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Vintage Manicures

Octavia

Familiar Face
Messages
63
Location
New England
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

One Too Many
Messages
1,883
Location
Sydney Australia and Las Vegas NV
My Easter nails :)
100_4667.jpg
 

Lenore

Practically Family
Messages
758
Location
Houston, Texas
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.
DitasFortuneCookie.jpg
 

bettydarling

One of the Regulars
Messages
179
Location
Ireland
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!

annas%20pics%20213.jpg
 

Sincerely-Dee

One of the Regulars
Messages
147
Location
London, United Kingdom
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.
 

MarieAnne

Practically Family
Messages
555
Location
Ontario
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.
April2010139.jpg
 

Jasmine Jolene

One of the Regulars
Messages
168
Location
Somewhere, Under the Sea...in the UK
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

Practically Family
Messages
758
Location
Houston, Texas
MarieAnne said:
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.
April2010139.jpg


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

Practically Family
Messages
555
Location
Ontario
Lenore said:
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

Practically Family
Messages
555
Location
Ontario
Jasmine Jolene said:
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

One of the Regulars
Messages
161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
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

One of the Regulars
Messages
161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
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

Practically Family
Messages
788
Location
sunny London
Miss Scarlet said:
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!).
 

User25159

New in Town
Messages
28
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

One of the Regulars
Messages
161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
Wrecking_Belle said:
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 :)
 

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