Last night I suffered through watched Something Borrowed on DVD. I heard all the terrible reviews, but being the big Kate Hudson fan I am, I thought I needed to see it for myself. Unfortunately, I can’t get those two hours back, but I did spot a cute mani on Kate in one scene. It was a modern french manicure with a beige base, black tips, and a little bit of gold.
Cue the lineup!
Start with clean nails and a thin coat of base.
Next, apply two coats of beige polish to the entire nail. I used a fast-drying formula to try to save a little time. Letting the polish dry completely is crucial. When you think the beige is dry, give it 15 more minutes, just to be sure. Trust me on this one.
After the beige polish is bone dry, apply french manicure strips to each nail. I’ve seen a lot of bloggers use scotch tape, and I’m sure that works, too! I just like the shape of these strips — a little more rounded than straight across. Then carefully apply the black to the tips above each strip.
More drying time! Give your pinkies lots of time to dry completely, otherwise your tips won’t be straight when you remove the strip. And then all that time you spent letting the first two coats dry will all be in vain. When the dark polish is no longer tacky, oh-so-carefully remove each strip. Don’t panic if some of your beige base comes off with the strip — just touch it up.
Adding the gold line is the trickiest part. My hands shake like a leaf when I try to do any kind of close detail work, and the perfectionist in me had a tough time accepting that an immaculate hairline gold detail just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, I used the old liquid eyeliner trick: Make small dashes across the nail right underneath the black tip, then connect all of the dashes together to make a smooth line. Voila!
I sealed everything up with two good coats of the all-in-one base (which actually helped mask some of the imperfections). In all, this manicure took almost as long as sitting through the movie. But unlike the latter, I had something to show for it when I was finished!
What do you think?