The
difference between a
basic manicure and a
French manicure is the
colour. Whilst your
common,
garden variety manicure is finished off with a coat or two of any single
colour, a
French manicure has specific rules. The
tips of the
nails, now
yellow from having been
ravaged by
pollution,
smoking,
etc., are painted white (usually in a
crescent shape, but sometimes just
straight across). The whole nail is then usually coated in an
opaque pink (or
nude) varnish.
However, certain details vary from person to person. Some prefer to paint a base coat of pink before applying the white tips, some like to paint half the nail white and create the crescent using a Q-Tip soaked in nail varnish remover. It is possible to buy sticky strips that you can paint alongside in order to achieve a perfect finish. SCAM! They tend to just pull the newly-applied varnish off the nail.
Practice makes perfect.