Alternative French Tips - Tutorial

French Tips are where nail art started I guess. More than just a plain colour, they add detail and interest to your finger tips. But...they're really hard to get right! It's hard to get the right amount of colour on the tip (especially on your "wrong" hand), and keeping the line straight and neat is even more difficult. So I like to do an "alternative" take on the classic design. By using straight lines, rather than the traditional curve, and two lines of colour rather than one, this classic look is updated! And this is another tutorial that's so easy to make your own - any colour combination will work great, so your nails can match your mood, outfit or the season's trends.

And here's "how to"...
The best place to start is to plan your colours. I like to go for two complimentary shades, with a metallic varnish inbetween. In the picture above, I've gone for a Wonder Woman inspired design with red, gold and blue, and in the tutorial, I'm showing you pink, purple and silver.
Cleaning your nails, apply a base coat to protect your nails, and paint two coats of your base colour, in my case pink.

Once its dried, use the middle colour's brush and paint from two-thirds down one side, up to the middle of the tip. Then do the same on the other side. The two lines should just cross over in the middle. Dont worry about getting it on the sides of your nail, on your skin - the main thing is to paint on the colour in one sweep to ensure that the line is straight.

Next, do exactly the same with the top colour leaving a small amount of the middle colour showing. Use the line of the metallic colour to guide the line you make with the top colour. Make sure you leave an even coat of the nail varnish, and, if the colour isn't covering, wait for it to dry a bit and then paint another coat.

Because you've got so many layers of colour on your nails, it will probably take a long time to dry, and even when it's dry to the touch it will probably still indent if you mess with it. Finish with a top coat and use a cotton bud, or make up brush, dipped in nail varnish remover to get rid of all the mess from the sides of your nails. And you're done!

As I said, this design is so customisable. My favourite way to do this design is with lilac base, sliver middle and darker purple tip, with a matt coat on top. I also inverted the colours on the ring finger to add a bit of interest. I like doing a metallic coat in between, but you could do anything you wanted. How about mixing the Alternative French Tip and the Ombré tutorials and doing three different shades of the same colour going from light to dark?

Let me know the combinations you've tried in the comments.