Vintage Manicures

[LelaViavonie]

Went to sally's on luch.. and bought Orly base coat and top coat (quick dry) cause I dont ever have time lol

AND! I bought the Silver paint to paint on the half moons on my nails.. and im here at work as we speak gettin some practice in on the half moons on my already red nails... it looks reallly NICE!!

I didnt think it woudl lookd good on me.. but I am WOWed

I have too much time on my hands here at work lol

 

[Laura Chase]

I really can't get the hang of half-moon manicures. I tried doing it by free hand, and it turned out terrible. I did it with those stencils you use for french manicures, but the edge just wasn't sharp. And I can't find hole reinforcers anywhere. How do you do it? Is there any other way to get it real nice?

 

[LelaViavonie]

This is how much time I have on my hands...

I need to practice more .. so im going to do my moms nails too...

I did this free hand. This will be great for my holiday party tomorrow!

My nails look horrible.. the polish is growing out and a few days old.. so i just did what I could

 

[Miss 1929]

Love the silver moons!

 

[Inky]

This is how much time I have on my hands...

ooooohhhh, that looks really good .... hmmm, some use for that silver polish laying around - so you put that over the existing red? did you use the bottle's brush or another brush? it looks perfect in the pictures!!

 

[LelaViavonie]

Inky- I bought the brand stripe right polish from Sallys.. the brush is very thin so that you can make lines. It was...2.99! well worth the money

I did apply it over my existing red nail polish and it looked great.. i slapped on some top coat real quick and thats it. I really do love the way it looks.. im so suddenly fascinated by the way it looks..

 

[Inky]

ohh yeah, i've seen that stuff there, what a clever girl you are

It looks so great - what a fabulous holiday polish look! I am soooo copying you!!

 

[Lenah]

I really can't get the hang of half-moon manicures. I tried doing it by free hand, and it turned out terrible. I did it with those stencils you use for french manicures, but the edge just wasn't sharp. And I can't find hole reinforcers anywhere. How do you do it? Is there any other way to get it real nice?

Hi Laura~

I read through the thread, and I don't think I saw this mentioned, but:
The way I do mine is sooooo simple... I paint from side to side, across instead of down. I watched my grandma paint her very pointy nails like that... My mom would paint down, from the cuticle to tip, but Gramma painted side to side, and fast.

Not sure if it will work for everyone, but you just lightly hold the brush, not too much polish, start on one side (the side away from you) slightly underneath your moon, or where it should be, and turn your nail (you're turning your finger away from you) against the brush (painting towards you), instead of guiding the brush, like you would if you were painting down.
If you're not guiding the brush too much, it will automatically follow your natural curve (real moons or no) and you can paint only where you want to. And it is fast... works easily on both hands, as all you do is turn your finger/nail. Tricky to explain in writing, but real simple if you do it yourself.
Mine are like this right now...old job, need to redo, my cuticles need to be done too used Rimmel Chocolate Milk, because I wanted a really light, almost natural look.. - if you want a stark white contrast, paint your entire nail white/silver/etc., then the color across on top. When you put on your top coat, the direction streaks (if you're finicky, like me) are barely noticeable... Sorry for the cell pic...

 

[Odalisque]

Hi Laura~

I read through the thread, and I don't think I saw this mentioned, but:
The way I do mine is sooooo simple... I paint from side to side, across instead of down. I watched my grandma paint her very pointy nails like that... My mom would paint down, from the cuticle to tip, but Gramma painted side to side, and fast.

Not sure if it will work for everyone, but you just lightly hold the brush, not too much polish, start on one side (the side away from you, so you're turning your finger toward you) slightly underneath your moon, or where it should be, and turn your nail underneath against the brush, instead of guiding the brush, like you would if you were painting down.
If you're not guiding the brush too much, it will automatically follow your natural curve (real moons or no) and you can paint only where you want to. And it is fast... works easily on both hands, as all you do is turn your finger/nail. Tricky to explain in writing, but real simple if you do it yourself.
Mine are like this right now...old job, need to redo, my cuticles need to be done too used Rimmel Chocolate Milk, because I wanted a really light, almost natural look.. - if you want a stark white contrast, paint your entire nail white/silver/etc., then the color across on top. When you put on your top coat, the direction streaks (if you're finicky, like me) are barely noticeable... Sorry for the cell pic...

That's a great idea, painting side to side. I think the main reason I can't do it free hand is that the brush is always way too big. I have pretty narrow nail beds and it's impossible to do any sort of fine detail work with ordinary nail polish brushes. :rage:

 

[Lenah]

That's a great idea, painting side to side. I think the main reason I can't do it free hand is that the brush is always way too big. I have pretty narrow nail beds and it's impossible to do any sort of fine detail work with ordinary nail polish brushes. :rage:

Narrow nails are really pretty! Long and narrow, beautiful. Side to side works for me, and I thought it was a good (quick) alternative to other methods... Hey - it just might work for you, it is sooo simple, trust me... You can curve right around your moon if you want to (and not sloppy across like me..teehee ).

 

[gingermore]

I went to the beauty salon to get my nails done. I asked for a vintage manicure with the moons and the tips left natural but they said they couldn't do it! So I just had them do the full nail. Then when I got home I used french manicure guides and cleaned the tips with nail polish remover. I didn't try for the moons (too hard). I think I took a bit too much off. However, the most important thing is, with no worries about the polish chipping at the top, the polish has lasted a week so far (usually it lasts about two days). Next time I'll use the french manicure guides when I'm putting the polish on, but I'll leave a finer line natural. I'll have a go at doing the moons with the side to side technique suggested by Lena.

Leaving the tip natural makes it actually worthwhile for me to put polish on!

 

[KittyT]

I can't use French manicure guides, even for a regular French manicure. The curve is never steep enough. I have to freehand it :-(

 

[LelaViavonie]

Ditto Kitty T.. I just have to have a real steady hand that day.. LOL

Its much easier to do others nails.. and mine.. oh that is something im still trying to master.lol

 

[Lenah]

I really think many women may have painted side to side back then, look at this pic, from a 1930's makeup book, showing the nail style to aim for, I guess:
from a 1930s Makeup Book on Ebay I have yet to buy

 

[gingermore]

You're right Kitty T, the guides aren't quite steep enough. I actually got my husband to do my nails the other week, and for his first try he did pretty well (better than I could do on myself). Amazingly, he seems to be open to the idea of doing them again! It was sort of a nice quiet bonding moment for us. He has a steadier hand than me, so maybe, with practice he'll be able to freehand the moons and tips for me.

 

[Odalisque]

My attempt at 30's manicure. Even with the guides (paper reinforcers for the moons and french tips for tips) it doesn't come out how I imagined. [huh]

 

[Odalisque]

I did find these guides specificly for the moons manicure

Found them herehttp://www.nagelproducten.be/catalog/productlist.asp?lang=en&g=22.053&n=Pronails+Tips+%26amp%3B+co#7

 

[KittyT]

My attempt at 30's manicure. Even with the guides (paper reinforcers for the moons and french tips for tips) it doesn't come out how I imagined. [huh]

I think these just take a lot of practice!

Can I make one suggestion, though? Make your white tips thinner and your moons smaller. There's nothing that says the white has to follow the white of your own nails. By making them thinner you create kind of a "trompe l'oeil" that makes your nail beds appear longer!

 

[~*Red*~]

tried the side to side method...

SO MUCH EASIER!

I used Orly-French Manicure-Sheer Beauty as a base coat. I wasn't heavy handed with it either, I wanted to see my tips and moons through it.

And then I used OPI-Girls Just Want To Play as the color.

And when I want it to look more "natural" I use Sally Hansen-Salon Lacquer-Pink Twice (410) as the color.

I normally don't leave tips..I usually cut them off, but I figured I'd give it a go since I hadn't yet cut them. I kind of like it!

 

[rubyredlocks]

Very pretty Red! The extra bit of length looks great on you.

I also like the contrasting bit of silver posted earlier. I wonder what other color combinations would work,ideas anyone?