French manicure in gentle colors
French manicure is a classic in nail design. It gained popularity due to the fact that it can be both neutral and flamboyant.
Daring designs are great for parties and walks, and pastel and sheer shades can be easily integrated into any, even the most strict office dress code. And if earlier it was almost obligatory for a jacket to have long nails, now it is easy to choose options for short ones.
Peculiarities
A distinctive feature of the jacket is the stripes along the edge of the nail plate. In the classic version, such a strip runs along the outer edge and repeats the light strip at the regrown nails. But unlike the natural version, the white French varnish always shows cleanliness and well-groomed, and dirt is not visible under it, which inevitably clogs under the nails.
At the same time, in light and gentle colors, such a manicure is not striking and is on a par with "natural" make-up. And this is the case when you can easily and harmoniously combine glossy and matte textures.
For a classic jacket, you need two varnishes - pastel or transparent and white. You will also need special rounded strips, which are sold in any cosmetic store. Now you can find not only round, but also triangular, as well as straight lines - they will allow you to make a completely unusual geometric design in the Art Nouveau style.
How to do it?
The first step is to make sure your toes look well-groomed. French is the option when the uneven edge of the nail plate or rough cuticle will be very clearly visible.
Make sure they are all right and apply the leveling base all over the nail plate - an even surface is also very important.If the base cannot give the desired effect properly, you can use a special nail file or a manicure machine with a polishing attachment. If you plan to leave the main part of the nail plate transparent, you will definitely need this option.
Then follow these steps step by step.
- After applying the base, take the adhesive strips and place them on the nails so that there is a distance between the strip and the edge of the nail plate. It needs to be painted over with white varnish.
- Then peel off the strips, take a second polish and paint over the rest of your nails gently.
- Once the varnish is dry, you can decorate your nails with designs, foil strips, or other decorative items to your liking. Drawings can be drawn by hand with varnish of a different color or use special stickers.
- At the end, use a top (top coat) - the matte version will look especially elegant.
Reverse French
If your nails are short, a classic jacket may not be very appropriate, but in this case, you can do the opposite. To do this, white stripes are made along the edge of the cuticle, on the inside of the nail plate. On the nails that have grown slightly over the edge of the finger, you can already do a double version, when the stripes are drawn on both sides.
Such a manicure is even easier to do than a classic jacket, since painting the main part of the nail with the last stage will be familiar and simple. And if you accidentally hit a strip, you can use foil stickers to cover up the oversight.
On short nails, you can also make a full contour with a contrasting line, and then draw a pattern in the center in the same color - it will turn out very beautiful, unusual and stylish. The reverse jacket visually overloads the nails much less, therefore, it is easier to combine various decorative elements with it - rhinestones, sparkles, stickers, micro-beads, foil. You can also use polishes with trendy effects such as cat's eye, flow, metallic or craquelure.
Twist French
A twist-french manicure is a variant of a manicure that uses two colors for stripes. Moreover, their location is possibly the most diverse. For example, it might just be two parallel lines of contrasting colors. It will look interesting if, at the same time, some drawing or pattern is made on the main part of the nail in the same color with the outer strip. However, you should not overdo it either - this image should be as simple and schematic as possible.
One of the trends is the division of one strip into two colors. That is, the strip is made up of two contrasting halves. Often they are made at an angle to each other and extending to the lateral edges of the nail plate.
You can go the other way - depict not two, but several standard stripes. If you make them very narrow, then this option will look good on short nails.
Other species
Drawing can be replaced with additional foil strips, or made a line of sequins. You can stick them by making a strip along the central vertical of the nails. This is a great party manicure.
The asymmetrical design with a strip beveled to one side looks original. In addition to it, you can make a small drawing with the same color in the remaining space. White graphics on a jacket always look the most impressive, although it is not necessary to adhere to the classics if the manicure is supposed to be for an informal celebration or date.
But there is a case when it is better to do without drawings for sure - this is a jacket with an ombre. This technique is a smooth flow of shades of color from intense to transparent, like a watercolor, and is done with a sponge or sponge. When such a transition is made using white or light pastel varnish from the outer edge, then they speak of a French ombre.
This design itself looks unusual and attracts attention in any setting, so additional elements may be superfluous, as they overload the nails. However, if you really want something in addition to the ombre, then you can make it only on individual nails, and decorate others with a different version of the jacket.
Most importantly, do not forget that they must also be combined with each other, otherwise your hands will look like a portfolio of a manicurist, and not like a harmonious part of the image.
Even more ideas for gentle French manicure are in this video.
