Teal French Manicure

These nails are a unique French Manicure with teal waves. My natural nails were too long for a normal and balanced French manicure, so I added a teal swirl portion and put the design at an angle (just because).

1. I started with a base coat to protect my natural nails from staining.
2. Next I used a transparent pink that just barely shows on top of my nail bed. This gives my nail bed a healthy pink color without making them look artificial.
3. I made the white scallops with the normal brush of white nail polish. After that was dry I copied the curves with a smaller teal wave.
4. The swirls are painted with black acrylic paint that I watered down so I could get thinner, more precise lines. I followed the border of the white and teal to define the colors, and added swirls as interesting decoration. The dots on the outer end of the white “French” manicure do the same by breaking up the border between the white and natural color. 

These nails were a fun way for me to keep my natural nails long and still have a half painted style. A normal french manicure would have left an awkwardly large white tip. I like the unusual splash of teal color, and vague resemblance to ocean waves.