The French manicure survives every trend cycle because it is not a colour, it is a proportion. A nude base, a defined tip, and the eye does the rest. Here are the five versions we cut, and where each one belongs.
Classic
White tip, two to three millimetres, on a sheer pink base. The interview, the wedding, the meeting where you present. It has meant polished for fifty years and still does.
Micro
A hairline of white, under a millimetre. The most modern of the five, and the one to pick if your nails are short. It reads as detail, not as decoration.
Gilded
The tip drawn in champagne gold instead of white. Warmer, dressier, and quietly festive without a single snowflake. Wears beautifully next to jewellery.
Cat eye
A magnetic band of light through the tip. It moves when your hand moves, which makes it the one people notice second, then cannot stop noticing.
Inverse
The moon at the cuticle instead of the tip. Editorial, a little undone, best on almond and oval shapes where the curve mirrors the base.
All five live in the French Tip collection, every set with twelve sizes in the box.