How to Do an Italian Manicure

An Italian manicure is one of the latest trends for painting fingernails. This hot new look makes fingers look long and slender. Italian manicures are much easier to pull off than French manicures, and they take less time to complete. Treat yourself to an Italian manicure so your fingers will look like they're ready for the runway.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Polish remover
• Cotton balls
• Clear base coat
• Dark-colored nail polish
• Light polish

1. Use cotton balls and fingernail polish remover to remove all traces of old nail polish. Wash and dry your fingernails.

2. Shape fingernails with an emery board. Flatten the tips of the nails with a gentle back-and-forth motion. File the sides of each nail, keeping them straight and squaring off the corners.

3. Paint a layer of base coat or regular clear polish. Let the base coat dry for about five minutes or according to the manufacturer instructions.

4. Keep the base of the nails clear or choose a light color for the nails. Paint each nail surface with the pale color. Let the nails dry for 5 minutes.

5. Select red nail polish if you have chosen to keep the base coat clear. Use a darker, coordinating shade of polish if you used a color for the second coat of polish.

6. Take the paint wand out of the bottle. Brush excess polish off on the inside of the polish bottle neck. Keep plenty of paint on the brush--but not so much that it drips.

7. Carefully paint a thin stripe in the middle of each nail with the red or coordinating color. Start at the cuticle and paint to the tip of the nail. Repeat on each nail. Let nails dry for 15 minutes.