Vintage Manicures

[Octavia]

I just got a vintage manicure last week bringing along some of the wonderful pictures I found in this thread as references. I thought it turned out well, considering the nail lady was a tad confused about what I was asking for – the pictures were a great help there. I’m more anxious to do it myself and try different things (and to file them a bit narrower…I think she was somehow afraid to make the nail too rounded). When my boss saw the manicure she mentioned that in college she was taught to paint the nail excluding the half moons, and then to swipe the polish off the very tip. I had no idea that was still popular or even done at all after the 40’s. At any rate, I think I might try that method when I’m ready to repaint my nails, although from what I can tell from reading the thread, it’s not anywhere near as easy as it sounds!

 

[goldwyn girl]

My Easter nails

 

[Inky]

oooh minty fresh and pretty!!

i miss my long nails - i cut them short in a fit of annoyance weeks ago. plan is to start afresh!

 

[goldwyn girl]

Thank you Inky.

 

[Lenore]

Like her or not, Dita's always got such lovely nails.

She tweeted a picture of her funny fortune cookie fortune last night, and you see her thumb in the shot. I think I'll take this picture to my manicurist.

 

[Inky]

Press on "moon-manicure" courtesy of Kiss Products just for Dita:

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/03/29/kiss-nails-creates-dita-von-teese-moon-manicure/

Not available for sale but it would be easy to paint your own set to have on hand (pardon the pun!!).

Or contact Kiss Products to encourage them there is a market for these if you like them.

 

[bettydarling]

I tried my own version of half moon nail, first attempt, didnt turn out too bad, not what you'd call a professional manicure, but it does the job if you dont look to close! I used masking tape to get the moons, bit of an ordeal!

 

[Sincerely-Dee]

A lot of the different techniques for achieving the bare half-moon didn't work for me. Instead I just got a cotton bud saturated with nail varnish remover and slowly wiped away. It's so annoying because if you're not careful with what you're doing you end up with an unshapely bare patch. But it works if you're patient and steady handed and of course the cotton bud isn't shedding stray bits of cotton.

 

[texasgirl]

Try doing it with a small paint brush. Same idea but no lint and more accurate.

 

[MarieAnne]

Oh ya, that just happened

I gave my two year old daughter a half moon manicure. Revlon's Valentine and L.A. Colors Art Deco in white to paint the half moon.

 

[Jasmine Jolene]

i did mine last night using those reinforcer jobbies from the stationery shop. turned out really well except i didn't use a base colour so now have voids that show my actual half moons! they are small though so it looks a bit odd - will definitely be using a bse coat next time!

 

[Lenore]

I gave my two year old daughter a half moon manicure. Revlon's Valentine and L.A. Colors Art Deco in white to paint the half moon.

I'm so doing this on my 2 year old daughter. She's in a "Just like Mummy" stage anyway.

Every night, we get ready for bed together, she puts aveeno baby lotion on her face when I put my cold cream, she gets a little cotton ball with a little rose water on it when I use my Thayers, etc... I'm sure she'd have a ball with this.

 

[MarieAnne]

I'm so doing this on my 2 year old daughter. She's in a "Just like Mummy" stage anyway.

Every night, we get ready for bed together, she puts aveeno baby lotion on her face when I put my cold cream, she gets a little cotton ball with a little rose water on it when I use my Thayers, etc... I'm sure she'd have a ball with this.

Isn't that the best stage!

 

[MarieAnne]

i did mine last night using those reinforcer jobbies from the stationery shop. turned out really well except i didn't use a base colour so now have voids that show my actual half moons! they are small though so it looks a bit odd - will definitely be using a bse coat next time!

I had the same problem. I find a creamy base coat hides the reall half moons pretty good and doesn't look too stark white. My favourite right now is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in beige blast. The paddle shaped brush is nice too. And it's inexpensive!

 

[Miss Scarlet]

I'm so pleased, last night I managed to do a 1940s manicure freehand. I've tried the sticky guide things before, but somehow the nailvarnish has always got underneath. That's exactly what used to happen when I did French Manicures and I ended up doing that freehand as well.

How I think I managed to do it was using a really old, gloopy base coat. It seemed to stop the nail varnish running. I also really put skidgy bits of nail varnish on for the first coat as a guide and then a thicker coat when I was satisfied and it was dry.

I've lost my camera lead, but when I find it I'll put a picture up .

 

[Miss Scarlet]

I just remembered a question I was going to ask. I did the same 1940s manicure thing on my toenails. Would they have done this back then or just painted all of their toenails?

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I'm so pleased, last night I managed to do a 1940s manicure freehand. I've tried the sticky guide things before, but somehow the nailvarnish has always got underneath. That's exactly what used to happen when I did French Manicures and I ended up doing that freehand as well.

How I think I managed to do it was using a really old, gloopy base coat. It seemed to stop the nail varnish running. I also really put skidgy bits of nail varnish on for the first coat as a guide and then a thicker coat when I was satisfied and it was dry.

I've lost my camera lead, but when I find it I'll put a picture up .

I use those guides all the time, but find that you really have to run a nail around the edge to stick it firmly to prevent "waney edge". For me the difficulty is more getting a uniform and aesthetic curve with them, so I kind of pull on them first to stretch them into a curve (the stick-ons, that is, not the nail!).

 

[Miss Scarlet]

I did the pressing down with the edge of my nail thing and nail varnish still crept under. I just find it easier to do it freehand I think. Each to their own

 

[User25159]

Hi Ladies! I love everyone's creativity to get the seemingly difficult to perfect half-moon manicure down Admittedly I haven't read this page for page, so forgive me if someone already posted this idea.

I've used the french manicure stickers with little success, I've also tried free-handing the moon and cleaning up the excess with acetone (it doesn't smear like regular polish remover). But last week i really wanted to do a 2 tone moon manicure, so after painting on the "moon" color (in this case it was a warm grey), I used one of those nail art pens to draw the moon on (i was painting the rest of the nail black so i used a black pen)-- Great success! If you have patience and a steady hand, I recommend it! I wish i had pictures to show of my manicure then- I was pretty proudlol

 

[Miss Scarlet]

Hi Ladies! I love everyone's creativity to get the seemingly difficult to perfect half-moon manicure down Admittedly I haven't read this page for page, so forgive me if someone already posted this idea.

I've used the french manicure stickers with little success, I've also tried free-handing the moon and cleaning up the excess with acetone (it doesn't smear like regular polish remover). But last week i really wanted to do a 2 tone moon manicure, so after painting on the "moon" color (in this case it was a warm grey), I used one of those nail art pens to draw the moon on (i was painting the rest of the nail black so i used a black pen)-- Great success! If you have patience and a steady hand, I recommend it! I wish i had pictures to show of my manicure then- I was pretty proudlol

That sounds great! Ooo I want to see