Spiffy for the holidays - an easy French manicure at home

Are you one of those gals who likes nice looking digits but is endlessly spray painting and crafting?

If so, you know it's not economical to run to the salon and get your nails done each time you chip a nail hammering together some old piece of furniture.

Ever seen or tried those French manicure kits in the stores? You know the ones that come with stickers or pens? They've been out forever and never worked for me.

I've had plenty of French manicures done at the salon and they looked easy enough to duplicate at home without stickers and pens. Needless to say, I'm going to show you how I do it and we can all save our extra cash for something else. Sound okay to you?

Okay, here goes...

Supplies

• acetone nail polish remover
• a polish you want to use for the tips
• a natural nail tone color for the entire nail
• a clear/top coat nail polish
• a paper towel
• one brush

Now, start with clean and dry nails. I had just went over my nails with a med/fine grit foam buffing block. That's the reason they look a bit dusty. I do that to scuff up my nail surface to hold polish longer. It's not necessary, though.

I then grab my white color and...

paint the tips. I know, looks terrible! Just stick with me.

Don't worry about them looking perfect. Just give them one even coat of paint on the tips.

You can see in this picture that the lines are all jagged but that doesn't matter at all.

You don't have to let your nails dry before this next step.

Get your nail brush and dip it into the acetone nail polish remover.

(The non-acetone will gum up the polish and not give you a clean line.)

Dot the brush on to the paper towel to take off the excess polish remover and then swipe the brush across where you want the white polish to end at.

Like so:

After about two swipes you will need to dip the brush again and rub off the excess paint onto the paper towel. Dip it again and swipe the extra acetone on the towel and proceed until all your digits are done.

This is actually very easy with the right brush. I use a Beauty Secrets #22 Supreme Oval/Flat that I got a Sally's Beauty Supply.

Feel free to try a flat and wide craft brush if you have one.

You should be left with this:

(your natural nail with even white painted tips)

After you have the tips looking good, let your white polish dry.

Then, after drying, you can apply your all over color. The all over color should be applied all over, from base over tips to the end of your nail.

I use OPI in the color Bubble Bath. It tones down the white and give the nails a very natural look.

Now your nails will look somewhat like this:

You may have a bit of paint on the sides, like above but it will easily clean off with soap and water after your nails are completely dry.

Here's where you let your nails dry the second time. Then you grab your top coat.

Paint your top coat all over to give your nails a better shine and to keep them from chipping so easily.

After the top coat dries, you may want to wash your hands and rub on some cuticle cream.

Now look... I couldn't even get a clear pic because they were so shiny.

What a difference!

From green food coloring stained nails to shiny and neat!

It's super easy and my home ones turn out way better than the nail salon's.

If you try it, please let me know how it worked for you.