Wow, Oui!

30 Unexpected French Nail Tips That Totally Reinvent the Classic Look

Timeless does not mean boring — and these nail artists prove that.
neon yellow green micro french manicure on
Getty Images

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Love them or hate them, the staying power of the French manicure is undeniable, but the look has evolved immensely from its classic pink and white. The last few years have spawned dozens of different colorful designs with the same timeless DNA: arcs of color along the tips of nails. Genius nail artists have shown off their unexpected takes on Instagram, with half-moons in neon, tie-dye, and eggs (yes, eggs — specifically sunny side up).

For Tiffany M., the salon manager at Finger Bang in Portland, Oregon, inspiration comes from beyond the nail: “ceramic artists, tattoo artists, textile artists, and so on.” As she explains it, "Following other nail artists [on social media] is fantastic, but by admiring all different types of artistry, I am able to convert some of those techniques into new designs that aren’t just a replication of something another nail artist has already done." As the collected works below prove, innovation can strike even within the confines of a French.

Los Angeles-based nail artist Betina R. Goldstein sees the French manicure as a blazer for your nails. “It will never go out of style and it goes with everything,” she says. “There are also a lot of ways to make it feel more young, fresh, and updated. And how you pair it (like a blazer), depending on color choices, shape, width, and pattern, can make it really feel new and different.”

Meet the experts:

Can you get a French manicure on short nails?

French manicures work on both long and short nails (with the latter rising in popularity, possibly due to people looking for the most hygienic nail length possible). Plus, the tips can be painted onto nude or bare nails, so you can let your nails grow without it looking awkward and having to run back to the salon for another appointment.

How to do French tips at home

If you're ready to take on your tips yourself, New York City-based nail artist Lolly Koon recommends starting by putting the polish brush on the center of your nail and making a small dash. Then, make arcs on each side of the nail that connect to it. "If you go from one side to the other, one side is going to be thick, and the other side is going to be thin because you're going to offload all the polish onto one side," Koon tells Allure. Then, voilà, you'll ace your half-moon tips.

French manicure inspiration

Here, you're sure to find at least one French manicure trend that speaks to your aesthetic. Show your favorites to your nail artists or experiment with painting them yourself — many of the examples below also include handy directions from the originators of the work.

  • pattern french manicure
    Natalie Minerva
    1/30

    Patterned

    “One of my favorite techniques is a ‘flat French,’” says Natalie Minerva, the nail artist for HBO's Euphoria. “Rather than a curved French, I will split the nail in half and do a straight line, then fill in the tip with a fun pattern that I may pull from a shirt or wallpaper design, like the one featured here.”

    This particular look, which could have been inspired by the bathroom wallpaper at the Moulin Rouge, uses basic black and red to create a sexy, harlequin pattern. As Minerva points out, the “flat” technique used here “is also great because these nails grow out much better than a full color, since the cuticle area is clear.”

  • Instagram/@destinationbty
    2/30

    Underlined

    Add some extra emphasis to your manicure with a 3D element set between the tip and the base. Sophie Dos Santos, a nail artist at Destination BTY in London, played with tradition even further by keeping the lines mismatched and wavy. “3D French is very popular at the moment, as is chrome, so we combined them both. It's been one of our most popular looks this summer,” she says.

  • Instagram/@nailsbyblake
    3/30

    Watercolor

    This abstract watercolor, by Ohio nail artist @nailsbyblake, manages to perfectly capture a frothy ocean wave. Blake created the look with five shades of polish swirled together, while studiously avoiding getting any color on the nude base.

  • Instagram/@jellybayn_nails
    4/30

    Fleur-de-lis

    Doubling up on the French theme, UK-based nail artist Jema Baynes painted crisp, clean fleur-de-lis, with the “stem” at the nail tip and the petals opening up onto the nail bed. As for technique, “I apply the gel slightly thicker at the top and pull the droplets into sharp points at the bottom,” Baynes says.

  • Natalie Minerva
    7/30

    Sequin

    The creativity, the shimmer, the sheer badassery — it almost goes without saying that Minerva created this sequined French manicure for a client to wear to Beyoncé's Renaissance tour.

    She's also a fan of filling in the French tip with beading, another way to create an eye-catching 3D effect.

  • Finger Bang Portland
    8/30

    French by the ocean

    This iridescence mimics the inside of a conch shell, complete with a pearl. Alyssa, a Portland-based nail artist, who created this look, used the cat-eye technique, painting multiple diagonal lines across each tip to build the shell's fan shape.

    “Taking such a tiny section of the nail and trying to fit designs inside proves to be a challenge and pushes me to create outside of the norm,” Alyssa says.

  • Credits in text
    9/30

    Neon

    Pick your favorite fluorescent hue and sub it in for white tips with inspiration from San Diego-based nail artist Nyah’s electric lime or British manicurist Michelle Humphrey's Day-Glo lemon.

    Instead of just picking one, take cues from Villa Alemana, Chile-based Riley Miranda and go for a neon Skittles look or paint your bright tips onto a nude base like Los Angeles-based Amy Le. The multitoned French mani take recently received Kourtney Kardashian's seal of approval.

  • Credits in text
    10/30

    Red Fruits 

    Sprinkle a teeny-tiny assortment of cherries or strawberries atop your classic French manicure, just as Miami-based nail artist Kimberly Thu did on a couple of her clients. Fruits in other hues, like lemons, oranges, watermelons, and grapes, are sure to be just as deliciously fun.

  • Credits in text
    11/30

    Negative Space 

    Instead of a solid line of color, consider a thin frame around the typical half-moon area. Los Angeles-based nail artist Hang Nguyen outlined her French manicure with classic rainbow colors, while Le and Nyah went with neons. Nyah also tried out the trend with gradients of orange and blue.

  • Credits in text
    12/30

    Tie-Dye 

    Tie-dye may have taken over your wardrobe long ago, but have you considered adding the nostalgic aesthetic to your nails yet? Le and UK-based nail artist Rosie Lynall, a.k.a., Nails Bab, painted on arcs of ROYGBIV before swirling them together for their psychedelic rainbow tips.

  • Credits in text
    15/30

    Mix and Match 

    By now, we've established that you don't have to limit your French manicure to a single shade, so you shouldn't have to settle on one design either. (You have Miss Pop's permission.) You can definitely adorn each finger with a different look. Oakland, California-based nail artist Miya Adams, a.k.a. @thenailritual, added '90s elements to the mix, while British nail artist Amber Hancock painted on a pale pink base and cute crescents of eggs, clouds, and sparkles. In the bottom row, Lynall combined cow print with cherries, as well as a smiley face and flowers. Thu's take, on the other hand, included flames and strawberries.

  • Instagram/@jessicawashick
    16/30

    French x 5

    Nail artist Jessica Washick terms this look "hot girl color," a.k.a., the nail art companion to hot girl summer. The look multiplies the classic French by adding additional striped shades. This medium-length nail is complete with five colors, but with longer nails (or thinner stripes) you could get those numbers up as high as you want. Mimic these bright shades or switch 'em up for pastel girl color, Christmas girl color, Pride girl color, etc.

  • Instagram/@lecame.shesaw.shepainted
    17/30

    Holographic French

    New York-based Le'ana of @lecame.shesaw.shepainted took this sparkly French, courtesy of Cirque Colors in Subculture, on vacation, but there's really never a wrong time for a holographic manicure. This look is the essence of the "new French": It's still recognizable, it's still chic, but it's painted with a modern twist.

  • Instagram/@mixandmatchnails
    18/30

    Sixties Pop

    Can't you feel the serotonin flowing in your brain while you look at his photo? This joyful manicure, painted by Carla M Negrón, is modeled after fashion designer Tyler McGillivary's latest collection. "We were inspired by the colors and fabric of one of her designs," Negrón says. With or without the matching dress, the colorful balance of flowers and French here is enough to keep anyone smiling.

  • Instagram/@jmaebeauty_
    19/30

    Pointilist

    This modern French take is deceptively simple and requires one more more thing than usual: a dotting tool (or a bobby pin or toothpick). Nail artist Jessica Beard started with a standard French (albeit one with hot pink tips via Gel Bottle Inc. in Madonna), then alternated overlaying it with royal blue Bolt and pastel yellow Queen Bee dots. The result has almost a 3D effect, which brings this French straight into the 21st century.

  • Instagram/@hopejungnails
    20/30

    Cheetah girls

    "I've encouraged my classic French clients to try a twist and attempt something new," says Wisconsin-based nail artist Hope Jung. For this lucky client, that meant adding a hand-painted cheetah print that, let's be honest, is worlds away from your old school Essie Ballet Slippers-style French. "[Something new might be] a different color tip or adding a contrasting color to the design to give their nails a pop of color," Jung says. Some of her favorite variations on the classic are to use neon colors or add a matte topcoat.

  • Instagram/@bycheznails
    23/30

    Floral French

    This spring-ready manicure looks like it's stepped straight out of the Delia*s catalogue, and that's the highest compliment I know. Just a few twists — mixing up the colors and adding little daisies — give it a young, sweet update. "The French tip is one of my favorite nail art designs because there are so many possibilities," says Emily Zheng of @bycheznails, who is based in Los Angeles and Seattle. "It’s so easy to add on design elements like swirls, florals, or line work to really take your look to the next level."

  • Instagram/@bycheznails
    24/30

    Line Item

    With just a few strokes of the brush, Emily updates this French by…oh, about a century. "Sometimes, I enjoy leveling up a classic French with a fun color palette, like rainbow pastel or neon," she says. "Other times, I incorporate geometric or organic shapes for a funkier twist." Here, she pairs basic black with periwinkle Kanpai OPI!.

  • Instagram/@heygreatnails
    25/30

    Half French

    It takes a true artist like Aistè P. of @heygreatnails to be able to "randomly," as she puts it, create a look this chic. “I experimented with variations while trying to create a modern twist," she says. Mission accomplished. While it keeps the two-color palette of a traditional French, the creative use of negative space makes for a very contemporary flourish.

  • Instagram/@theeenailangel
    26/30

    Abstract neon

    At first glance, the designs on this set look like they could be flames. Then, I thought it might be neon-colored malachite. Or is it ocean waves? According to artist Las Vegas-based Gabriel Medina, the design is simply abstract, which means the answer is D) all of the above. "I started with a milky, nude pink base, cured, and then matted it out. Then I went with an opaque white, drew on the outline of a French, and added some abstract lines," Medina says. "I went in with neon pigments and a tiny brush, packed the pigment in, and ombréd it." Lastly, Medina added a few hot pink crystals.

  • Instagram/@nailsbyniq
    27/30

    Snakeskin

    To take this look from colorful French to zoologist French, Niq of @nailsbyniq drew scales to imitate snakeskin. Keeping the art to just a few nails will help those of us who fear reptiles, but the rest should feel free to snake this design around all 10 fingers.

  • Instagram/@nailsbyester.g
    28/30

    Grandma's Little Helper

    With various shades of blue and purple and some carefully chosen glitter, Eagle Mountain-based nail artist Ester turns the classic French shape up to 11. The beauty of the whirlwind of color is that it's easy to re-create at home if you're not afraid to color outside the lines. The same can't be said of the free-painted Mickey Mouse design, which happens to depict a very ripped version of the world's favorite mouse. "[My client] was going to Disney with her granddaughter, so I offered her a six-pack ‘bodyguard’ to match the Disney theme," Ester said.

Devon Abelman is a former digital beauty editor for Allure. A reporter with nearly a decade of experience covering the intricacies and intersectionality of beauty, culture, and K-pop, Devon previously served as an editor at FamilyFun and held roles at Parents and Country Living. In 2014, she graduated from... Read more
Former Beauty Editor, Allure.com
Keywordsfrench manicureFrench manicuresManicuresnail artnail artistnail inspirationnailsnail trendsnail designfruit nailsdiy nailsbutterfliesrainbow nailsneonneon nailslong nailsshort nailsnude nailsnude manicuresDIY manicurenail ideasnail art designs
Read More
Makeup
The Best Eye Shadow Palettes Allure Editors Can't Live Without
The category is versatile.
Makeup
12 Best Brow Gels for All-Day Definition
Lift and shape your arches to perfection.
Skin
15 Best Moisturizers for Mature Skin to Target Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Aging skin is beautiful, but there's no harm in extra hydration.
Skin
11 Best Dark Spot Correctors for a Clearer Complexion
Minimizing post-acne marks is easier to do than you’d think.