Beauty Tips: French Manicure

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French manicures are a popular trend among women in America today. And for very good reason - the French manicure is very universal, and is just as appropriate for jeans and t-shirts as it is a wedding or prom dress. The classic French manicure has a light pink or nude base coat, with the tips of the fingernails painted bright white. Nearly every nail salon in America is familiar with this manicure and provides them to clients on a daily basis. But sometimes women like to add a bit of glamour to the French manicure, and this is easily accomplished by incorporating designs to their nails.

Some people skip this next step, but I like to polish up my nails next. You can pick up one of those rectangular blocks of nail finishing paper at most salons and even convenience stores. It'll have four sides of usable polishing stuff, each different ratings to let you work your way down from a coarse grit (to remove large imperfections) to a fine grit to give the nail a nice natural shine.

Using a cotton ball and nail polish remover remove all traces of existing nail polish. There are 2 main types of nail polish remover to choose from. Acetone nail polish removers take off the nail polish quickly but can dehydrate your cuticles. You might want to use Acetone nail polish removers if you are trying to remove bold, deep or bright shades of nail polish. Non-acetone nail polish removers take longer to remove nail polish but do not dry out the nail and cuticle. Remember, if you have artificial nails, you should only use non-acetone nail polish remover.

You can do your own French manicure, or you can have a salon polish your nails. If you do your own, the easiest approach is to purchase a French manicure kit which contains the pale pink and white polishes, the nail tip guides and the top sealer. Of course, we live in a world of innovation today and some women now decorate their French manicure with nail art. Nail art is a decoration added to one or more nails. Nail art should be chosen carefully in order to not dilute the sophisticated and elegant styling of a French manicure.

While French manicures may look almost natural, they are the most difficult type of manicure to have done to your nails. Most salons charge more money for a French manicure, than a regular manicure with one solid color. Some salons use an actual paint brush, with very fine bristles to apply the thin white coat to the tips of the nails. Other salons will very quickly apply the white coat without much attention to detail. Then they will come back before the polish has dried and remove the excess color with an orange stick wrapped in cotton. This is interesting to watch. I always get nervous when the manicurist paints half of my fingernail white.

Fill a large bowl with soapy water and dunk your hands in it for several minutes. This helps to soften your cuticles and clean the nails. Dry your hands when done, using a paper towel, not a cotton towel. Cotton towels may leave behind fuzzies that will show up in the nail polish.

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