Get the Look: Reverse French Manicure

I've been loving the reverse French manicure look lately, a trend that I do believe John Galliano managed to start a few seasons ago in one of his collections for Dior. I'm not exceptionally proficient in the art of painting ones own nails, but I thought I would document my first attempt to share with you all. The steps I took were inspired by a tutorial from Alix of The Cherry Blossom Girl.


I used:
- OPI Nail Lacquer in Buy-Buy, Tokyo!
- OPI Nail Lacquer in Alpine Snow
- OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
- Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat
- Paper hole reinforcements

The reinforcements can be found at Target or most likely at your local drug store.


First I applied the base coat and color (Alpine Snow, of course). I actually did this the night before to make sure it would be dry when I applied the stickers. I foresaw a very big mess if I pulled the polish up with the stickers!

Also, you're really supposed to do this technique with medium-length nails, but I have yet to resolve the issue of mine chipping within two days so I'm forced to keep mine short when I want to paint them.


When you're ready to paint your top color, take a sheet of the reinforcement stickers and cut them in half. This isn't necessary - you can use the full sticker if you want to - but it's a thriftier use of them. I, of course, used ten halves.


Apply the stickers to your nails. This is where you can play around. If you want a smaller crescent shape you can move the stickers up or down accordingly. For myself, I applied them so the highest point of the circle cut-out just touched my nail bed.


Apply two coats of your preferred top color! As you can see, I'm not a very clean nail polisher. Of course, I chose to take pictures of my right hand and that one's always the worst. So keep your sense of humor handy, ladies! I always say it's okay if you make mistakes because a little bit of magic known as nail-polish-remover-on-a-Q-Tip can make all the difference.


Let the top coat try completely (I browsed the internet for a bit while I waited) and then gently peel the stickers off. A swipe with the nail polish remover/Q-Tip, a dash of the Sally Hansen top coat and voila!







It's not perfect, but it's just a first try. You can play around with your choice of color, making the possibilities endless. Some people choose not to put a color underneath at all, preferring instead a natural crescent. Marion Cotillard has this technique in one of her Dior advertisements using purple shades that I think is quite pretty. I might try that one sometime in the future.

What do you think? Is this something any of you might try? I hope you'll let us know how it worked out for you. Feel free to share your photos on our Facebook page!

- Casee Marie