A Guide to French Manicure Designs
French manicure designs represent some of the most popular for nails today. Nail art has come a long way since the original French manicure. The original French manicure is simply white nail tips with sheer pink polish on top. The look is clean, classic and always beautiful. There are two different ways to achieve this look. You can paint the tips of your nails white, allow the white polish to dry, then top with a coat of sheer pink, peach or beige nail enamel. The other alternative is to use a whitening pencil to create the white tips. Some women think this is the best way to go. These pencils are easy to use — just moisten the tip and color underneath your nails.
Of course, you may want to try some of the modern designs and colors offered by today’s nail salons. The introduction of the airbrush revolutionized nail art and brought the French manicure into the new millennium. Today’s French manicures feature the light tips and sheer polish but add in fancy shapes and special designs like angled lines and sparkly stripes. You can even add tiny jewels and gems to your manicure for a posh look. These fancier French manicures are best for longer nails, as shorter nails simply don’t offer enough room to support the artistic tips.
One of the newest trends in the French manicure has to do with color. Rather than sticking with the white tips and sheer overlay, some women are going with brights or a reverse French manicure. For example, you might paint the tips with a bright red polish and cover with a clear polish. An edgy look the black and white look. You can go for black tips and a white nail bed, or white tips and a black nail bed.
To find out all the variations in French manicure designs that are available to you, head to your local nail salon. Most salons have samples to look at or books to browse that show you what each design looks like. Some nail salons offer free paint jobs when you have acrylic tips applied. Thanks to the modern tools used by today’s manicurists, you can have beautiful, artistic nails in a fraction of the time it used to take!
