If you haven't noticed, nail art has exploded in recent years. I'm not entirely sure why, beyond the fact that people - I think it's safe to generalize it as "women," but men can decorate their nails too, that's allowed - have always enjoyed nail decoration. And just like so many hobbies, with nail art, it's easy to start thinking that "bigger is better."
Nail decoration has a long history, with Chinese people painting their nails with pink lacquer a thousand years before the birth of Christ. The ancient Egyptians stained their nails with various shades of henna. Cleopatra is said to have favored red nail polish. In the modern era, most people use either nail polish or acrylic paint to create nail decorations.
Nail art always blows me away. I am lucky if I can manage to paint my nails a single color without making a horrible mess of it. I can't even grasp how much time, effort, and concentration it must take to make a lot of these nail art projects. Such straight lines! Such tiny figures! Nail art is basically a form of miniaturized painting, which is amazing to me. Some of it even counts as miniaturized sculpture. I have never been very good with tiny things - I lack the fine motor control.
A lot of people dismiss nail art as a hobby or craft, because it gets lumped in with "applying mascara" or "how to put on lipstick." But this is a huge mistake. I can't help but think that it gets overlooked and patronized because nail painting is so closely identified with femininity. Like, if dudes painted their nails, nail art would be a big thing. But since women use nail polish in our society, no one cares about nail art.
Well, I care. And I think nail art deserves better. Just look at these examples I pulled off Pinterest at random! Aren't they amazing?
Image courtesy Flickr/Soffia di Deo
0 comments