The first thing people notice about your hands is your clean, shiny fingernails. Unless your nails are bitten to the quick, ragged around the cuticles and kind of nasty looking , in which case they notice your hands even faster. There's nothing that says "I'm a neurotic mess" like hard bitten nails, so if you're a biter, find a way to quit or make wearing gloves part of your eccentric personal fashion statement. In fact, if you start wearing gloves before you stop biting your nails, chances are that you will stop biting your nails anyway because you can't bite them through gloves.
Taking care of your cuticles is always mentioned in hand care articles, and it's hard to say why, because the best way to care for your cuticles is to leave them alone. For goodness' sake, don't get a little pair of scissors and start trimming the edges around your fingers: your cuticles are there to protect that delicate area between skin and nail, and cutting them allows bacteria to congregate, leading to infections and fungus and who knows what else. You can apply hand lotion and using a blunt orange stick or your own thumbnail, gently push your cuticles back so that they allow the half moon of your fingernail to show. Don't shove them or dig at them, just pull them slightly back.
Keep your hands moisturized, and your nails will be glossy too. Use a nail file to keep your nails filed smooth: a pretty nail is usually filed into an oval. Use a buffing pad to shine them up when you have a chance: this is another good tip for nail biters. Whenever you have the urge to nibble, instead grab a nail buffer and buff away. Psychologists call this behavioral substitution, which just means doing something slightly similar in action but positive in result instead of the old, "bad" habit.
