French manicure

French manicure has become the most real classic of our time. In addition to its extraordinary prevalence, over the years of its existence, the jacket has received so many different modifications and options that it cannot be compared with any other type of manicure design. For decades, women have not been bored with French manicure, because like no other it suits absolutely any style, clothing and event.

What is French manicure

If we talk about the classic version of French manicure, then this is an invariable beige or slightly pinkish coating of the entire nail, as close as possible to the natural color of the nail plate, and an even white tip of the nail, clearly repeating the line of its edge.

Despite the romantic name, French manicure comes from the United States of America. The founder and owner of the American brand "ORLY", specializing in varnishes and other devices for manicure and pedicure, - Jeff Pink, almost 40 years ago, at the request of his good friend, and in particular a rather famous director of famous Hollywood films, came up with a unique design suitable for a variety of filming scenes and the image of actresses performing any role. So Hollywood soon received a universal manicure design, which significantly saves the time of preparing the actress for shooting each frame.

As you know, "all ingenious is simple", so Jeff's success was colossal, and soon the jacket conquered not only the film industry, but also the world catwalks, and then the heart of every woman in the world.

The first show, in which the fingers of the fashion models were decorated with a white strip along the edge of the nail, took place in France, the trendsetter of world fashion, - it did not go unnoticed and Jeff Pink dubbed this type of manicure "French".

How to do a French manicure yourself on your nails

To perform a jacket on your own, in addition to the basic rules for nail care and preparing hands for a manicure, you need to know the basic terminology of manicure design. In fact, it's not all that difficult.

Look at your nails: no matter how long they are, the free tip of each nail is much lighter in color than its base, which is adjacent to the skin. This is the so-called "smile" of the nail. The longer the free edge, the higher the "antennae" will be - the corners of that part of the nail surface that will be painted over with white varnish in French manicure. From this we can conclude that if your nails are so short that the smile line - the free edge of the nail - is completely absent, then you will have to postpone this manicure design until the nails grow at least 0.5-1 mm.

Many lovers of long nails, when performing French manicure, tend to paint over not the entire free edge of the marigold, but only its upper part. If you belong to one of them, then you will have to stock up on varnish for a natural beige base as dense as possible so that the unpainted tip does not shine through.

The most important rule of French manicure: all white tips of the nails should be exactly the same size, not only in height, but also in the width of the painted edge.

Since the French gained its popularity, many tools have been invented in the world to simplify its creation on nails. These are all kinds of stencils, stickers, pencils and sets for French manicure. Although, however, it is quite possible to do without all this, if you have enough time.

How to make a jacket on your own extended nails

Perhaps, here we should start with the fact that it has long become out of fashion not only to build artificial nails, but even to grow our own, with a free edge length of more than 2 mm. This not only causes a lot of inconvenience in everyday life, but sometimes it looks so unnatural and sloppy that such a manicure has long become the lot of “collective farmers”.

But if you are still an ardent lover of long cat claws and do not accept any arguments, then a French manicure has a chance to become one of your favorite nail designs, because on such tips there is where to roam.

We already wrote above that the painted over line of the nail should completely cover the entire free edge. But if your nails are so long that the free edge covers almost half of the entire surface of the nail, then it makes sense to "camouflage" part of the free tip with a dense uniform coating - this procedure in the nail industry has the term "lengthening the nail bed."

French manicure set

No matter how simple, albeit elegantly the jacket does not look, a competent French manicure, unlike a simple monochromatic coating, requires many tools. Needless to say, there should be at least three nail polishes in your arsenal alone.

Many women, who have learned all the versatility and elegance of the jacket, are inclined to purchase ready-made sets at once, which include everything you need to independently perform such a design on their nails.

As a rule, such sets include:

• base varnish base beige or pinkish natural shade;
• white varnish for covering the ends;
• transparent hardener varnish;
• stencil stickers to create the perfect smile line.

The average price of such sets ranges from 200 to 600 rubles, depending on the manufacturer.

French manicure stencils

If you are reading this article from the very beginning, then you have probably already noticed that we have used the term "stencils for a jacket" more than once. What are they like?

If you rarely hold an art brush in your hands, then you cannot do without such stencils, at least the first few times.

It is very simple to use sticker stencils, it is only important to let the base layer dry very well, otherwise the marigold will have to be repainted from the very beginning.

Place the stencils on the tips of the nails, stepping back from the edge exactly as much as you need to paint over with white varnish. Make sure these distances are the same on all fingers of both hands. After that, just paint over the tip of the nail, not being afraid to go beyond the line, because stencils, as a rule, always have sufficient width. Easily peel off the sticker and enjoy a perfectly straight smile line!

French manicure shellac

« Shellac", As you know, has long become a household name, although it is the name of one of the most famous in the world long-term gel polish of the American brand CND.

The versatility of French manicure and its relevance in any setting is the best suited for long-term application. Gel polishes usually stay on nails for 2-3 weeks, or even longer, - many women remove the coating only when lunula the nail is already growing to such an extent that it becomes very noticeable - this, of course, immediately spoils the look of any, even the most neat manicure.

French manicure for short nails

Short nails are now more popular than ever, as everything is emphasized natural and natural in a woman's appearance.

French manicure on short nails always looks neat and sophisticated, no matter where you go: for the evening, wearing a floor-length dress in dark colors, to the beach, or to work. It will not only emphasize the beauty and grooming of your hands, but will also merge into one duet with your clothes and hairstyle, as if you were choosing such a nail design on purpose.

And the white tip will visually lengthen your nails, without creating any inconvenience for your movements, as is the case with too long nails.

French for long nails

Although long nails are out of fashion, there are still many women who are not yet ready to give up such a manicure. In their case, a French manicure is perfect, because sometimes nails grow for a long time and by the time they grow back to the desired length, the tip of the nail becomes "old" and does not look very well-groomed, significantly differing from the base not only in color, but also in texture.

This resonance will not be so noticeable under a uniform coating, and the tip of the nail, covered with an additional layer, will become much thicker, which will make it more resistant to all kinds of damage.

French manicure without stripes

In principle, having done a French manicure for themselves a couple of times, many women forever abandon all sorts of auxiliary stickers, stencils and other things.

To make the smile line even, it is enough to have only a comfortable thin brush and not trembling hands.

1. On carefully prepared nails, apply a clear base polish and let it dry.
2. Cover your nails with two coats of a base color similar to your natural nail plate: beige or light pink.
3. Wait a while until the nails are completely dry. It's important to take your time here.
4. Mark 3 tiny points on the nails, parallel to the lunula - the base of the nail: "antennae" along the edges - the beginning of the smile line, and the middle. Make sure that the points on all nails of both hands are approximately at the same level.
5. Connect the points strictly parallel to the tip of the nail.
6. Using a nail polish brush, paint over the smile line, pulling the skin around the nails, moving from the edge of the "tendrils" to the center point.
7. Wait until it dries and cure the coating with clear varnish.

French Manicure Stickers

If you are at odds with drawing and you definitely cannot do without stickers, then they can be quite successfully made with your own hands. Believe me, such stencils will be no worse than purchased ones, although in this case the manicure will take you a little more time.

Most often, scotch tape is used for these purposes. It is better to use a masking tape, firstly, it is easier to remove it - it does not stick so tightly and does not leave prints, unlike ordinary scotch tape, and secondly, it is not transparent, which is much more convenient when cutting out stencils and disconnecting them from each other.

By the way, stickers from such tape can be made not only for French manicure, but also for other, a wide variety of nail designs.

Pencil for French manicure

Yes, yes, if you did not know yet, then the world has long come up with pencils for manicure.

The main task of such pencils is to whiten the free tip of a natural nail, which, in everyday life, one way or another is subjected to a variety of tests. And if the nail is long, then during the regrowth it very often acquires a yellowish tint, as we already wrote about above.

It is not necessary to look for such a tool for whitening nails in nail industry stores, the most ordinary white pencil will do. Believe me, having settled him in your cosmetic bag, you will no longer be able to imagine how you could do without such a miracle remedy. After all, with just one movement, your nail will look well-groomed and healthy.

Some women claim that they use a white pencil for French manicure, painting over the smile line from the inside. Theoretically, this, of course, is possible, but such a jacket cannot be called ideal in this case, because the smile line is very rarely exactly the same on all nails, and imagine how thin the tip of the nail must be so that the white pencil shines through in such a way that it could be compared with dense white varnish. Not to mention the fact that such a "jacket" will have to be repeated almost several times a day, because you at least wash your hands.

French manicure varnish

Whatever a kind of French manicure you did not choose, but today the masters offer a huge variety, a wide variety of shades, remember that the jacket assumes a dense, uniform coverage. This means that varnishes for such a manicure need to choose a dense texture that covers the nail well with the first layer.

If you do not use a set, then it is best to select both varnishes of the same line, then they will have the same structure and the coating will lie evenly and neatly.

Also pay attention to the drying time of the varnish, because the tip needs to be painted over on the completely dried surface of the nail - the jacket does not tolerate haste.

One of the most successful budget nail polishes, perfect not only for French manicure, but also for all kinds of other nail designs, is offered by the cosmetic company Rimmel, in its "60 Seconds" line. The name speaks for itself: nails really dry even faster than in a minute, and besides, the series has a fairly rich palette saturated, dense shades. Recommended!