I want you to think of a tennis racquet and how it is used in playing the game. If every tennis player just used the racket in one way and only mastered one stroke, it would be very boring both to play and to watch. Varying the angle of the racquet and the power behind the shot produces intricacies and nuances to the game that make it fascinating for player and spectator alike and places the ball precisely where the professional wants it to go.


Many students and amateurs ‘freak out’ when it comes to creating a smile line. Many avoid ever learning how to use white powder and take the option of using French tips. But the fact is that no one can call himself or herself a nail artist if you cannot offer your clients the ‘Permanent French’ option on your service menu. Although a blessing for those who cannot control their white powder:

• French tips are not suitable for every type of nail shape
• nor do they give as beautiful a result as a perfectly formed natural-looking smile line made with a variety of different white powders that create different effects and choices for your clients.
• Nor can you keep the look permanent for your clients if you can’t rebalance and replace the smile as it grows out.

The truth is that at first it is not easy to do a permanent French Manicure using white powder. It is one of the greatest challenges a nail technician faces, but now that you know a bit more about how to use your brush and how to control what you are doing, it is going to get allot easier!


Most of the problems encountered when making a smile line are because the angle of the finger is not correct or the angle of the brush is not correct or you are stroking with the brush when you should be pressing or pressing when you should be nudging etc!! Another challenge is using the right pressure on the brush to control exactly where the bead is going. Remember the tennis racquet analogy!


There are many ways to cover zone 1 and to make it smile. I will describe a couple of different ways in the Product Control tutorials and you can try them out for yourself and see which you prefer to adopt.

• Working the bead evenly from side to side
• Working from the middle out to each side in turn.

Pressing and patting with the flat side of the brush and nudging with the point or the side of the flattened brush are the three main brush techniques employed when forming the smile line using Liquid and Powder. Adopting a light touch with the brush is also necessary as well as knowing when to apply a firmer pressure.


Remember that your brush is a tool like any other. How you employ it and learning to vary angle and pressure is paramount if you want to become a professional nail artist, just as mastering all the different shots in a game of tennis produces a champion player.


Product control will be covered in the next series of tutorials.