Remove your old nail polish.
Dip a cotton swab into some nail polish remover and remove all of your old nail polish, even if it’s clear. Be sure to remove traces of polish from all the corners and cracks, since you’ll be able to see other colors through the pale French mani polish.
File and buff your nails.
Use a nail file to finish shaping your nails so that they each have a smooth, crescent-shaped edge. You can file your nails into a square or round shape, depending on your preference. Use a nail buffer to buff the surface of your nails.
Soak your nails.
Place your hands in a warm bowl of water, whole milk or olive oil. This softens your cuticles and makes them easier to push back. Soak for about three minutes, then dry your hands with a towel.
Push back and trim your cuticles.
Use an orange stick or cuticle pusher to push your cuticles back. Clip off any hangnails or bits of dead skin with a cuticle cutter or small nail scissors. You may also massage some cuticle oil into your nails at this time. After applying cuticle oil you could put a few drops of rubbing alcohol on your nails. Make sure not to put on too much or it can cause your nails to turn brittle.
Apply the base coat.
The base coat of a French manicure is usually pale pink, cream, or clear. Start by painting a stripe down the center of your first nail, then two more stripes on either side. Paint from the cuticle to the tip, with the brush angled forward. Fill in the entire nail using smooth, even strokes. Continue painting the base coat on each nail of both hands.
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Paint your nail tips with white polish.
Making sure your hand is steady, paint white crescents on your nail tips. The white polish should stop right where the whites of your nails stop. Allow the tips to completely dry, then apply another coat if you wish.
Add a clear top coat to protect the look of your freshly painted nails. Using a top coat will help the manicure last longer, too.
Use scotch tape.
If you’re not so great at painting a straight line, you can make your job a bit easier by using scotch tape. Once your nails are completely ready and are just missing the white tips, put a strip of scotch tape across the top of each of your nails. The tape will block off the majority of your nail, leaving just a small strip at the end exposed. Paint this with your white polish; if you make a mistake, it won’t matter since it will just get on the scotch tape instead. When your nails are dry, peel off the scotch tape to reveal your finished manicure.
Try using white-out.
It may sound strange, but if you’re having difficulty painting with a white nail polish, white-out (for pen mistakes) might be the perfect solution. Because the application sponge for whiteout is square, it makes it easy to dab the white color in a perfect line across your nail tip. Just use white-out instead of white nail polish, and finish it off with a top coat. Nobody will know the difference, and you’ll have saved yourself loads of time! And there you go, you are ready to show off your beautiful French manicure.