The Micro French Is a Chic, Minimalist Take on the Classic Design
Simple and ever-classic, the French manicure will always be on trend. Its iterations, however, drift in and out of trend. Right now, the micro French is hot. In the spirit of a French manicure, it focuses color along the tip of the nail. But instead of filling the tip, the micro French keeps the color to an outline right along the edge.
“The thinness of the French line elongates the rest of the nail bed,” manicurist Mazz Hanna previously told InStyle. “It creates a really beautiful, timeless illusion.”
Think of the micro French as a modern, minimalist take on formal design. Keep it closer to classic and use a shade of white for the tip, or have fun with different colors and textures. A glitter micro French is gorgeous—you can even go nuts and fit in a pattern, like the micro tortoiseshell tip below.
How To Do a Micro French
Because the micro French follows the very tip of your nail, there is less room for error. However, it may be easier for some to paint on this thin line than painting a full-blown tip. To create a micro French, start with a coat or two of a sheer nude polish for the base and then use a fine-line brush to carefully outline the edge of your nails, creating the micro French. Clean up any mishaps and get a crisp edge with an angled brush dipped in polish remover.
The biggest downside to the micro French is that all the interest is concentrated at the edge of your nails, making chips more obvious. Be sure to finish your look with a super-strong top coat be nice to your nails—remember they’re jewels, not tools.
10 Micro French Tip Designs to Try
Silver Chrome
A silver chrome is such a chic choice. Keep it simple with a silver polish, or go the extra mile and top the look off with silver chrome.
Shorties
Micro French tips look especially lovely on short nails, proving you don’t need a huge canvas to make an impact with your manicure.
Outlined
Take the micro French a step further and extend the tip outline into a half-moon.
Tortoiseshell Tips
These tortoiseshell tips are to-die for—and easier to DIY than you may think. Start with a dark brown jelly polish without worrying too much about creating the perfect tip. While that polish is still wet, go in with a bit of black on the tip of a fine-line brush. Then, use an angled brush with polish remover to clean up the line.
Classic Square
Highlight a sharp square with a micro French that runs along the flat top edge.
Silver Shimmer
Using a silver polish with finely milled glitter for both a micro French and a half-moon outline adds a super pretty touch of texture.
