Give your French tips a bronze fade upgrade

Is your current French manicure feeling a little stale? Have you been wearing the same pink and white combination for weeks or months? If you answered yes to either of those questions, it’s time to take a new look at those tips.

One fairly easy way to refresh your manicure is to choose a contrasting tip color that suits your mood. Chrome pigment powder comes in a variety of shades, and bronze adds a warm, sophisticated edge to a classic nude base. Dust the nail tips — or even half the nail as seen in this tutorial — with bronze chrome powder, and prepare to get noticed.

Materials
- Gel base coat (Orly GelFX)
- LED lamp (Lumcrissy, not shown)
- Translucent nude nail gel (Born Pretty, Caged Bird)
- No-wipe top coat (Cheri)
- Sponge eye shadow applicator
- Bronze chrome pigment powder

1. Apply two coats of translucent nude gel to your nails, and cure it with the LED lamp.

3. Seal the colored gel with a layer of no-wipe top coat. Cure the gel under the LED lamp.

4. Dip the sponge eye shadow applicator into the bronze chrome pigment powder, and apply it to the front half of your nail, gently pressing it into the nail.

5. Apply a thin coat of clear gel base coat to seal in the chrome pigment. Cure the gel in the LED lamp..

6. Apply a thin layer of no-wipe top coat to the nails, and use the LED lamp to cure it.

Note: In the video, steps 5 and 6 don't show use of the LED lamp, but curing with the gel lamp is highly recommended to keep the chrome from chipping and to preserve the look.