Most of you have heard of food fixes that can go into home-made facial masks, skin treatments, hair resuscitation and so much more. We’re willing to bet, however, that few of you have ever suspected that you can use a couple edibles to the benefit of your manicure.

StyleList.com recommends adding a teaspoon’s worth of finely-chopped garlic to your base coat, as it “strengthens nails really well (some people claim it also helps them grow faster) for a fraction of the price of drugstore nail hardeners.”

What other surprising food fix did the news source come up with? Pam (or any common variety of cooking oil) is excellent for setting your polish while it drys, as it helps prevent any untimely mess-ups.

This could either be in place of or in addition to another commonly-used trick that’s easy to do at home. You can dip your nails into a bowl of cold water after letting them dry for about three minutes to help speed up the drying process.