Manicure Francais Noir

Yeah, my written French is pretty rusty and I'm quite certain that's incorrect, pardonez moi, s'il vous plait. Particularly any of you who may be French. I do apologize, honestly.
I offer up instead a trend that was popular last year that I never caught on to, probably because I'm really not that big into nail art. This isn't nail art, but a French manicure, which playing with this style is all the rage and I'm liking it. The traditional acrylic tip French reminds me of 80s strip malls but the colors change it up and make it more fun.

I give you the black French!

The one I modeled this after had all OPI on it, which you know I won't buy. I had to come up with my own version. I tried butterLondon Union Jack Black with a coat of Hard Candy's matte top coat. It gave it a rubberized feel, which  was pretty and subtle, but too subtle for this. I didn't take a shot of it, which was kind of dumb of me, honestly.

This is the best picture of all of them. I free handed those tips, not bad for a first time effort! I was pretty pleased. You wouldn't actually be looking at them this close up so from a distance they looked really even and good. It's not terrible here. I don't think so, anyway.

So what I wound up using was a little stroke of genius on my own part, I felt. Who does the best and extremely matte mattes. ManGlaze. Of Course! This is ManGlaze Matte is Murder. Note the silver shimmer in there? Dense but not overwhelming? It looked great for this. The shiny black is the blackest and shiniest I have: the butterLondon Union Jack Black. That's just inky black.

The bottle shots. I think you can figure out which is which here.

This is more what the ManGlaze looked like to the naked eye. It had this lovely sheen to it but it was definitely a strong contrast. Plus, because of the matte polish, I didn't top coat the butter so this is really how shiny UJB is on it's own.

This is me trying to hold the bottle so you still get a nail shot. Such a junkie, I am.

Last one in natural light from the window.

I love this. It's edgy but elegant. Understated but dangerous...It wasn't universally popular. MDAMO was skeptical  at first, but it got the official Man Seal of Approval after the fact. My parents suggested I was either a vampire or haunting houses. Can't please everyone all the time!

Mechanics: My usual

1 coat Poshe base coat
1 coat Nailtiques 2 plus
2 coats Seche Rebuild
2 coats ManGlaze Matte is Murder over the whole nail
2 coats butterLondon Union Jack Black over the tips (one swipe from the left, one swipe from the right)

What do you think? I love it...I felt weird about it at work, but I really love this look.

Happy Talons!!