Nail art, the art of drawing on your nails

 Nail art, the art of drawing on your nails

They came from Japan and New York a few years ago and nail art has conquered female nails. You just have to go around the cities and observe the hands of the youngest (and not so young) and you will discover colored nails, drawings, stones, glitter and even the shields of Madrid, Barça Classicism is dead! Long live the revolution in nails! We could almost yell French Manicure Out! I say almost and I will deny having said it because it is the one I like the most, but… fashions come and you have to hold them tightly and get on the train of colored hands with drawings, stones, cracked, stamped, with foil transfer tape to effect mirror ... Anything goes in the world of fantasy.

Although it is true that the fashion for nail art came from Japan and New York - what does not come from there - it seems that it began in India or Egypt thousands of years ago. I like the Egyptian theory, that those were women with a lot of makeup on. In China the first varnish was invented and its women began to adorn their nails. But the real nail art started in the 90s of the last century. The first woman I saw with a nail-art-museum was athlete Florence Griffith, an Olympic medalist in Seoul in 1988.


- Nail art, the art of drawing on your nails and nail art accessories

In this nail art there are true wonders and true artists. Not only do you need to know how to do a good manicure, but you also have to know how to draw and paint miniatures because what they do on the nails are tiny pictures.

To find out how nail art is made, I have approached one of the centers that do this type of nail makeup, Siberia Salon, run by two young Russian women (from Novosibirsk, in the heart of Siberia): Sofía Khasanova and Julia Philippova, who They came to Madrid looking to start a small beauty business and, indeed, it is small but well-stocked and with a lot of customers. For two years that they settled in the city they have been perfecting their techniques with various courses in each of the types of nail art that are made: liquid stones, cracking, stamping (stamping), with gold effect, silver, aluminum, sugar … Almost every day there is a different one.

When you arrive at Siberia Salón, Sofía shows her “sample fans” like these above and you don't know what to choose from the number of models you can choose from. Because if one is pretty, the other is more so. But be careful! Don't go out as if you were a Christmas tree either. "The normal thing," explains Sofía, "is that the manicure is made simple, in the color that each one wants, yes, permanent, and then, one of these nail art techniques is worked on a single nail."


One of the ones that most caught my attention is that of liquid stones (on the left of the image), which is made by polishing the nails well; you always have to polish them to make them thinner. A gel is then applied and dried under a nail drying lamp and then a layer of a clear builder gel and the nail is put back into the drying lamp. This device is of tremendous importance because otherwise the duration of nail art would be more than triple the time. The nail is polished well to achieve a completely smooth surface. Now is the time to make the drawing that we want and begin to prepare the liquid stone with glitter mixed with a transparent builder gel that is placed on the area of ​​the nail where the space to put the liquid stone has been left. The nail is placed back on the drying lamp so that the gel does not move and dry. Finally, a clear base is applied and it dries again. All of this is done with exquisite care and each nail takes about 20 minutes or so. Then there is the result.

The most difficult part of these nail art techniques is drawing and not all manicures know how to do it because, in addition, it requires almost a surgeon's precision. I found it extremely difficult and miniature. See if you are not images made to a client.

You can wear wonders on your nails if you want and, really, they are beautiful. In addition, they usually last about three weeks and do not need much care; just don't use chemicals and put on gloves. Then, to remove both the permanent manicure and the nail art they have to do it in a professional center because it is not as easy as removing the nail polish that we normally use.

See what wonders are made with this miniature art! By the way, according to Sofía, this year unicorns and flamingos are going to be in fashion. You are warned.