I soak everybody's feet first. I do gel pedis and airdry polish pedis. For air dry polish, my steps are... Soak, remove polish, trim, file, apply cuticle remover gel, first foot goes back in water second foot trim, file, cuticle gel... switch feet... clean all around toenails with ingrown toenail lifter tool, switch feet/ repeat. Then sugar scrub, rinse, dry, lotion and oil massage, hot towel, buff toenails, scrub toenails with alcohol on paper towel, base coat, 2 layers polish, top coat. For gel pedi, same steps, except after sugar scrub, rinse, dry, then buff nails, clean with alcohol, yn protein bond, gel base, 2 coats color, top coat ... then massage with lotion and oil and finish with hot towel. My clients" polish for both kinds lasts until next pedicure, generally 5 or 6 weeks later.