Are You Nailed to Nail Polish?

"Nails have become a way to express feelings and creativity. It’s not only about the color, but it’s about being beautiful and finished."

The nails are part of the beauty regimen of women. Nowadays, you can seldom see women without nail polish and nail colors. Personally speaking, I'm one of these women who till now still grows nails that are colorless and lifeless, but in fact I love it! haha. However, this post will be about nail polish since one of my friends who will celebrate herbirthday this coming Monday has been requesting me to post about her favorite nail color art and more info about it. Thus, the idea of this post comes to life.

Manicures began 5000 years ago. Though nail polish has been a part of women, there are still industries that prohibit the use of it. One of these is the industry of women in nursing scrubs and nurse shoes. The medical world regulates nurses and other healthcare professionals to have nails that are short and prohibited fake nails. Though there are some medical institutions that allowed fake nails, but the restriction is they must not be long. The belief why nail polish is not allowed on some hospitals is when nail polish chipped it can trap bacteria. Another is about professional appearance. 

This nurse's nails look like my nails

Not only medical practitioners wearing nursing scrubs and nurse shoes are not allowed but also the military women. Raymond Chandler, the sergeant major of the Army, tells Army Times correspondent Lance Bacon that in preparing updated Army regulations on grooming and appearance, he's taken to Facebook to debate the finer points of French manicures, earrings, pony tails, and tattoos for U.S. troops. Chandler has taken to Facebook to get some initial feedback from the troops to possible proposed changes to the Army's regulations on personal grooming and appearance of uniforms. Among the measures he's pondering are more extensive regulations on tattoos and bans on French manicures.

French Manicures

Yet, even these big industries of the society don’t allow nail colors; there are still a lot of women who are fond of coloring their nails.

According to Women's Wear Daily, nail polish sales were up 59% for the first 10 months of the year and it fared better than any other beauty product in these tough financial times. In fact, both colored lacquer and top/base coat sales were up 50%, which implies ladies are giving themselves complete at-home manicures. "Women started doing their own nails and realized how fun it could be to create their own look. It can be therapeutic, a time for girlfriends to spend together, and bonding time for mothers and daughters. Originally, women may have been doing it as a necessity when they were impacted by the recession, but now women are doing their own nails because its fun and they’re into it. Recession or not, nails have become an affordable accessory,“ says Deborah Lippmann, celebrity manicurist and creator of luxury nail, hand and foot care products.

So here I'll feature some great nail polish that of course gathered from Google Images. The net has so many photos and articles about manicures and nail art that there are even lot of bloggers who feature nail polish and how to apply them creatively. Check this out:

Normal Manicures:

French manicures

They traditionally mimic the color of natural nails, using a clear, beige or soft pink polish on most of the nail with a white finish at the tips.

Traditional colors

Red Color Manicure

Pink Manicure

Brown Nails

Traditional colors for nail polish were red, pink and brown, and it can now be found in virtually any color. 

Black Nail Polish

Black has been a popular color of nail polish with goths, Emo and punks of all genders since the 1970s, and has recently gained acceptance as a color for both men and women.

Other Colors

White Nails

Purple Nails

Yellow Nails

Orange Nails

Blue Nails

Green Nails

Too many varieties of colors of nail polish to choose from.

Nail Art and  Fashion Nails

Either real nails or fake nails/ acrylic nails could be use in nail art or fashion nails. Take a look:

Lovely design on a green polish nails

Very feminine manicure, eh

Simple but elegant!

Cute, reminds me of blossom and flowers

Lovely violet dots and silver background

Clean yet stylish and wild

Super stunning!

Simply beautiful!

A glimpse of stylish French manicure

Green Christmas

Stars and Nails

So womanly!

Glitters and More Glitters

Detailed and Difficult

I am thinking if I could eat these nails, eh.

White flower nails..Lovely!

Very expensive nails..haha

Weird!!!!

Acrylic nails help conceal or fix broken, damaged, short, or bad nails. However long term use and poorly fitted nails can seriously damage the nail bed and hamper natural nail growth. The most common problem associated with artificial nails is a fungal infection that may develop between the false and natural nail. "..Some ingredients in acrylic nails are highly flammable, so they must be kept at a distance from hair straighteners, dryers or curling irons, as well as from heat and flames when cooking [source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration]..."

Happy Birthday Chubs!!! I'm sure gonna miss you. :)

Sources:  Nursing Dress Code | Google Images | Nail polish: A big beauty trend of 2011 | Wikipedia