Looking to create a simple design and being a little inspired by my shoe design I decided to create a blue french tip manicure set, using the same technique.
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Blue French Tip Manicure
For this design, I’m following the traditional french manicure design with a twist. Traditionally a French manicure will have a nude or very light shade over the nail with a white tip at the end. I changed both the base and tip colour to create my nail art design.
For the base, I choose a deep blue shade called Baker St by Nails Inc. It wasn’t so dark that it would hide the tip colour yet it still created the dark nail design that I was after. I applied 3 coats of the base, as I made each layer quite thin. Usually, I would only apply two layers depending on the polish but after a test on my thumb, I decided the third layer would make the colour darker which is the effect I was after.
I left the base to dry for a few hours. Typically 30minutes should be plenty, however, I was multi-tasking and may have been a little distracted with my PlayStation game. Carefully I lined up a french manicure guideline sticker. This meant that on a few nails I needed to lift and reapply to get it into the right spot. If your polish isn’t dry enough the sticker will lift the base colour. So make sure your nails are completely dry.
In a downward motion, I pained the tip using Nail’s Inc, Black Taxi. I recommend painting down, away from the sticker to ensure that if there are gaps where the sticker isn’t touching the nail, it is less likely to go under the sticker. If it does go under the sticker it can make the final result messy. Make sure you have something protecting your work area as this can get a bit messy. I use a stamping mat to keep the area clean. But some paper or a disposable plate mat would also work.
Additionally, at most I would only do three nails at a time. I find with some stickers if they are left on the nail for too long they can damage the base coat. Some do this and others won’t, so I don’t recommend taking the risk.
When you are happy with your nails, add a top coat (or two).
Overall
This design could be done using any colour combination that you wish. Also if you don’t have the guideline stickers painters masking tape (the paper style one) works well. It just means that you will have straight lines instead of curved lines.
Let me know in the comments what colour combination would you use?
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This is a great post. I remember doing a French tip ages ago. It was a black matte nail varnish with a gold sparkle nail varnish as the tips. I didn’t follow the steps you’ve shown and mines didn’t come out great. But I can attempt to them again now! Thank you.
Thanks so much! The gold and black sound stunning!!