By 
nail art He is creative and sometimes crazy. He is witty and sometimes extravagant. It is interesting, sometimes festive but always artistic. Nail art is something a lot of people do, with manicure and pedicure salons booming and seemingly on every corner. Some people choose to get their nails done by a professional, others do it on their own, and it’s part of the fun of many sleepovers. But where did it originate?
Painting our nails comes from the ancient Egyptians, where women dyed their nails with henna to indicate their social status. If you were in the lower classes, your nails would be pastel or neutral, leaving the bold jewel tones, deep, bold tones for those of the upper classes.
Around the same time, in Babylon it was the men who were engaged in nail painting and nail art. They would wear green or black nails, black for the nobles and green for the common man and would paint their nails as they prepared for war. They also had their hair curled and engaged in additional beautifying processes before going out to fight.
Around the year 3000 a. C., in China, nail polish was manufactured for the first time. It was made from beeswax, gelatin, egg whites, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic. People would dip their nails into the mixture and let it sit for a few hours before letting it dry. Colors ranged from pink to red, depending on the specific ingredients and how long you soaked your nails in the mixture.
It’s all about painting your nails a single color, but in the Inca Empire eagles were actually painted on your nails and in 1770 the first manicure sets were created and widely available for purchase. In the 1800s, people were getting “modern” manicures or what we would consider modern anyway, and in 1907 the first modern nail polish was developed. At first it was just clear, but over the years they added colors and well, we know how many colors and features nail polish has today.
Today we have gloss glaze, matte glaze and glaze with added glitter. We can have velvet manicures, we can have images painted on our nails and we are not limited to one color for all 10 fingers or toes as fashion dictates that at least one nail be a different color. What’s next with the nails?