Thursday, February 11, 2010

French manicure - how can I paint neat white lines myself?

I've had my nails done for years at a salon but now I'm pregnant I cant afford to keep going (need to save the money for baby).





Can anyone give me some hints on how to paint the white tips neatly myself?





ThanksFrench manicure - how can I paint neat white lines myself?
Method:





The tools that you will require for French manicure is as follows: base/top coat, tip guide strips, neutral polish and white polish. Neutral polishes are very pale, sheer shades with a pink, beige or peach cast. Consider French manicure kits that offer everything in one convenient box.





Next step is to file and shape your nails. Tend to your cuticles, then wash and dry your nails completely. Apply the base/top coat and let it dry.





Base coat is applied to protect your nails and to help prevent chipping.


Peel off a guide strip and affix it below the tip of a nail, following its natural curve. The guide will allow you to paint an even white tip with ease and precision. However if you don’t have the guide strips then follow this method. For a square look, paint a straight line across the tips; for a rounded appearance, follow the curve of the nail; and to get a pointed style, paint in from each side to the centre.





Paint each nail tip white, extending the brush stroke from the top of the guide to the end of the nail. Take care not to get any white polish on the body of the nail below the guide. Let the tips dry.





Once the tips are dry remove all the guides. Dissolve leftover adhesive by rubbing it gently with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol.





Apply two coats of the neutral polish, letting the first coat dry before the second application. Finish with a thin layer of base/top coat.


TIPS:





The key to this look is to wait for each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next coat otherwise you are sure to end up with smudges.





If the classic French manicure is a little too conservative for your style, make your own color combination. Instead of neutral and white polishes, red with gold tips or white with silver tips or any combination you like.





Give yourself time to practice. It may take awhile to get the hang of applying the tip guides. However practice will make you perfect.French manicure - how can I paint neat white lines myself?
When I didn't have a lot of money I would use these things that look like little half moons. They were sticky. They are curved.. and you place them a few mm's back from the edge of your nail and use your French White to paint the edge of your nail. The little half moon sticky strips work like when you are taping something up so that the paint doesn't go outside where you want it to go. When you have done that, lift up the strip and you will have a nice crescent at the end of your nail just like when you get them done professionally. If you can't find them for sale - then the only suggestion I can offer if you would like it is that you can buy some white sticker labels and cut them up to the desired shape for your nails which will take a little extra time but should work.
go to a drug store - almost every brand that offers nail polish also offers French Nails kits (consisting of base coat, Nail White and Top coat plus tip stickers).





If you don't want to spend that 5 € for the kit, just buy a refill of the tip stickers ;-)





if you don't want to use those stickers (some are real crap quality), then all I can say is: Practise makes you perfect.





or you ask a friend to help you.
This is what I do...


I paint a white line as straight as possible on every finger and do a second coat as well. After they dry I dip a Q-tip in some nail polish remover and wipe away any excess of the white and round it out a little to make it straight. After that I go over it with a clear pinkish coat or two. It works great! I comes out so good that I even did it for my wedding day! Hope I helped! Good luck!





Oh... The strip things don't work as well. They don't stick right and you end up having to do the same thing that I described anyway =)
Theres a special kit thing you can get, with strips that you stick on and paint, then when you peel them off, its a perfect manicure. Or even cheaper, use a tiny bit of sellotape. But make sure the base coat is completely dry fist.
use tape, then paint the part you want. ( if you have sqaured nails ) or buy a kit, and all you gotta so is use the strips they give you, theres lots of cheap kits out there that work good .





good luck on the baby :) %26lt;3
Just put tape on your nails, leaving a bit to paint it white. You don't have to be super care full of doing the french tips wrong. When it's dry, pull out the tape, and there you go!

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