How to achieve an Italian manicure, the secret nail artists love for longer-looking nails

It’s surprisingly easy to DIY.

The Gist

• The Italian manicure, also known as the slimline manicure, is a technique that visually elongates and slenderizes nail beds.
• Instead of painting the entire nail, artists leave a very slim gap between each side of the nail.
• Find out how to DIY the technique with tips from celebrity nail artists, below.

You’ve likely heard of Russian manicures and Japanese gel manicures, but one nail technique that’s flown relatively under the radar—until now—is the Italian manicure. Also known as the slimline manicure, it’s a longtime nail artist secret for creating the illusion of longer nail beds. 

“People with wider nail beds love this style of manicure because it doesn’t emphasize the true width of their nails,” says celebrity nail artist Danny Tavarez. “The wider the nail bed appears, the shorter the nail can look. By minimizing the width, we create an optical illusion that makes the nails look longer and slimmer. It’s the look so many people with wider nail beds are after when they’re trying to achieve the perfect manicure.”

Plus, it’s relatively easy to DIY. You’ll just need a liner brush and a flat brush to achieve the manicure’s signature crisp, clean lines, plus a gel or regular polish of your choice. “For at-home manicures, this technique is especially helpful because it minimizes polish on the skin and delivers a neater, more professional result,” adds Jacquline Pham, celebrity manicurist for Color Street.

Below, we’re breaking down what an Italian manicure is, with expert tips on how to achieve it and make your nails look like they grew overnight.

Meet Our Expert

• Jacquline Pham is a celebrity manicurist for Color Street.
• Danny Tavarez is a celebrity nail artist who works with stars like Ariana Grande and Chase Infiniti.

What Is an Italian Manicure?

“The Italian manicure is a precision application technique that creates a clean, salon-quality finish while making the nail bed appear longer and more slender,” says Pham. “Instead of flooding the cuticles, polish or gel is carefully applied just shy of the skin using a fine liner brush, resulting in crisp edges and a more refined look.” 

You can think of it almost like contouring and highlighting. By leaving slim gaps between your polish and your skin along each side of the nail, you’re essentially chiseling out and defining the longest, slimmest parts of your nail beds. “Once the manicure is finished, those gaps are practically unnoticeable, but they make a big difference in how the nails look,” Tavarez adds.

How to DIY an Italian Manicure

“Italian manicures are actually not that hard to achieve,” says Tavarez. “They’re a little more challenging with regular nail lacquer because it doesn’t give you as much time to perfect your lines the way gel polish does, but it’s definitely not impossible.”

You’ll want to start by prepping your nails. A clean, well-kept foundation is key to professional-looking results. After you’ve buffed, shaped, and tidied up your cuticles, you can then go in with a base coat and start painting with gel or regular polish. “Use a liner brush to map out guide lines where you want the defining edges of your Italian manicure to end,” says Tavarez. “Then apply your polish in three strokes: one down the center and one on each side, staying within your guide  lines. Once that’s done, go back in with your liner brush and reinforce those guide lines using very thin coats of polish.” If you accidentally color outside of the guide lines, Pham recommends using a clean, flat nail brush to sweep up excess polish.

Next, it’s time for your second coat. “Your second coat is the most important,” says Tavarez. “This is where you can get a little closer to the cuticle, smooth everything out, and disguise any imperfections so the guide lines blend seamlessly into the manicure.” 

Finish with another round of cleanup using a clean, flat brush. If the polish isn’t coming off with a clean brush, you can dip into a small amount of acetone remover, though Pham cautions against using too much as it may cause your polish to pool at the cuticle. “Finish with your top coat, moisturize your hands, apply cuticle oil, and you’ve got yourself the perfect Italian manicure,” says Tavarez.

Read the original article on InStyle