The Pedicured Man : The Boy French pedicure

Recently I posted about my incursion into nail painting because, let it be said, I am NOT a fan of painting my nails. I prefer mine au natureel and am sure many men out there like girls with nails in the natural. One time during a conversation with a male friend, he said he didn't like painted nails on  women he met because he thought they were hiding something. Strange thought, isn't it?. When I asked what, he answered "ugly nails!" I guess he had a valid point, and for me it was good news because I never painted mine. 

Out of curiousity I decided to learn "the craft" of nail painting. As a kid I saw my mom doing it and even offering painting mine but I just wasn't interested. Then I developed that fear for the damage my nails could sustain with those chemicals being applied to it.

And then I discovered one of the many nail lacquer lines that offer nail paints free of some of the toxic materials. A friend of mine suggested MASGLO because their line was free of the 5 toxic chemicals. Good news indeed but I was still reluctant to apply that on my nails.

I took a few of their online courses on the Masglo Academy, and I posted about it recently. The problem was, I could only apply that recently acquired knowledge by practicing on some real nails. The obvious choice was for a girl to paint her own nails, right? but you know the story already.

Then I found a "victim" as I posted recently. My male friend with cute feet which is something that stroke me when I saw him wearing sandals at the pool. He is a straight, open-minded guy and I came up with the idea of practicing on his feet. Yes! you can imagine he looked at me as if I was crazy, but after a few laughs he agreed that I practice on him. The only condition was that he wasn't ready to sport colors on his nails. Not that he found it unmanly, just because he wasn't too sure about that. And so, I had a foot model for practicing my nail painting!

The Frenchie

Since he wasn't ready to have colors on his toenails -probably because he broke his foot and his toes were going to be open for public scrutiny- we agreed that I would do him a French Pedicure.

Well, I wouldn't do a full French pedicure on him. He already takes very good care of his peds so there wasn't going to be a need for that; besides, all that I needed to practice was nail painting and not pampering a friend's feet :).

Here are the results of what I did on him, the so called "Boy French" or "Male French" which is clear polish with white nail tips which look really nice on well cared feet and nice nails.

One thing that stroke me the first time I looked at his bare feet was that with just slightly (like a millimeter or less) long toenails, it looked as if he had a French pedicure with matte lacquer. Later he told me sometimes guys & gals stared briefly at his feet because at first impression they seemed to think he had a French pedicure. So, our victim was already desensitized to the surprised looks of other people.

That is right, he wears a toe ring! nothing like a guy that wears his things and feels secure of his masculinity. I personally think the toe ring looks absolutely marvelous on his feet. Maybe one day I wear one too! No wonder I couldn't stop staring when I first saw it hahahaha!. Maybe one day he shares with us in this blog about why he wears a toe ring.

The difference between the Girl's French and the Boy's French is that the tip of the nail that is painted in white is thinner than a girl's, it is therefore more subtle. At least that is what I think, as you already know I am not an expert in nail painting!

First I had him soak his feet. Well, our poor friend twisted his ankle some time ago so it was impossible to soak both feet. But soon his cast will come off and I hope the French pedicure lasts that long on him. 

While he soaked his good foot, I carefully moistened the toes from his casted foot, I think he enjoyed it as much as he was uncomfortable with me doing it :). 

When all was dry I proceeded to do my thing. I could notice he was a bit nervous with his first pedicure (painted) and I was too! I didn't want to do a bad job and embarrass my friend. 

His nails were almost perfect for the job, except for a couple that were perhaps a bit too short. Guys usually clip them way too short and if you go for a pedicure it becomes difficult to seal the nails.

The Base

For the base I used the MASGLO Lemon & Garlic Base lacquer which has nutrients for the nails because of the action of the lemon and garlic (does it really has that, I wonder?).

This MASGLO Lemon & Garlic base is good for all types of normal nails like his. If you have nails that tend to break or scales in it, then MASGLO has two other base paints that are better suited for the job. But as I said, his nails are easily enjoyable for girls like Lissanne and me who have a "thing" for guy's feet (the good ones!).

The Lemon & Garlic base has a light green color in the bottle. He was nervous because he thought his nails were going to end up colored in green. To his surprise, when you apply this base on the nails they are clear (no green color) and with a slight shine in it.

First I dipped the brush once and cleaned it on one side. Then with the other side I made 3 to 4 strokes on each small nails from the base of the nail to the tips. The big toenails need a few more strokes. I also sealed each nail by applying base lacquer to the edges of the nail so that it doesn't chip easily.

The shine is subtle but noticeable and looks very nice even if you just use base for the French look. We let his toenails dry for a few minutes before proceeding.

The French Tip

It was time for the Boy French! For this I also used MASGLO's nail lacquer in two colors. They have weird names for their colors and these were two shades of white called "Novia" (Bride) and "Tiza" (Chalk). The "Tiza" shade is a darker shade of white, great for full French look.

Because he only wanted a subtle Boy French, I used the "Novia" white shade on all his toes except with the experiment on the pinky toe of his casted foot. The Chalk shade of white is indeed darker. Personally I think it looks even nicer for a French look but despite my recommendation that it would look great on his toes, he chose "Novia" instead.

I still need more practice but I think I did a good job. I didn't have strips to apply on the nails for a perfect white tip. Instead, I used the tip of the brush with white paint and made short strokes on the tips of his nails towards the edge.

The combination of the slighly long toenails (not more than a millimeter on guys!) and the white made it look great and subtle at the same time. I would have preferred to have used "Chalk" instead. Maybe next time he dares.

Just like with the base, after doing the tips on the top surface of his toenails, I sealed the nail again with the white lacquer on the edges of each nail. If well done, when you finish and is dry, you can feel it by running the pads of your fingers over the edges of the (toe) nails and the feeling is remarkably different than a non-treated nail.

Again, we waited a few minutes for the white painted tips to dry.

The Top Coat

He was a bit reluctant about the top coat because the Base already had some shine. But I wanted to practice a (nearly) perfect Boy French. Using the same application technique, I used vertical strokes from the base of the nail to the tip. You have to apply the strokes with self confidence because if you don't and start retouching while it is is still drying, you will mess up  the finish! so be confident and finish your strokes.

I applied the MASGLO Top Coat to all his toenails except the the two of the big toes (on his request). The shine of the top coat is much better than the base, it gave his toenails a happy look, happy toes! with light it almost looked as if his toenails were crying with tears of happiness. The shine you see on the nails is great (maybe one day I do it on myself!). The feeling of the surface of the nails is fantastic once the paint is dry.

Oh yes, with the top coat I also did the sealing of each nails, even the big toenails that only got base. Maybe next time I get him to wear top coat on those two as well. For now let's see how it goes with him wearing my Boy French in public.

What should I improve?

• I would make sure his toenails are uniform in length so that they are all long enough beyond the Hyponychium
• I would file all the toenails first before the feet are soaked.
• I need to improve on my technique to make the French white tip
• I would make his pedi with slightly thicker white French tips
• I would use Chalk White (darker shade) instead of Bride White and probably not tell him :)
• I would convince him to appy Top Coat on the big toenails as well, they would look great with the extra shine!

Depending on his experiences with a French pedicure at plain sight, I hope I can practice on him again all the points mentioned in that list. If that happens I will make a follow up post with the anonymous feet of our friend.

Summary

I/We think guys should not be afraid to show they care about themselves and their look. While I am sure other women may disagree, I think it is perfectly normal for guys to wear certain colors on their nails or even designs. At least the Boy French is a great alternative to guys' feet that look good in their natural state. All three of us agree that if you have ugly feet, not even the best painted nails would make it better. So guys and gals, take good care of your feet and nails!

Even though it isn't perfect, at the time of this post, he has been sporting his Male French/Boy French by me for almost a week already. We will have him share his experiences in wearing a French pedicure in public. Will someone say some nonsense comment? will he get a compliment? I for sure admire him because there are plenty of narrow minded people out there that probably think it looks "gay" but then again, people love projecting their own insecurities in their judgement of people that are unlike them.