Nail Art That Jumps Off the Page

Nail Rock Dalmation

My favorite line from the movie "21" was when actor Jim Sturges as Ben Campbell said, "Does that jump off the page?" while recounting his tale to the scholarship administrator. Don't quote me. If you've seen the movie you're probably smiling and if not, I recommend watching it. It's about six MIT students that were trained by one of their professors to become expert card counters and take Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Excellent movie.

Let's rewind back to 3000 B.C., long before movie pictures and manufactured cosmetics, where the history of nail color began. The ancient Chinese used colored lacquer; a mixture of beeswax, gelatin, egg whites, and Arabic gum to tint their nails with color. In ancient Egypt women of aristocracy adorned their nails with the color red using stains derived from the juice of the henna plant to signify social order and prosperity while lower ranking women were permitted to use pastel colors only. In India henna was also used.

Pushing time forward, Michelle Menard, a french makeup artist, was credited with inventing modern day nail polish sometime during the early 1920's. Her invention inspired the launch of Revlon in 1932, which began its empire with a single product - a new kind of nail enamel. Using pigments instead of dyes, Revlon created a variety of new nail colors and soon became a multimillion dollar organization.

Today, nail art has taken the fashion world by storm and is taking leaps and bounds off the pages of history. To soothe the most expressive and artistic fashionista, she needs an array of vibrant colors and true nail art that embraces self expression and customization. Two methods of applying nail art include using your artistic skills to create a design with nail polish, acrylic paints, rhinestones and glitter or using pre-designed nail wraps.

If you're a true nail artist junkie, be sure to check out Nails Magazine and Nail Rock nail wraps.