French manicure: what it is and how to do it
For flawless and natural nails, the French manicure is a real must. This type of manicure is discreet and sophisticated: if you choose it, you will be sure to avoid style drops; after all, we know how beautiful and well-kept hands are an excellent business card as well as a detail that is anything but irrelevant to feel good about yourself and your image.
Below we show you all the steps and tips to follow to create a flawless French manicure.
What is that?
Even if the name is not known, it is a technique originating from the United States, which consists in applying white enamel along the tip of the nail, so as to obtain a white bezel, also called "smile", and then cover it in a second time with natural colored nail polish.
Nudes are undoubtedly one of the most popular choices when it comes to this type of manicure, but you can also choose a colored French or the most varied nail art.
In the first case, you can reserve the color of your choice for the tips of the nails, taking care to choose a complementary shade for the remaining part or in any case in harmony with the first color, thus creating a sophisticated and delicate mix. For nail art, the game becomes more exciting and creativity has no boundaries: so indulge yourself with nail polishes - classic, gel or semi-permanent - and create the most suitable manicure for you, freely drawing on colors and patterns.
In addition to the classic French mani, nude or colored, there is a particular decidedly original and trendy variant: the reverse French manicure, which consists in creating the bezel in the lower part of the nail, as you can see in the following video. The effect is undoubtedly less classic and more glam, ideal especially for lovers of optical and geometric styles.
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A bit of history: why is it called that?
As anticipated, this method was invented by the American manicurist Jeff Pink in 1975, at the request of directors and stylists who wanted a refined and versatile manicure for their actresses and models, able to easily adapt to any type of change of clothes. . And Pink has responded properly, inventing this elegant variant, easy to make and considered a real passepartout.
His fame quickly reached Paris and the fashion catwalks, earning the name of French manicure, despite his stars and stripes citizenship.
Essential material for creating a french
To create a professional French nail at home, it is first of all essential to have the necessary material. Here is what you need:
- a lime
- a wooden stick
- a scraper
- a nourishing base
- a corrective pencil
- one white, one pink or beige nail polish
- a top coat
If your choice falls on a colored french, obviously you will replace the neutral tones glazes with the colors you want to apply.
On the market there are complete kits for French manicure, to simplify the procedure even more and have everything you need at your fingertips for a truly top result.
The procedure: all the steps of the classic French manicure
First of all, we remind you that to show off flawless hands, you need to take care of your nails, periodically carrying out a thorough manicure to fix cuticles and cuticles and using specific creams to make your nails brighter, stronger and healthier.
- The preparation: start by filing your nails to give them a nice shape (rounded or square). But be careful, they must not be too long. Push in the cuticles with the boxwood stick. Then, with the scraper, rub the entire surface of the nail to make it shiny.
- The application of the nail polish: after preparing the nails, apply a transparent base to ensure a longer duration of the treatment and protect the nail.When they are dry, move on to applying the French manicure: then spread the chalk white nail polish along the upper edge of the nail (the bezel, in fact), giving it a rounded shape. Most French glazes have a thinner brush, which makes this operation easier. If you are unfamiliar, you can resort to the adhesive lunettes to be positioned below the free edge, so as to proceed serenely in the upper portion, without smudging. and guaranteeing a perfect shape. There can also be lunettes of different shapes, including zig zag, wave, mustache, check and other curlicues in order to propose more original and less conventional variants.
- After waiting for the white nail polish to set, proceed with the next step: apply the pink or beige nail polish over the entire surface of the nail, even on the white bezel.
- To ensure that the nail polish lasts for a long time, finish with the application of a top coat, which makes your nails shiny and your nail polish more resistant.
In the event that your French is colored or shows off the most vairopinte nail art, all you have to do is divide the two portions of the nail, avoiding to spread the second color on the bezel. In the classic French instead, this is not important since it nail polish that is used is a nude, in shades of beige or pink, but in any case not a true color in all respects.
See also: Geometric, pastel or rainbow style: all the styles of multicolor nail art
French manicure with semi-permanent nail polish
A little more complex than the classic procedure (which, if carried out in a beauty center, has a price of about 15-20 euros), the one with semi-permanent requires more steps and specific materials, including a buffer and a LED or UV lamp. ; it can still be done at home, although we recommend that you rely on an expert beautician to avoid putting the health of your nails at risk. In this case the costs vary from 20 to 30 euros.
Here are the various steps:
- Dull the nail with a buffer
- Apply the clear base
- Apply a semi-permanent nude nail polish, in pink or beige tones
- Polymerized in a lamp
- With a thin brush mark the distal area and then apply the white semi-permanent polish inside that margin to create the famous bezel.
- Polymerize in the lamp
- Apply the clear sealant and once again, once under the lamp.
See also: Semi-permanent nail polish: the most original colors for top nails
French gel manicure
For this type of manicure, as for the previous one, it would be better to contact an "expert professional (its cost generally ranges from 40 to 65 euros or more), so as to guarantee an optimal result and above all to avoid damaging and rhinestone nails. , considering that it is a decidedly more technical procedure that requires greater experience and expertise.
Here is the procedure to follow with a gel polish:
- Use a gel brush to apply the builder gel
- Cure for about 2-3 minutes under a LED or UV lamp
- Use a nail cleaner and file the nail to get the length and camber you achieve.
- Now apply the colored gel - light pink or beige - over the entire nail except the distal edge (the highest part of the nail, to be clear, the one to which we will reserve the white bezel).
- Always cure again for another 2-3 minutes.
- Take a nail art brush to delimit the distal margin area and then apply the white gel inside this line, creating your smile or white bezel.
- Go under the lamp again.
- Apply the sealant and cure once again in the lamp.
How to remove the classic French manicure, with gel or semi-permanent polish
In order to remove a classic French, you will need a simple nail polish remover.
For the one made with semi-permanent nail polishes, instead, it will be necessary to proceed with the immersion of the nails (about ten minutes) in a special remover - a specific solvent - with the help of a stick.
If you are dealing with a gel manicure, removal with filing will be essential. Also in this case our advice is to seek the help of an expert beautician. If you really want to proceed with the DIY, be careful to gently file the white bezel, until you get to the gel layer, then opacify the nail with the buffer and once done, apply a transparent sealant and cure in the lamp .
