Sunday 6 January 2013

How to: Bright French Manicure


It's January. It's cold and it's dreary. I took a look out of my window this morning and it was a struggle not to grab my duvet and hide.

I love bright crisp winter mornings, but today it's just yuck.

 
And last week was also back to work, which means packing away the Christmas jumpers and tinsel accessories as office wear is firmly back on the horizon... So this is my solution to a bit of creative nail work for the office. A beacon in the dark at this time of year: a bright French manicure.

Okay, so it's not really a French manicure, it's just bright coloured tips, but having just that little flash of colour really makes all the difference.

Paint a base coat with a pale colour - I used a silvery beige (sorry I can't share the name exactly as it came from a trip to France...) - and then once dry select a bright colour of your choice - I used Barry M in Turquoise.

Carefully remove the excess paint from the brush and then paint the tips. I find that the best way to do this is in small stages moving vertically. First paint the very tip of all your nails, and then go back over them to increase the spread of colour, always working with your brush ending up at the tip. Don't move your brush horizontally across your nail, it might seem quicker but it is really hard to keep control.

If you don't have a steady hand you can even use masking tape trimmed into ovals to help, but make sure that your base colour is completely dry before using tape.

And there you have it. Nails suitable for the office, but with enough brightness to help banish the January grey.

No comments:

Post a Comment