With my new found nail obsession I've had a lot of duochrome, glitter and dark colours on my nails over the last couple of months and I began to yearn for something more classical so a French Manicure sprang to mind. Now, over the years I've always had this done in a salon but upon spying these guides in Boots for a mere £3.05 for 96 (yes confusing isn't it considering you need 10 for each application!) I thought I'd give 'em a go.
The guides themselves are thin curved stips of shiny plastic that you apply to a clean nail - I wiped with a non oily nail varnish remover prior to application: (Okay I cheated and took this photograph after I'd completed the process but you get the idea!)
I already had an ancient bottle of Rimmel Nail Tip Whitener (I'm too embarrassed to photograph it!) so I set about the task this evening (something to fill the time before the Naked 2 launch!!). My first attempt was pretty abysmal to be honest, I applied the guides and slopped on a couple of coats of the whitener (which dries matte). I waited for them to dry and whipped off the guys to find a very wobbly line with lots of leakage under the guides....not a good look! Time for Take 2 (you see the people at Nailene KNOW ...that's why you need the extra guides over and above the 9 x 10! D'oh!). Take 2: I applied the guides again and pressed them down firmly, I then applied 2 THIN coats of the Nail Tip Whitener ensuring I applied vertically starting on the actually guide up to the tip of nail and left them to dry. Eureka!! It worked!!! I followed with 2 coats of Rimmel Pro French Manicure in French Rose and then a top coat of my Sally Hanson Mega Shine. I'm REALLY pleased with the result - what do you guys think??? (please excuse any crimes against cuticles and the spot of dark polish I failed to remove that you probably didn't notice until I mentioned it!!)
....only one problem....I only did one hand!!! Hey Ho! As Scarlett O'Hara once said..... Tomorrow is another day...........!
Laters Peeps!
Love Lainey x
