French Pedicure - 10 Steps To Pretty Feet

With a French pedicure you are only ten tiny steps away from natural, nude, clean and young looking feet! Beautiful summer feet can be yours in only a few minutes. Give your feet a French nail polish pedicure and have the prettiest feet and cleanest looking toes for your summer vacations this year.

If your toe nails are not as lovely as they used to be, then this is a super cheat that covers up a multitude of sins and leaves you with shell-pink toes and young looking feet.

No need for expensive salons. A French manicure is so easy to do yourself at home, although you do need a bit of a steady hand. As they say, practice makes perfect!

What are you waiting for? It's time invest in a French manicure kit right now and get to work on those tired feet so that they'll be in the pink for the beach this summer.

A natural looking polish for nude feet

Parisian women are so chic and that is just what this classic look is going to do for you. A French pedicure or French manicure is a way of painting your nails with nail varnish so that they look young, nude and natural.

The tips of the nails are painted white while the rest of the nail is painted a clear, soft natural colour, usually pink. this makes your toe nails look healthy, young and clean. You can have younger looking feet.

You can easily buy a cheap French manicure kit online. This is a typical pack with a pink varnish for the nails and a white varnish for the tips. There are guides included in the pack.

Tired looking feet

These feet are unloved. The nails have ragged tips, the colour has yellowed and some nails show thickening. The woman in this picture is 60 and her age shows in her feet.

A French nail manicure or pedicure will give your nails a fresh pink colour and cover up, or diguise, discolouration and any irregularities in the surface. It will also disguise thickened nails.

Clean feet, nice french polish, ready to go this summer. You can have caressable feet.

1. Wash and dry your feet
2. Clean under and around the nails
3. Cut your toe nails horizontally
4. File your nails smooth and buff the surface
5. Apply a base coat (optional)
6. Separate the toes with cotton wool or toe separaters
7. Apply the nude colour polish to the whole toenail
8. Apply the guides
9. Paint on the white tips
10. Apply a protective coat of nail varnish

Treat your feet to a pedicure for younger looking feet

First you need to give those feet a really good soak in warm water. Remove any dry and hard skin, gently push back the cuticles with a cuticle pusher, (the cuticle is the skin around the base of the nail), and clean around the nail and under the tip of the nail with an orange stick.

Trim nails horizontally, taking care not to cut off the corners as this can lead to ingrowing toe nails.

Gently file the edge of the nail to ensure that it's smooth, then buff the surface of the nail with a buffer.

For more detailed instructions see the site below: All About Shoes and Feet

Nail Polish Remover - Get rid of any old nail polish on your toes

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover, Strengthening, 8 oz Buy from Amazon.com

Treat yourself to a polish remover that is kind to your toe nails. This salon formula nail polish remvoer has gelatin to strengthen nails, it also helps to soften cuticles. You deserve all you can get to make those nails, strong, healthy and resilient.

Lets face it girls, who has the time or inclination to remove dry skin by hand? Some of us with hard, dry skin or callus on our feet have a real problem but despite many resolutions to treat my feet daily - I just don't do it;

So .... this little number is going to be my birthday treat request. How about You?

Start with a ridge filler

First of all prop your toes apart with cotton wool or toe separators as this will make the job of painting the nails infinitely easier.

If you have ridges in your nails you might like to start with a layer of ridge filler to give the nails a more even looking surface.

Let this coat dry thoroughly and then apply a base coat, although this is optional and I just went straight for the pink varnish!

Carefully remove any varnish around the nail with cotton bud dipped in polish remover, (see below).

Get yourself good french pedicure base coats for toes to ensure that your toe nails are smooth and fresh-looking. A good base coat will also extend the life of you natural pedicure.

This French manicure kit, (or in this case French pedicure kit), included a coloured varnish and a white varnish. It also included nail guides and allows you to give yourself natural looking pedicures. Oh la la - those French toes are going places!

I had to make my own guides to get those French toenails!

Next apply the coloured varnish to the whole toe nail and allow it to dry thoroughly. Carefully remove any varnish around the nail with cotton bud dipped in polish remover, (see below).

Then put on the toe nail guides. Now the guides in my pack were clearly for finger nails and were all too rounded. Some articles call the edge of the pink part of the nail where it becomes white at the tip the 'smile line'. Well, mine don't exactly smile so I made my own guides from sticky labels and they worked just fine!

Then apply the white nail varnish to the tips of the nails. It is these white tips that create those special French pedicure toes.

Leave it to dry and then remove the guides. Again, take the time to remove any varnish around the nail with cotton bud dipped in polish remover, (see below).

This can be done free hand but I think you'd need a very steady hand and a good eye to do this yourself. You would probably need a French polish 'pen' to do this successfully too.

I had sticky labels that I mainly use to label my jam as guides. I cut them up into thin slivers and they worked just darling!

Protect your French pedicure

A top coat of protective varnish will protect your pedicure and prolong it's life.

Once you've applied your top coat, carefully remove any varnish around the nail with cotton bud dipped in polish remover.

If you use these products - weeks!

The pedicure that I carried out for these photographs has lasted weeks. It has lasted so long that I've forgotten when I did it. Take care with the preparation and final coats and you'll be able to hand onto those beautiful toes for quite a long time.

I'm pleased that the result and longevity of the treatment has made that little initial investment of a bit of cash and an hour or som worthwhile. My French pedicure lasted so long that eventually I had to cut my toenails. Hey ho - can't wait to paint again!

You put the white where the colour goes ...

... and vice versa! Carry out all the instructions but paint the main part of the toe nail white and top with a coloured strip for a funky, fun look.

Adverse effects of polish

If your nails were nice and pink before your French pedicure, then don't panic! Prolonged use of nail polish prevents the nail breathing and makes it discolour.

Buffing your nails helps. Leave your toe nails without polish to, literally, give your nails a breather.

In this video the white tip is applied free hand and the edge tidied up afterwards. Try both techniques and see what suits you best. Hope this very sexy pic of feet and nails after their lovely French pedicure inspires you!