Nail art
Nail art is a creative way to decorate nails.
It is a type of art which can be done on fingernails and toenails. It
became commonly known in beauty salons and it is considered as fashion
activity. Throughout time, nail art became a part of fashion and beauty while
in history it was a part of aristocracy and determined social status.
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History
From the
historical perspective, nail art was used in ancient times. It firstly emerged
in ancient Babylonia when males coloured their nails with kohl. The nail colour
indicated status where males of higher class wore black while males of lower
class wore green. From 5000 B.C. to 3000 B.C., ancient
Egyptian women used nail art to indicate social status. They decorated
their nails using the juice ofhenna plant. For example, Queen Nefertiti used red colour
to decorate their fingernails and toenails. Compared to Nefertiti, Queen
Cleopatra used deep rusty shades with an undertone of gold. Ordinary women were
not allowed to use the same colour as queen.Inancient
China, during Ming Dynasty nail lacquers and varnishes were created from
the mixture of beeswax, egg whites, gelatin,
vegetable dyes and gum arabic. As in Egypt, colour of the nails also
represented class. In 600 BC, during the Zhou Dynasty, royalty used gold and
silver colours and later they preferred black and red colours to indicate their
status. The well known French manicureemerged
on Paris runways in 1976 by Jeff Pink, the founder of cosmetic company ORLY,
who wanted to create nail style that would be practical and versatile. In the
film Pulp Fiction, it was said Uma Thurman started the dark nail polish craze
during the 90's. Her character in the film wore dark red nail polish called
Rouge Noir by Chanel.In ancient times, nail art displayed social class while
from the 19th century it became allowed for everyone and became considered as a
part of fashion as
well.
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