Moss Striped French nails

Coffin · Striped French

Salon or steady hand

A striped french: the Milk Glass tip broken into fine parallel lines over Moss.

3 bottles: Moss, Milk Glass and Deep Moss. Moss and Milk Glass sit a comfortable distance apart: the motif is clearly legible without shouting, which is the easiest range to freehand in. The bottles are not all the same finish (crème and sheer), so the pattern picks up light differently from the ground.

It sits on a coffin, sometimes called ballerina, tapered at the sides and cut off square at the tip. It needs real length and repays it with the largest flat area of any shape.

Make it yours

Pick a part of the nail, then a shade
Base: Moss · Crème Open the bottle

Bottles for this nail

Tap a bottle to open it on the shelf

What you need

Sheer base milky wash
Tip colour liner brush
Gloss top seal the smile

How to paint Moss Striped French nails

  1. 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Two thin coats of Moss, curing each one.
  2. 2 Mark the smile line, then rule Milk Glass stripes inside it with a striping brush.
  3. 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.

Questions about Moss Striped French

  • Is Moss Striped French hard to do at home?

    It is the hardest tier on the site. It is doable at home, but the technique is the point rather than the colour. Budget an hour or more for a full set, and three colours means three chances for something to bleed, so cure between each one rather than working wet on wet.

  • What polish do I need for Moss Striped French?

    3 bottles: Moss (crème), Milk Glass (sheer) and Deep Moss (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.

  • Does Moss Striped French work on short nails?

    Coffin is the one shape here that genuinely needs length. On a short nail there is not enough free edge to cut square, and it will read as a squoval instead.

  • How many coats does Moss Striped French need?

    More than you would expect. Milk Glass is translucent, so the colour builds over three thin coats rather than covering in two. Stop wherever you like the depth — that is the point of a sheer.

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