polish gooey and thick.

Toss bottles when the polish begins to change color or separate.

At that point, the lacquer has probably thickened and become unusable.