How French is made. How to do a French manicure: step by step steps. Making stencil strips with your own hands

French manicure is considered classic, which is why girls and women prefer it more often than others. It looks great on nails different lengths and shapes, as well as suitable for all fashionable images.

History of French manicure

Despite the name of the manicure, it originates in the United States of America. About 35 years ago famous brand varnishes and manicure products "ORLY" Jeff Pink came up with a completely the new kind manicure and a set of products for its creation. According to the story, the entrepreneur thus helped his acquaintance director to reduce the number of hours of filming time that stylists spend to change manicure for a new shooting image. Feminine, sophisticated, natural manicure is ideal for all outfits and jewelry. Subsequently, this method of coloring nails is becoming increasingly popular and is increasingly appearing on models of Paris fashion weeks, which is why it gets the name " French manicure».

General rules for French

French manicure in the classic version involves the observance of certain rules. If you do a manicure yourself at home, then you need to consider the following details:

The french smile is formed by defining the central axis of the finger, from which curved smiles must be drawn symmetrically to the side ridges.
In advance, it is necessary to designate the end points of smiles.
The length of the white part of the classic jacket should be at least half as long as the beige.
Do-it-yourself French must be created on pre-processed plates.

The first way: French with stencils

You can make a jacket at home using stencils, special blanks. The advantages of this technique for creating a manicure include ease of use, low cost of the material and a guaranteed even bend. The disadvantage of paper blanks is the presence of a small probability of varnish flowing under the stencil, if it is not tight enough. Stencils are divided into two types:

disposable (paper or adhesive-based vinyl films);
reusable (plastic or metal plates with a relief pattern).

For a jacket, as a rule, the first version of stencils is used; they are more convenient when creating a manicure for yourself. The difference between vinyl and paper stickers lies in the tightness of their fit to the plate. Vinyl provides reliable protection against lacquer wicking

Stencils can be made independently by making blanks from stationery tape.

French manicure is done at home with ordinary varnish. In addition to it, you will need:

different abrasiveness;
cuticle remover;
stencils for manicure or blanks from ordinary adhesive tape;
a set of varnishes of two or more colors.

Below is detailed instructions how to create the perfect traditional jacket step by step using a stencil:

It is easy to create a jacket using this technology, it is important to monitor the tightness of the adhesive strip, while the rest of the stages of creating a manicure do not require specific skills from the girl.

The second way: French with a brush

You can learn how to draw a jacket on your nails with a brush. Work with a brush is distinguished by “jewelry” and cheapness: you do not need to spend money on buying stencils. However, you must be able to draw a jacket correctly.

Manicure brushes may be made with kolinsky or sable bristles and may have nylon bristles. French is more convenient to perform with a brush of zero thickness made of natural material.

Flat brushes with bristles are ideal for French. middle length. Before use, it should be flattened on both sides to form a clear line. Irregularities in the application should be removed with a thin brush, previously moistened with nail polish remover.

A brush with a beveled edge is universal, so it is also suitable for a French manicure. They lead with such a brush from the periungual rollers to the middle of the nail, then they are connected by a line parallel to the base.

French is performed as follows:

It is necessary to remove the cuticle, shape the nails and cover them with a base and beige varnish.
You should draw by applying the flat part of the brush to the plate towards its axis. The brush must be worked abruptly, constantly changing the angle of its location. The smile is drawn along the natural contour. It is important to change the angle often, and make the next brush stroke slightly overlapping the previous one.
Paint over the rest of the free edge of the nail.
Apply clear varnish.

For the technical implementation of this method of French, practice is required.

The third way: French with dots

You can make a French manicure using dots. Its advantage is minimal financial costs, but it will take a lot of practice to create a beautiful smile. To properly do a French manicure with dots, you do not need to purchase additional tools or materials. The manicure technique consists in drawing a smile as follows: a few drops of varnish are applied to any plastic or glass coating, after which the tip of the dots is dipped in varnish, then a point is placed on the center line of the plate and two at the rollers, retreating a few millimeters from the edge of the nail. The next step: you need to put a lot of dots on an imaginary smile and connect them along a rounded line. Otherwise, the stages of manicure are identical to those presented above.

Fourth way: french with a french pencil

It is not always convenient to use a french pencil, as it is quickly washed off and moves throughout the day on the skin of the fingers. However, French manicure with its use looks especially beautiful and natural.

Nowadays, wax-based pencils have become widespread, they last longer on the plates. In addition to them, there are also ordinary pencils without the addition of wax.

It is first necessary to remove particles of dirt and dust from under the nails with a special tool, then moisten the pencil in water and draw the area under the nail with smooth movements, painting over its free edge. You can remove pencil marks from the pad with a cotton swab dipped in water. Only two coats of clear varnish should be applied to the plate on the other side.

Ideas for French

Currently, there are a large number of types of french:

Classic french manicure with a white tip and a beige base coat. Such a french short nails looks just as beautiful as the long ones.
Colored french manicure. To create it, varnishes other than white and beige are used.
French Millennium. A bright manicure using either glitter or glitter varnish, as a rule, is placed on the tip of the plate.
The moon jacket is a manicure with a smile at the base of the nail.
Gradient jacket, in other words, ombre manicure. In this case, the transition from one color is smooth, and not sharp as in the classic version.
French manicure-chevron. In the process of its creation, an acute angle looms in the center of the smile.
Matte jacket is created either matte varnish, or by bringing the finished glossy French manicure to the steam.
Art jacket is decorated with various bright patterns and patterns.
Fan French. At the tip of the plate in this technique can be placed fashion elements, for example, rhinestones or a lace pattern can be made.

The answer to the question of how to do a French manicure is set out above. This will require a little patience, practice and originality.

French manicure, or french manicure is a universal nail design and suits any woman. Despite its name, such a manicure has nothing to do with France.

It was invented by American designers, and is called a jacket for advertising purposes, since France has always been considered the trendsetter of world fashion. To make it at home, a little skill is enough.

French manicure has nothing to do with France.

How to do a french manicure

French manicure is painting the edge of the nail in a different color. A manicure is considered a classic jacket when the tips of the nails are white.

Depending on the color of the nail tip, there are different types jacket:

fan french,
millennium,
stained glass and others.

In order to understand how to properly do a French manicure at home, you need to get acquainted with the terminology and the correct technology.

Nail smile line

The smile line is the border between the flesh and white color of the nail. The larger the “smile”, the higher the corners of the white part of the French manicure are raised - the so-called antennae. Their height is determined by the two upper points. The height of the white part of the jacket is determined by the lower point in the center.

Each person has their own nail smile line. This is the line after which the free edge of the nail grows, and to the very line it is attached to the nail bed. To make it clearer, we note that we can cut our nails “under zero” along our natural smile line.

To make a jacket not along the natural line of a smile, but otherwise, for example, below, you must first cover it with body varnish - “camouflage”. Then this bodily part up to the new smile line will be called nail bed lengthening. Basically, this term is used if a jacket is made on artificial nails, since the nail bed with this method is lengthened with gel or acrylic.

How to do your own french manicure at home

In order to do a French manicure at home, you need to remember the main requirement: the height of the white tips and antennae should be the same on all nails.

How to make a smooth french manicure? At home, you can use two methods:

with adhesive French strips,
manually.

The disadvantage of adhesive strips is that they often stick strongly to the nail and can ruin the body polish. In addition, it takes much longer to make a jacket with them. But the main disadvantage of this method is that it turns out to be not very stylish and “smiling” - there is no smooth transition - just one half of the nail in white.

How to do a french manicure without stripes at home

The best way to french is to draw by hand. To do your own French manicure at home without stripes, you will need white, nude and transparent varnishes, plus the thinnest brush with natural bristles.

The sequence of actions of a French manicure:

Put your nails in order: file and make everything the same shape.
Apply body polish twice.
With a thin brush, mark 3 points on all nails: the height of the white part of the French manicure, the other two should show where the antennae will reach.
Draw a smile. Try to lead the line slowly.
Pinch the side ridges of the nail and then paint over the tip of the nail with white varnish with a lacquer brush. Try to paint over from one and the other antennae to the middle.
Wait a minute and cover your nails clear varnish.

If you are doing a jacket for the first time, then the process itself may seem very complicated. But everything comes with experience: after a few times, skill will appear, and you will only do the jacket by hand, abandoning the adhesive strips.

How to do a french manicure on short nails

Currently, French manicure on short nails is becoming more and more popular, because everything natural is fashionable. This manicure looks great on square and oval nails. To add some spice, you can safely add different patterns and patterns.

Drawings and patterns will add spice to your manicure.

French on short nails is done in the same way as on long ones. But it is worth paying attention to some features:

The edging of the nail with white varnish should not be wide, otherwise the nails will visually become too short. Make a neat and thin line.
To visually lengthen the nails, decor is made on them. But just don't overdo it. Everything must be done very skillfully.
To urgently put your nails in order, use a special convenient pencil or chalk for a jacket. Plus, they are easy to color. nail plate on the inside, it won't take you much time and effort. Remember that such products can not be used for exfoliating nails.

How to do a French manicure with Shellac gel polishes

The main question in the French technique: how to accurately make a beautiful French manicure. The most high-quality way is to cover the nails with Shellac gel polish, which is the first hybrid of varnish and gel. It is interesting that from the gel he adopted the absence of smell, strength and durability, and from the varnish - a bright shine, ease of removal and application.

Shellac gel polish is a unique development of the American corporation CND. Its advantages include the fact that it perfectly treats nails and does not cause allergies.

The cost of applying a French manicure with Shellac varnish is not cheap, but we must make allowances for the fact that it is the most modern development.

Buying Shellac gel polish online for home use much cheaper than in beauty salons.

French manicure design can be complemented decorative elements, for example, drawings. Drawings are generally better to choose white color adding a little pink. Most often, drawings are made on the thumb or ring finger.

You can choose from drawings:

abstraction,
flowers,
openwork lines.

French manicure with a pattern at home can be done, but it will take a lot of time and effort. Better to contact a professional nail salon.

VIDEO - How to do a French manicure at home

In the video, Darina Panferova shows how to do a French manicure at home using adhesive stencil strips.

You can find additional information on this topic in the section.

Nail design is my hobby, I decorate nails different ways and one of the most favorite of course french manicure.

I have read a lot of articles on this topic, mostly nice pictures and little technology, it is about the technical aspects that I would like to tell in detail.

1. Stencils. Everyone knows about stencils, you buy them and stick them on, and then it makes sense to write a review on a French manicure. I will not dwell on them in detail, here and so everything is clear. I hardly ever use them.

2. Homemade stencils. In fact, you can make them yourself.

You can use household electrical tape or Scotch matte adhesive tape (best), simple stationery stickers. You can cut out oval stickers from any sticky base, or you can use the tape itself, just the smile line will be straight. If you have zigzag scissors, you can cut wavy stripes and make such an unusual manicure.
Another way. Take an old file from the folder, stick adhesive tape on it, matte tape, even masking tape and cut out semicircular strips, you can circle the old strip from the purchased stencil, if it remains, leave a little on the side to make it easier to peel them off and apply on the nails. This is of course a long time, you can simply cut off the tape and immediately stick it on.
Too sticky tape. If it sticks tightly and peels off along with the varnish, or vice versa leaves glue, then before applying to the nails, glue the strip to the lint-free fabric, and then to the nails, remove the main stickiness on the fabric.
In addition, a germicidal band-aid works well, use its rounded parts or cut several stickers from one band-aid. It will take five patches for two hands, or one or two if cut.

Also, the smile line can be hidden with rhinestones or sparkles, in fact, any varnish with sparkles is suitable for this.

3. Varnish with a thin brush. If you have a white varnish with a thin brush, you can first circle the smile line with a thin line, and then fill the regrown part with ordinary varnish. This is one of my favorite ways. Fine brush is easy to draw straight lines. This is especially convenient for a triangular jacket.

4. Method with nail polish remover. Here your hands are trembling, everything is crooked, everything is askew, it's okay. Paint crookedly, take a cosmetic flat brush, dip in acetone or nail polish remover and touch up until even. This is especially suitable for those who cannot do exactly with their left hand.

5. Short nails. A French manicure can be done on nails of any length, and it looks just as great on nails with no length at all. It is not necessary to grow out your nails.
You need to apply a thin strip along the tip of the nail, even if there is no regrown part, you imitate it, you just paint over this part of the nail with white. Hands are immediately transformed, a well-groomed appearance appears.

A few years ago, my friend went to the salon with deep nails and the master made this imitation of white tips with the thinnest strip, and she did not even dream of such a manicure. I went happy, showed it to everyone, received a lot of compliments and refused to wash the dishes at home)))
This method is also suitable for those who have already grown a little, but want to visually lengthen the nail plate, or who by nature have it small.

In this way, you can save a nude manicure that has begun to rub on the tips.
6. Gradient. Such a manicure with a gradient looks very gentle on the nails. There are several ways.
- On clean, base-coated nails, you apply a thin layer with a sponge with white varnish, concentrating it on the tips, and then cover it all with milk varnish.
- Apply white and pink to the sponge at the same time and apply to the entire nail. This is my favorite way. You need to do two layers, sometimes three.
- Apply milk or pink nail polish, and then with a sponge work out the tips with white.
  
  You will get a real gradient only in the second way, since only in this way will white and pink varnish blend perfectly with each other at the border of the transition.
  
  7.Design. Take a pink, dense varnish and paint your nails. Then, with a thin brush, draw white feathers along the regrown edge. It's very easy to draw them. In winter, white feathers can be replaced with snowflakes to imitate frosty patterns.
  
  If you have stamping plates, there is a lot of room for creativity.
  
  8. White varnish. The denser the white varnish, the better. Here's what I'm using now. I won't say I'm thrilled, but so far these are my favorites.
  
  9. Milk varnish. I buy milk varnishes all the time, for such a manicure I have recently been using these. Lacquer Sally Hansen Lacquer Catrice
  
  You can make it yourself. In any transparent varnish, drip a couple of drops of white and stir. Do not add a lot at once, one drop at a time and try on the nail. Dense pink varnish also dissolves perfectly in transparent. It can be diluted separately if there is a small container so that the entire transparent varnish is not wasted.
  
  Many use only such a varnish, sometimes it goes better than a purchased one, because everyone knows how such varnishes "stripe".
  You can make your own brush at home. If you need a thin brush, you can cut off the thickness of any brush, even from an old varnish, even an artistic one. A brush from used eyeliner is great.
  
  Most best advice about the brush for French manicure. It is necessary to cut a flat brush in a semicircle. This will solve 90% of the problems for applying white tips. A flat brush for varnish or a flat brush for eyebrows is suitable, it is already beveled, it remains only to round it. It is best to cut with manicure curved scissors. Before this, the brush must be washed with acetone from varnish and dried, so it will be easier to give it the desired shape.
  
  If you buy a white varnish with a flat brush, cut it, then you will have a special varnish for the tips, it is very convenient and saves time at times, even compared with stencils. So at the end of the review I give you my favorite trick.

French manicure is a classic that never seems to go out of style. In this article, we will talk in detail about several ways to create it and the tools necessary for this. And also share original ideas that you can offer to your master.

Features of French manicure

Manicure is a complex procedure for nail care, which includes several stages: filing the nail plate, shaping it and applying varnish. Nail extensions and designs can also be part of the process.

French - one of the types of manicure. In this case, a coating is created on the nails, which outwardly resembles a natural nail plate. Lacquer is applied to the base of the nails neutral shade, and on the free edge - white. This is one of the most popular techniques, which is loved and appreciated for the result - neat and well-groomed nails.

What are the other benefits of a French manicure?

It looks feminine and elegant and is suitable for almost any occasion, whether it is weekdays or an evening out.

French manicure goes with any outfit.

You can do it in the salon with regular polishes or gel polishes. French can be done at home itself. What will be needed for this?

Video tutorial on how to do a French manicure in three ways

French manicure tools

Before you start applying the coating, you need to do a manicure. To do this, you need to prepare a certain set of tools.

Tools:

nail polish remover;
cotton pads;
bath with warm water;
sea salt;
cuticle pusher;
degreaser;
a stencil in the form of a thin white strip with an adhesive edge or a thin artistic brush.

light pink or beige varnish;
dense white varnish (or varnish of any other color with which you want to highlight the free edge of the nail);
top coat;
cuticle oil.

Photo instruction

Remove old coating

To delete regular varnish, use nail polish remover without acetone in the composition. How to remove gel polish at home, we told.

Soak your hands in a tub of warm water

15 minutes will be enough. Add to bath first sea salt or your favorite essential oil.

Get a hand massage

As soon as you take your fingers out of the water, apply cuticle oil to your nails and massage for 10 minutes.

Push back cuticles

For this you need a pusher.

Degrease the nail plate

Use a degreaser or alcohol wipes.

If you are just starting to master the intricacies of manicure, watch the video tutorial by Lena Sevelenium: a beauty blogger tells what to look for for beginners.

Apply color coat

Choose the color you like. For example, light pink or beige (we used Essie Gel Couture in Fairy Tailor, which requires no base coat). Wait until this layer is completely dry before moving on to the next step.

Make a smile line

Method number 1

You can use any thick varnish. Classic variant- white, but you can experiment: for example, we highlighted the free edge of the nail with the blue Surrounded by Studs from the Essie Gel Couture collection, which was applied with a thin artistic brush.

Method number 2

If you are doing the jacket yourself for the first time, you can’t do without stripes (you can make stencils yourself or buy them in a specialized store). When the color coating is completely dry, attach them to the nails in such a way that the “smile” line remains free.

Paint over the free part with white (or any other) varnish.

You can not wait until the coating is completely dry. The main thing is to remove the stencil as carefully as possible.

If the varnish "climbs" on the cuticle, remove the excess with cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover.

Apply fixative

After the previous layer has completely hardened, apply a fixing varnish. And let it dry completely.

Reapply cuticle oil

As well as a hand cream to provide extra moisture to the skin.

Manicure is ready!

French manicure techniques

The difference is in how you select the free edge of the nail. Consider the most popular options.

Method number 1. Stencil

We have already talked about this method. The main thing is to fix the stencil evenly and neatly, and then remove it in the same way. In addition, consider the expected width of the “smile” line (if the nails are short, it should be thinner than on long ones) - and glue the stencil depending on this.

Method number 2. thermal stickers

They can be different: plain or with an ornament.

Method number 3. Rhinestones

The line at the free edge of the nail can be laid out with rhinestones or large ones. In one row or in several - it depends on the space of the free edge of the nail and the size of the rhinestones.

Funds

French manicure makes hands sleek, emphasizes the natural beauty of nails and suits any look. A high-quality jacket can be made in the salon, but with some skills, any girl who knows how to paint her nails can handle its creation. There are some subtleties that need to be considered when getting started. The process is laborious, but the reward for diligence will be beautiful manicure that will last at least a week.

To create a high-quality manicure, you will need the following tools and supplies:

a set of nail files;
double-sided sanding block;
liquid or gel cuticle remover;
metal pusher or wooden sticks;
leveling base;
light varnish base;
dense white enamel or acrylic paint for tips;
ready-made stencils made of paper or stationery tape;
top coat with drying effect.

For manicure, you can purchase ready-made kits, which include 2 types of varnish, base and top. Sometimes the kit also includes sheets with stencils for a jacket. If there is no ready-made kit, you can choose the right tools yourself. As the main coating, translucent light varnishes without mother-of-pearl in cream, pale pink, peach or beige tones are suitable. To highlight the tips, you need a dense white enamel that is not translucent when applied in a single layer.

Instead of standard stencils, it is convenient to use stationery tape. With sharp scissors, it is given the desired shape: round, straight, zigzag.

Nail preparation

French manicure requires perfect nail shape. The plates are given the desired shape with a file with a large grain. The free edge should be the same length on all fingers. The shape of the nails can be any: classic oval, almond-shaped, square, slightly rounded, peaked. The edges of the plates must be well sanded with a fine-grained glass or ceramic file.

The cuticle is covered with a liquid or gel with acids, after a minute the softened skin is moved as close as possible to the base of the nail. The longer the bed of the nail, the more effective the French manicure will turn out.

In conclusion, the surface of the plates is carefully processed with a polishing bar. On smooth nails, the polish will last longer.

A leveling base is applied to the prepared nails. It will strengthen the plates, the varnish will lie more evenly. For fragile nails, a base with calcium or microfibers is suitable, which gives the plates strength and guarantees the safety of the manicure.

Simple French: lessons for beginners

There are several methods of French manicure. The first looks more catchy and contrasting. A light colored base must be applied to the entire plate. It is necessary to dry the varnish well. Then paper stencils are attached to the nails, the tips remain free. It is more convenient to work with all nails at the same time, it is easier to control the quality of the coating.

It is not necessary to strictly observe the border of the free edge. It can be moved down, bent, or vice versa, made more even. This technique will help if the bed on the nails has a different shape.

The upper part of the nails are covered with a layer of opaque white enamel. The varnish is applied tightly, it should not shine through. The end of the nail is painted with the edge of the brush, this technique, as it were, seals the coating, protecting it from chipping. The stencils peel off neatly. They must be removed very carefully so as not to lubricate the freshly applied varnish.

To make the coating perfectly smooth, the manicure is fixed with a top with a drying effect. It will give the nails a mirror shine and prolong the life of the varnish. To speed up drying, you can additionally use drying in the form of a spray or drops.

The second version of the jacket looks softer, watercolor. In this case, stencils are glued to the nails over the base, the free edges are painted with white varnish. After it dries and the paper strips are removed, an even layer of colored translucent varnish in cream or pink colors is applied to the entire plate, including the white tip. The final touch is a mirror fixing top.

French manicure for advanced users

For those who have already learned how to apply varnish neatly and evenly, you can try a manicure without stencils. Depending on the shape of the free edge, white enamel can be applied with a wide flat or thin round brush. The first is convenient to draw a cut of square and rectangular plates, a thin brush draws strongly curved arcs well.

To make the edge perfectly even, you need to draw from the left edge of the nail, leading the brush to the middle. Then the reception is repeated on the left side. The lines join in the center. It is important to pick up a sufficient amount of varnish on the brush so that streaks and bald spots are not noticeable on the tip of the nail.

According to the proposed scheme, you can create not only white, but also a colored jacket. In this case, the free edge is painted with any bright color, the nail bed is covered with a transparent varnish, let's say a small golden or silver shimmer. A colored jacket is good as a basis for painting and other decor options.

Fantasy french manicure

With the help of paper tape, you can make fashionable and unusual design based on the classic french. The method of applying varnishes remains the same, you can experiment with the shape of the free edge. Two thin strips cut with nail scissors and glued at an angle will help give the tips a wedge-shaped look. A narrow oval, repeating the shape of the nail, will make it possible to draw the edge of the nail in the form of a curved arc.

You can pick up stencils and understand what kind of manicure will turn out with their use, using plastic tips. Feel free to try them on different variants staining, experimenting with the shape, width and color of the free edge.

Fantasy tips will not only give the manicure an original look. With their help, you can adjust the width of the plates, make your hands more elegant.

Special occasions: french decorations

A fashionable jacket can be complemented with elegant jewelry. Classic flesh-white variations will greatly decorate

white or colored rhinestones;
mini applications;
metallic gold or silver threads;
glitter varnishes.

You can decorate one or two fingers on each hand or decorate all nails at once.

The simplest decor option is a thin golden or silver strip drawn along the border of the nail bed and the white tip. The line is drawn with a thin round brush. It will not only decorate the manicure, but also help to mask the not too smooth border of applying varnishes.

The smile line lined with small white or colored rhinestones looks very impressive. Sparkling crystals are attached to a wet top coat with a moistened dotting board or a wooden stick.