Doing a French Pedicure at home is not as simple as it seems, but follow these steps and you will be doing great French pedicures for years to come! Note: this will be much easier to do if you have nail tip guide strips.

Before you start, you want to make sure that your toenails are cut, clean, and filed. There should be no left over nail polish from your last application.  Be sure to use top nail products. 

Once your toes are clean and ready to go, add a basecoat first. Once you have added your basecoat, and waited until it is fully dry, you are ready to add the white tips. If you don’t have nail tip strip guides, DO NOT add a basecoat.

Add the nail tip guide strips right underneath the white part of your toenails, following the natural curve. Once the strips are on each toenail, paint the tips of your toenails either white or off-white depending on your preference. If you have a thinner nail polish brush, this would be a good time to use it. Remember: you want your coat to be very thin!

If you don’t have nail tip strip guides and can’t get any, this is the next best method. Have a q-tip dabbed (not drenched!) in nail polish remover handy, and try your best to freehand the white line. Because it most likely won’t turn out straight (unless you are a perfect artist), you can use the q-tip to straighten out the line. Remember NOT to use a basecoat if you use this method; you would end up removing some of that basecoat with the q-tip, and the paint job will not turn out well.

Once the white strips have dried completely, pull away the tip guide strips. Pull from the top down to avoid any possible leaking.

The next step for French pedicure feet is to apply a neutral nail polish using the three-stroke method. A neutral nail polish is merely a regular nail polish that is very pale. Get a neutral nail polish that is pink, beige, or peach colored (pink is the most popular color of the three).

Take the nail polish you intend to use and roll it in between your hands. Do not shake the bottle, as this will not get rid of all the air bubbles. It is very important to get rid of air bubbles, as they could potentially ruin your nail painting job later on.

Now you are ready to apply nail polish onto the brush. Be sure to add just enough nail polish onto the brush for one nail. Also remember to keep the coat you add on very thin. The thinner it is, the less likely it will come out blotchy or smudge. Find a way to keep your toes separate so they don’t accidentally touch and mess up the paint job.

To do the three-stroke method, push the tip of the brush up to your cuticle, and make one nice, clean stroke up toward the end of the nail. The first stroke should be done on one side of the toenail. Next should be up the other side of the toenail. The last one should be right up the middle. At this point you should have a thin and even coat on your toenail. The whole toenail should have been painted with one dip of the nail polish brush in the bottle. Remember: French pedicure toes look good because they look natural! It will never work if they look thick or smudged. Subtlety is the key!

Occasionally, a little dab of nail polish will get onto your skin. This is ok because the nail polish is still wet, and therefore, very easy to remove. What you want to do if this happens is have a ready q-tip that has been dabbed in nail polish remover (not soaked), and use it to wipe away the nail polish that got on the skin.

Once your nail polish application is complete, let it dry completely. Even though they may look dry, give them an extra five minutes, because sometimes the paint underneath the top layer hasn’t dried, and so they may smudge even after they appear totally dry.

Once you are certain the nail is totally dry, repeat the process one more time! Apply the second coat of nail polish in the exact same manner.

Once you are certain the second layer of nail polish is totally dry, you are ready to add a clear topcoat polish. This will make your pretty toes gleam! Once the topcoat has dried, you are ready to go! That’s all there is to it on how to do a French pedicure.

Please read my other hub about foot massage techniques.