Alternative French Manicure
The classic French manicure–a pale pink, beige, or nude nail with a bright white nail tip–has long been a favorite of brides, prom queens, and classy ladies everywhere. Demure and lovely, yes. Kind of boring, also yes. If you like the look of a French manicure, but want a little color to liven it up, the alternative French manicure may be a good option. Pick any color as a base, and any other color for the tips.
Burgundy and Gold
Here’s my first attempt at the alternative French mani. For the main color, I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Brilliant Bordeaux and for the accent color I used Revlon ColorStay in Fall Mood. You’ll notice I combined this look with the Accent Nail trend, so my ring finger inverts the look. I loved how this color combo looked on my hand. The deep red bordeaux with the gold-bronze is perfect for fall. To get this look, I painted two coats of the main color. Then I poured a small amount of the tip color on a piece of foil, then dipped a thin nail brush in the polish and applied. In the past, I’ve always used the actual nail polish brush to achieve a French manicure, but using a thinner, better quality brush gave me much more control over the line.
Red and Gold
This is a similar take on the previous mani, keeping the tip color Revlon ColorStay in Fall Mood but with the main color of Rimmel in Stiletto Red. Here I made my tips a bit thicker than in the previous mani, so that the Fall Mood was more visible. This is a great new nail polish, by the way. Very dense, sparkly, luminous color–only one coat covers most of the nail, though I’d recommend two for best results.
Blue and Black
I really love how my third attempt of this look turned out. I did a strict French manicure, no accent nail, and I paired two unlikely colors: China Glaze in Man Hunt (main color) and China Glaze in Liquid Leather (tip color). These are my first China Glaze polishes, and I was very impressed. The blue is a rich, dark hue that applied smoothly and opaquely. The black also was opaque with one coat which is pretty rare for a black nail polish.
Gray and Navy
Here I’m wearing one of my favorite polishes for the main color, Rimmel in Steel Grey. This is a really attractive grey hue–oftentimes the grey polishes out there make your hand look washed out and corpse-like, but this has just a hint of lilac in it for a beautiful fall color. For the tip color, I used L’Oreal Colour Riche in After Hours. I’ve had this polish for awhile and it’s a bit finicky when placed on the entire nail–sort of runny and requiring many coats. But it worked well just just at the tips of my nails.
Ahhh, a teachable moment, as Oprah would say. See the streaking on the close-up of my ring finger here? This is called “Beth got impatient and applied a clear top coat before the blue was dry.” No good. May this be a lesson to you all.
Beth, what is your recommended cover coat?
So sad–for the photos above, I used a version of Sally Hansen that was quick drying that they no longer make! The new quick dry Sally Hansen is garbage, unfortunately. But lately I’ve been using Seche Vite, which works pretty well. You can find it at any drugstore or online: http://www.drugstore.com/seche-vite-dry-fast-top-coat/qxp151193?catid=196092