How to give yourself a French manicure.
Hello, and welcome to Videojug.
I'm going to show you how to give yourself a french manicure.
In a few minutes, we are going to go from this to this.
Step 1.
You will need four types of nail varnish, a base coat or ridge filler, a color varnish,
a top coat, and a white or cream tip varnish, nail varnish remover, cuticle oil or any edible
oil, a cuticle stick, an emery board, a cotton pad, hand and nail moisturizer.
Step 2. Make some time.
Don't rush your manicure.
You'll make a mess.
Give yourself some time, and do it right.
It will last longer in the end.
Step 3.
Nail varnish remover.
Get rid of any old nail varnish using some nail varnish remover on a cotton pad.
Step 4.
Cuticle oil.
Put on some cuticle oil, and massage it in.
Leave it on while you file so that it softens your cuticles.
If you don't have cuticle oil, olive oil or any edible oil will work just as well.
Step 5.
File your nails.
There is no point in having beautifully varnished nails that are ragged.
Take an emery board, and run it along the nail tip, only in one direction, until you
get the shape you want.
When you have finished shaping the nails, use a motion like this to get rid of the frayed
edges.
This is called beveling.
Step 6.
Tidy up your cuticles.
Cuticles are the skin that overlaps on to the nail.
Oil in the skin prevents a good nail varnish application.
So soften your cuticles further by soaking them in warm water.
This can take up to 15 minutes.
A great alternative to this is to apply cuticle remover to your nails.
Give your hands a generous coat of moisturizer, and wrap in cling film for 15 minutes.
This softens the cuticles and moisturizes your hands.
To remove the dead cuticle, rub a cuticle stick around it in very small circles so that
it's rubbed off.
You can then push the rest of the cuticle back.
Step 7.
Wash your hands.
Clean away all of the nail dust and grime so you don't seen the tin.
Wipe the nails down with a little nail varnish remover once again to remove any oil residue
as it will cause the varnish to flake off.
Step 8.
Put on a base coat.
Wipe off the extra on the side of the bottle.
Brush on in two or three careful strokes.
The base coat protects your nail from being stained by the pigments in the color varnish.
Step 9.
Put on the tip.
You can use a pink, white or cream color like this for the tip.
Cream has a more natural look than white.
Carefully draw a thin line of varnish across the natural white tip of the nail.
If the line looks unnatural initially, let it dry, and if you need to, put a second neater
line over it.
Make sure it's fully dry before putting on the next layer of nail varnish.
The white tip can be tricky.
Some manicure sets come with stickers that you can paint the tip over.
They guard against putting on a crooked line.
Top tip.
Here's another tip to make the tip application easier.
Take a small piece of cardboard, and cut out a diamond shape like this.
Put your nail in it, and brush along the white tip.
It will stop the varnish from going on your skin.
Step 10.
Apply the color.
Brush on the colored varnish next.
Again, make sure there's not too much on the brush.
You can put more layers on if you need to deepen the color.
Make sure the first layer is dry to touch, and then put on the second layer.
The classic color to use for a french manicure is a transparent pink or beige.
Step 11.
Put on a top coat.
The top coat is a hard, clear layer.
It seals in the color and protects the nail.
Step 12.
Let it dry.
If you want a good manicure, you should leave at least five minutes before even checking
if it's dry.
Top tip.
To check if it's dry, you can lightly touch a nail with your tongue.
If you taste nail varnish, it's not dry.
If you're afraid your nails are still tacky, put a little cuticle oil on them to prevent
lint from your clothes sticking to them.
Step 13.
Tidy up.
If you smudge the top coat or tip, you will need to remove all the varnish from that nail
and start again.
However, if you've got just a little varnish on the skin around your nail, use a cuticle
stick with a little cotton ball and nail varnish remover to wipe it up.
This is much more precise than a cotton bud.
Step 14.
Put away your varnish.
Add a little nail varnish remover to a paper tissue, and wipe around the bottle.
This will prevent it from becoming sealed shut.
Done.