French Manicure

You place guides on your nails that leave the desired shape of the nail tip blank. You then paint the tip of the nail a bright white. You remove the guides and then paint over the entirety of the nail with a sheer opaque color. Sometimes this is coated over with yet another layer of sheer varnish to keep the french manicure from chipping.

If you are not doing a classic french manicure then you need to be a bit more careful about how you apply the guides. These more contemporary styles of manicures are vivid in color so if there is any mistakes made such as seeping under the sticky guides while you are painting then your manicure will look amateur and crooked. The pale French manicure is the easiest one to do at home but you might want to leave the vividly colored one (sometimes called a reverse French manicure) to an expert as it requires such a steady hand.