The Lipstick Party

A French manicure is a pleasant way to have polished nails without drawing too much attention to your hands.

The absence of color makes for straightforward outfit changes, without having to think too much about clashing colours. French manicures also last longer than conventional manicures with colored polish as you cannot see chips as easily.

Also they are simpler to touch up without being too conspicuous.

What is the point of having a manicure, if you are just going to put clear polish on top of your nails?

Why trouble to go to all that time and trouble, to look natural?

Well, we ladies do tons of mad things, and spend numerous hours in the beauty salon trying to make ourselves appear naturally gorgeous. Why should manicures be any different? Besides, the polish isn’t really clear.

The polish is two different colours. A really thin white or off white coat is applied to the tips of your nails and allowed to dry. Then the whole nail is painted with a soft beige or pink color, making the nails very clean and polished looking, but not actually as dramatic as red or pink polish.

While French manicures may appear almost natural, they are the most difficult type of manicure to have done to your nails. Most beauty salons charge additional money for a French manicure, than a regular manicure with one solid color. Some beauty salons use an honest to goodness paint brush, with awfully fine bristles to apply the thin white coat to the tips of the nails.

Other beauty salons will very quickly apply the white coat without much concern for detail.

Then they will come back before the polish has dried and take away the excess color with an orange stick wrapped in cotton.

This is fascinating to observe.

I usually get scared when the manicurist paints half of my fingernail white. I am thinking to myself, great, I could do a better job at home blindfolded and I am paying her my hard-earned cash to make a big mess. But then, she’s always redeemed when she cleans off the surplus and my nails look great.

Watching her perfect this skill with ease, I was lured to try this process at home.

I made a big mess.

I think that next time I’ll leave this talent to the professional.

The popularity of having a French manicure started round the seventies, and is just as popular today. People have been getting French manicures for some time. You can see these types of manicures just about anywhere from magazines, to moms at the supermarket.

One thing that is sort of interesting about French manicures is they really do not have any target age range.

Anyone from teens, to grandmothers can be seen carrying a French manicure, that’s something that cannot be declared of most fashion trends.

In recent years, there has been a new addition to the French manicure family. It is the French pedicure. They have all of the pliability and versatility of the French manicure. I adore that I can wear pink shoes, red shoes, or black shoes with no need to rethink my toenail polish.