Freehand French Manicure

Freehand French Manicure

17 Sep 2012

An Easy Manicure You Can Do Yourself

Manicures can be expensive. I remember a time when I would spend $25 every other week to keep a beautiful set of nails. I do enjoy a professional manicure, every now and then, as a nice way to reward myself. But, with practice, I have been able to paint my own nails, complete with special effects, for a while now. 

1. Get the old polish off, I use dollar store nail polish remover and cotton pads, make sure that it has glycerin, it helps with moisterizing. If I used a sparkle nail polish, it will take longer! Just let them soak a bit. 

2. Wash your hands, soap and water, if there's a bit of remover left behind, it will make bubbles in your paint. 

3. Use a nice Base coat, This prevent staining and makes it easier to remove the polish later on. I use a Orly Nailtrition on my broken short nail, helps it catch up with it's friends. I used Barielle Professional Advanced as a Base coat on the other nails.

Nailtrition on the pinky finger, and Barielle Pro on the rest. 

4. Moisturize the cuticles, lotions work, as well as cuticle oils. 

5. Choose your colors, What will you be wearing this week? Any special events? Or are you just cheering yourself up, with a lovely mani pedi? I like a dark color for the first color and a lighter color for the tips. I have made a few reverse French Manicures, but find I prefer the lighter on top. This time I used Orly's Mysterious Curse for the first color, and China Glaze's Liquid Crystal for the tips. 

Left hand is two coats of Orly's Mysterious Curse, and the right hand is one coat. 

6. Let the base color dry. If you are in a hurry, use your top coat Seche Vite to get the drying started faster, usually a 5 minute drying time.  

7. Using the top color, use the width of the brush and follow the shape of the nail. Sometimes, I will go half way and come back from the other direction. If there are any bare spots, paint from the "smile" line towards the tip, like finishing a regular manicure. I use a paper towel to protect my surface. 

Painting the Liquid Crystal half across the tip, and came back from the other side to meet in the middle. 

Fill in the gaps by painting the end, add more polish to the brush. Pull from the smile line to the tip. 

8. Clean up your edges with a Q-tip dipped in a little nail polish remover. 

9. Top coat of Seche Vite. It is a more expensive top coat, but it will increase the time of your manicure by a few days. With out it, I get 2 days to a manicure, and with the Seche Vite, my manicure will last 5-7 days. best price I found is Amazon.com. 

There you have it! A great manicure that you did yourself. Now, have a nice cup of cocoa to tip the manicurist ;-)