French Manicure help please

[JennyW]

I've bought the 3 colours of varnish to do a french manicure myself but cant quite get a good white tip line. I've got the sticky pads to place over my nail but they still don't give me a neat line.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can create nice white nail tips?

[melancholly]

if you put the white tip on first, then you can makea bit of a mess but clean it up with a cotton bud with nail varnish remover on it (i had a french manicure once where they used a pain brush to do this, but i don't have one!). Then you can fill in the rest of the nail with the clearer colour, and it won't matter if you go over the white tip a little.

[sooz]

forget the stickers, they are rubbish. As suggested above, try to do the white tip first, following the natural white tip of your nails.

if you really can't manage it you can buy a special white pencil, where you colour in under the white tip of your nail..but then don't do any washing up!

[Justie]

yes do the white first (think it's then called an American rather than a French) but the best thing is practice practice practice - also do your nails on a table and with your painting hand rest the little finger on the table and use that as a pivot to paint on the nail - it gives you a steadier hand. I got used to doing it and could do a French very easily after a while without any wiggles.

[pavlovs_dog]

are the pencil and the white nail varnish stuff the only way to get clean tips? I'm thinking about doing more with my nails but I hate having to constantly clean them when they are long because the slightest bit of dirt makes them look unsightly. at the same time, I hate the heavily polished/varnished look. can anyone offer advice?

[La-Cara]

I have a cream varnish that I use for doing the tips (use a thin layer), and then use clear over the top of it. That makes it look more natural than a bright white tip, and makes your nails shiny rather than "heavily polished"

[shimmershelly]

I heard a tip once of using low tack electrical tape to mask for the white line, not tried it myself yet though. I do my toes regularly and have got that down to a fine art as I use the floor to steady my hand on, can't do my fingers on my right hand to save my life though lol.
Ps, if you are using the stickers, leave them ages to dry before you remove them. In fact leave a long time between each coat to avoid smudges.

[pavlovs_dog]

I have a cream varnish that I use for doing the tips (use a thin layer), and then use clear over the top of it. That makes it look more natural than a bright white tip, and makes your nails shiny rather than "heavily polished"

sounds good - what make is it?

[La-Cara]

I'm not sure if you can still get it but its a brand called f2, the make up range from the company fudge who make hair products, and the shade is no 69. I got it years ago on a discount cosmetics website, will have a look to see if anyone still does it.

edit: had a good rake round and not many people still sell the f2 range, and I can't find anyone who has any nail varnishes. Other brands do cream varnishes so I'm sure you could find one in superdrug or boots quite cheaply.

[pavlovs_dog]

thanks for taking the effort to look La-Cara, much appreciated :j

[RoseFairy]

rather than painting and dragging the white coated brush across the nail tip, i keep the hand holding the brush steady and over the nail tip, and then i roll the actual nail tip being painted, across. hope that makes sense, but rather than moving the brush and keeping nail steady - i do it the other way around and keep brush steady while i rock the nail across!

oh btw, i have used the elegant touch pack of 3, was good. did not like the No7. now trying Maybelline pack of 2, which is good so far. plan to try Bourjois with Boots points next!

[CrazyCat]

As already stated by others, I do the white first then put the pale pink or cream over the top.

Have a look on the QVC website at the Leighton Denny range - he does french kits which include a little bottle of remover and a tiny brush to tidy up the line so you can get it perfect every time. There are video demonstrations too to show you how he does it.

His stuff is a little pricey but it's nice quality and a manicure will last an enitre week if you give it an extra top coat mid-week. The other advantage is if you buy from QVC and still can't get on with it, you can send it back for a refund.