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How To Give Yourself A French Manicure What makes a manicure French? Find out how to achieve the perfect French manicure on your own hands, every time. Add a touch of class to your hands without spending a fortune. Step 1: You will need 4 types of nail varnish; - a base coat or ridge filler - a colour varnish - a top coat - white or cream tip varnish - Cuticle oil or any edible oil - A cuticle stick - An emery board - A cotton pad - Hand and nail moisturiser - Nail varnish remover Step 2: Make some time Don't rush your manicure, you will make a mess. Give yourself some time and do it right. It will last longer in the end. Step 3: Nail Varnish Remover Get rid of any old nail varnish using some nail varnish remover on a cotton pad. Step 4: Cuticle oil Put on some cuticle oil and massage it in. Leave it on whilst filling to soften your nails. If you don't have cuticle oil, olive oil or any edible oil will work just as well. Step 5: File your nails There is no point having beautifully varnished nails that are ragged. Take an emery board and run it along the nail tip, only in one direction, until you get the shape you want. Step 6: Tidy up your cuticles Cuticles are the skin that overlaps onto the nail. It is a natural part of the nail, but oil in the skin means that the nail varnish will not stick to it for long. So to soften your cuticles soak your nails in warm water, this can take up to 15 minutes. A great alternative to this is to apply cuticle remover to your nails, give your hands a generous coat of moisturiser and wrap in cling film for 15 minutes. This softens the cuticles and moisturises your hands. To remove the dead cuticle, rub a cuticle stick around in very small circles so that the dead cuticle is rubbed off. You can then push the rest of the cuticle back. Step 7: Wash your hands Clean away all of the nail dust and grime so that you don't seal it in.