French manicure - white tip, brush

[Curly Bamboo]

Hi Nail Geeks,

I am a beauty therapist I mainly do skin treatments. My french manicure needs improving as I don't do it often.

I saw today on one of my clients a beautiful perfect french. The tip was done free hand, it the lines were absolutely straight. The client said her nail technician painted a thick white tip then took a thin brush and cleaned the line up.

What is this brush? could someone tell me more... is this brush hard? soft? what is this brush called?

Many thanks
Curly Bamboo

 

[Bagpuss]

I prefer to do my smiles with a slight curve than straight as i think it looks more natural. The tech could have used any kind of brush for this, was it done with enamel or gel/L&P...?

 

[sian1979]

do you mean that the line was crisp rather than straight??
i always tidy mine up with a soft brush...that can be drawn into a point and use Nailfresh by CND.
HTH's

 

[RedAdmiral]

Was probably a small nail art brush with a square head, we sometimes do that too tho its much better to perfect your smile.

 

[oey]

She probably would have used something like CND Nailfresh to as it is fab for tidying those french lines up.

 

[Curly Bamboo]

I need to correct my nail terminology! I meant the smile was perfect.

Thanks for your help. I will order a small soft brush and see how I go.

The french was done on natural nails.

 

[LoveNatural]

I do my french polish manicures this way and I use a nylon gel brush and a mixture of acetone and a touch of polish remover (to cut down on dryin out the nail)

I use the flat brush because it makes a better line. This is probably what they used.

 

[geeg]

Nothing beats Nailfresh from CND for detailing polish.

Nailfresh works miles better than Acetone or polish remover because it evaporates so quickly it never makes the polish go sticky ... never.

You can also use it and a small brush on the skin to remove any polish that gets there when doing those perfect French corners (which it always does).

Competition winners have known this trick for years and it is a good one to know.

 

[Karen Minx]

A flat soft eyeshadow brush works well for tidying up smile lines too. I bought mine from tescos and it has a smile line shaped head xx

 

[NailsareaGrlsBF]

I do this all the time at work! I get young ladies that have natural nails and want a french tip, I used to use a stripper and it dries to fast and would clump up....so my fellow worker showed me..*with finger nail polish*...add a base coat only to the tip then take white ( I use somthing snow by OPI) and I just slap it on (2 coats) I do it straigh across..then I take a dappen dish with remover in it and dip my brush ( witch I bought at a craft store verry stubby bristles and has a slight curve to it) it to the remover, you'll have to experiment with how wet you need it, and put your brush to the top of the white you lied down and swipe a perfect smile. the same way you would swipe gel. Also it's verry easy to remove the polish under the nails and in the corners with this technique...I finish by adding base the the top of the nail bed, the reason is; is when you swipe your smile you would just swipe your base off. Then add a slightly pink top coat!!!Hope that helps!!

 

[oey]

I do this all the time at work! I get young ladies that have natural nails and want a french tip, I used to use a stripper and it dries to fast and would clump up....so my fellow worker showed me..*with finger nail polish*...add a base coat only to the tip then take white ( I use somthing snow by OPI) and I just slap it on (2 coats) I do it straigh across..then I take a dappen dish with remover in it and dip my brush ( witch I bought at a craft store verry stubby bristles and has a slight curve to it) it to the remover, you'll have to experiment with how wet you need it, and put your brush to the top of the white you lied down and swipe a perfect smile. the same way you would swipe gel. Also it's verry easy to remove the polish under the nails and in the corners with this technique...I finish by adding base the the top of the nail bed, the reason is; is when you swipe your smile you would just swipe your base off. Then add a slightly pink top coat!!!Hope that helps!!

As many of us said above CND nail fresh works better!

 

[Curly Bamboo]

Thanks for all the response so far. I have now purchased nailfresh. I was confused about the brush so I went to You Tube and looked at some videos.

See here ... YouTube - How to Do French Manicures at Home : Nail Shaping for French Manicures

Do you mean this type of brush?

Second question. I have read some people do one thick white tip and some do 2 coats of white tip. Which one will give a longer result?

 

[dee]

its better to do 2 thin coats of white than 1 thick coat , it will dry a lot better and quicker too
ps i use nail fresh too , its a fantastic product x

 

[Trixy]

I use an orange stick covered in cotton wool and polish remover to get my french lines perfect....

 

[kimpearce]

Can anyone suggest a CND white for french manicure please? Looking in the book Cream Puff looks white and so does Bisou de Lulu but it is hard to tell which would be better? Thanks.

 

[cathill]

I think doing afrench is something your good at or your not , I am pretty good at it i do it free hand and never need to clean the line up but then i am very good at art so i think that helps keep practising though then maybe one day you will be able to do it and not have to use the products suggested ! xx:hug:Also it helps if your brush is flat and i pat it on rather than stroke it from side to side

 

[nailzoo]

you can actually do it with almost any high quality polish, with a high quality brush, pinch the polish brush between your fingers to flatten it, put it back in the polish, then away you go.

Here's a quick vid

Fanning the brush before painting Fanning before French Paint
then painting French Polish 2
and one in blue Nail Zoo - Feeling Blue French

 

[Curly Bamboo]

Dear All,

I want to thank you all very much for all your technical tips. I now can paint the most amazing french in precision.

To summarise the tips you have all given me...

1) make the white paint brush flat.
2) do 2 thin white coats for the smile.
3) using a slightly rounded flat brush,
4) dip brush in CND nailfresh
5) clean up the smile


I bought the nailfresh from Ellisons about £9. The brush is also from Ellisons, about £3, its a sable makeup brush.

I am absolutely estatic about french manicures now!

 

[catsaremad]

you can actually do it with almost any high quality polish, with a high quality brush, pinch the polish brush between your fingers to flatten it, put it back in the polish, then away you go.

Here's a quick vid

Fanning the brush before painting Fanning before French Paint
then painting French Polish 2
and one in blue Nail Zoo - Feeling Blue French

:lol: Oh My god after stressing all night about not being able to do a clean french manicure watched nail zoo vid and hey presto a perfect french.................................. god I'm amazed !!!!

Very happy cat lol

 

[Bettierae]

I don't use creative for my acrylic nails, but I always have a bottle of nailfresh from creative for manicure tidying if I need it. It doesn't smear the white onto the nail bed. I have an old lash tint brush I use with it, as it seems to be just the right size and shape for the job. hth x