Is there anything that can make you feel elegant as freshly painted French tip nails? The ever-classic French manicures give your fingers a dainty look, which involves a pale pink base and bright white tips.
You can always go to a salon to get your mani done with a good pocket pinch. But doing french nails at home is quite simple and saves money giving almost the same salon effect.
Just follow our simple guide and learn how to do a French manicure at home with step-by-step instructions.
DIY French Manicure: 8 Easy Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Prep Your Nails – Remove Old Nail Polish
Remove your old nail polish with an acetone-free nail polish remover. Be sure to clean and remove all traces of nail lacquer from all corners and cuticles, as you can see any colors on white or light pink base on your nails.
2. Clipping and Shaping the Nails
Use nail clippers to trim your nails and give them a perfect shape. It could be square, round, oval or almond. Trim all uneven ones and be sure they are all of the same lengths.
3. File and Buff Your Nails
Once shaped, use a nail file for filing your nails properly to smoothen the edges and have crescent-shaped tips or squaovle, square or more.
Use a nail buffer and gently buff the surface of your nails, to even out any roughness and smoothen the base.
4. Soak You Nails in Warm Water
Fill up a bowl with warm water with some drops of olive oil or moisturizing lotion.
Soak your hands in it for 3-4 minutes. This softens your dry skin and cuticles and makes them easier to push back. Pat your hands dry with a towel.
5. Pushing Back the Cuticles
Use a cuticle pusher or an orange stick to push your cuticles back gently. You may also massage some cuticle oil into your nails to soften your skin around the nails.
6. Polishing the Base Coat
Applying a base coat is imperative in a Frech Manicure. The base coat is usually cream, pale pink, or transparent/clear
Let the base coat dry, before you apply the next coat.
7. Painting Your Nail Tips with White Nail Polish
- Paint white polish lightly on your nail tips creating a crescent. The white polish should stop right where the whites of your nails stop.
- Clean up any excess polish with a Q-tip, and let your nails dry.
- Allow the tips to completely dry (for gel nails, let it dry for 45 seconds), then apply another coat if you wish.
DIY French Manicure at Home with Nail Guides
- If you can’t paint neat lines, then you can use Nail Guides to help you out.
- Nail guides are small circle shaped stickers to make sure your tip paint goes on neatly. This will help you achieve the perfect shape of the manicure.
- Once your nail enamel is put and is dry, you can remove your nail guides and seal in your manicure.
- Alternatively, if you don’t have nail guides, you can use some tape or scotch tape, and cut in the shape of your tip of the nail and then stick them on the nail.
8. Apply the Top Coat
Add a clear top coat to protect and seal the look of your freshly painted nails. Applying a top coat will help your manicure to last longer.
Voila! Your beautiful manicured nails are ready!
Manicure kits make it easier to do your manicure yourself. You can opt to buy French Manicure Kits that come online with a classic base coat color, a tip color, nail guides and other equipment you can use to create a perfect manicure.
FAQ’s and Answers
Q. How long should my nails be to do a French manicure?
A. Your nails can be long, short, or mid-length for the French Mani. However, try to keep your tips little rounded or square to get the best look after the manicure.
Q. Can I do the French manicure without nail guides, tape or any other coverings?
A. Yes, by just painting a horizontal straight line across your tips neatly will do the trick. But be careful not to apply the top coat until the nail tip is dry.
Q. Can you still do a French manicure if you have short nails?
A. Yes, you can do a French Manicure on short nails, though you might face some difficulties to paint the little nail tip. But it will look gorgeous once the French tip is done.
Q. How to Make French Manicure Strips at Home?
A. You can make your own strips at home for a dime and save the trip to the nail salon.
- Use sharp scissors to cut 10-12 thin strips from the electrical tape/scotch tape.
- Keep the strips no shorter than 1 inch.
- Scotch tape is flexible, sticks well and doesn’t leave a glue residue on your nails.
Q. How to get the perfect tips for the French Manicure?
A. If you’re not so great at painting a straight line with the nail paint, you can make it easier using;
- Nail Guide Sticker
- Scotch Tape
- Moleskin Pad
- Band-Aid
- Once your nails are ready with the base coat, put a strip of nail guide or scotch tape across the top of each of your nails.
- The tape will cover your nails, 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 nail guide or scotch tape to reveal your finished manicure.
Video Tutorial: Learn How to do DIY French Nails at Home
These days the Reverse French Manicure is also in rage for which you have to place the sticker on the cuticles and paint that particular part only.
We hope these simple hacks and tips will help you do a gorgeous French Manicure at home. Please share your experiences and let us know how you do your manicure?
I’m Rhea, a fitness enthusiast, and a food lover. I am a housemaker, foodie, writer from NYC. I am a passionate writer and I love exploring places. Since I love cooking and working out, I am sharing my organic food recipes, fitness and beauty tips with the world. Trying to touch lives with some useful information.
