Before you start doing a French manicure, make certain that you have followed the general rule for putting on nail polish. You should prep your nails first by removing old nail polish with nail-polish remover. Then clean your nails and give them a trim.
Once you are done cleaning and trimming your nails, go ahead and apply a base coat to your nails. Keep this base coat thin and even. Then put a tip guide to your nail. This is supposed to cover the lower part of your nail as well as follow the curve of your nail tip's natural white. When you are done with that, apply white polish to the exposed tips of your nails, and then let them dry. Keep the area that you will paint white thin. If you go too widely on the white paint, your nails will look short and thick. Also, if you do not feel comfortable with stark white tips, you can use off-white polish instead.
When the white polish on the tips of your nails is dry, remove the nail tip guides thoroughly. After that paint the entire length of your nails with a beige polish. Two coats of this polish may be necessary. After this, put a layer of top coat on your nails. This is the last step; after putting on the top coat, dry your fingernails and make certain they dry completely.
To extend the life of your French manicure and to keep your nails nice and good looking , you should make it a point to apply an extra layer of top coat on your nails every night.
For all its seeming simplicity, putting on a French manicure can get really tricky. Many chemist's and beauty shops sell readily-assembled nail polishing equipment especially made for the French manicure. If you need extra help, you can find these equipment very useful.