French Manicure Nail Design Inspiration

Gold French Manicure using KleanColor’s Metallic Polish Set in the shade Metallic Yellow

Updated 2024.07.16. This page contains affiliate links and this site earns from qualifying purchases made through these sponsored links. 

This standard French Manicure, was developed in 1976 by Jeff Pink with Orly, and it is sometimes called Pink And White Tips, White French Tips, or Pink And White French Tips.

It is the combination of white polish on the nail tips, and pink to nude polish on the nail bed which is still connected to the skin.

Since this nail polish style was first introduced, many mix and match versions have erupted in the market, including French Manicures with colors, French Manicures with accents, and French Manicures that don’t include white, pink or nude at all.

You can get creative with the one shade on the tips, another shade on the nail bed, and the creativity certainly abounds. 

In this post, you will see French Manicure design inspiration, to give you an idea of what types of options are available for your ideal French manicured nails. 

The two things all French Manicures have in common is that you must have some nail tips, whether natural or artificial, so that you can paint a contrasting color on them. To achieve the look, you paint another color on the base. 

Typically for a French Manicure, you put the base color down first, and then paint your tips a contrasting color so that the contrasting color is vibrant in comparison to the base. 

In comparison, for an American Manicure, which is like a French Manicure, but with a softer look, you often paint the base color over top of the tip color, to give the tip a softened gradient.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at some unique French Manicures designed for your nail polish adventure inspiration -

Chevron French Manicure with magenta nail polish, using OPI 7th & Flower and OPI rose gold nail polish Metallic Composition

This Chevron French Manicure is designed with two coats of OPI’s 7th & Flower magenta nail polish as the base, and one coat of Metallic Composition rose gold glitter, from their Fall 2021 Downtown LA Collection brushed diagonally on the tips.

Classic French Manicure with butterfly accent

This Classic French Manicure, was designed with two coats of essie’s skinny dip as the base and two coats of Orly’s White Tips as the tips. The butterfly accent is applied using butterfly water transfer decals.

Midnight Green French Manicure using OPI’s My Studio’s on Spring and OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

This midnight green French Manicure is very simple. It was done with two coats of My Studio’s on Spring from OPI’s Fall 2021 Downtown LA Collection as the tips and OPI’s Natural Nail Base Coat as the base. Two coats of the base coat were used to avoid staining, as teal shades tend to stain the nail. An eyeshadow brush dipped in acetone was used to create even lines.

Pink & Grey French Manicure

This Pink and Grey French Manicure was styled with the blue gray cream, KBShimmer’s My Life’s Porpoise (discontinued), try Orly Mirror Mirror instead, and essie’s hi maintenance, a pigmented pink sheer.

Gold French Manicure

This yellow gold French Manicure features the Kleancolor Nail Polish - Awesome Metallic Full Size Lacquer Set in shade Metallic Yellow and OPI’s Natural Nail Base Coat. The top coat is Beauty Secrets Hardener.

This manicure was achieved by putting down the base coat, letting it dry, then adding two coats of the gold polish from this set to the tips only.

For more information on this gold French Manicure, and how it was done, see the post on it HERE!

French Manicure Nail Design Inspo over Yellow Gold French Manicure

Okay, so that’s it for French Manicure inspo in today’s post. 

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Other Articles You May Enjoy:

• Glazed French Manicure: Bubble Bath and Funny Bunny Combo

• Easy Polka Dot Manicure

• White Nails

• OPI Downtown LA Fall 2021 Collection - 7th & Flower Swatches

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