A Brief History Of Nail Art

A Brief History Of Nail Art

Women have always loved to paint their nails, not only today, but from ancient times. History has shown us that beautifully manicured nails are a gift to women, which needs to be cared for. According to the famous Greek mythology, the first manicurist in the world is Eros, who had cut the nails of goddess Aphrodite.

Well, ladies this is just a mythology. But, you should have a knowledge of how manicure gained popularity. Here, we have come up with the brief history of nail art and how it evolved over time.

Believe it or not, the history of manicure and nail art goes back to 5000 B.C. Among the Egyptians long beautiful nails had a social significance for Egyptian ladies. The nail colors used to distinguish the class to which a lady belonged. The higher class wore deep red paints, which acted as the status symbol. The ladies from the lower class wore pale shades.

Another civilization, that has shown modernization in the 5000 B.C was the Indian civilization. They used to paint their fingertips with a dye called henna, which is still in vogue among Indian ladies and is considered auspicious.

2. 3000 B.C: Chinese civilization

Well, the ancestors of today’s nail paints can be traced to 3000 B.C China. They used to make nail paints by mixing gelatin, egg whites, lacquer of gum, beeswax, vegetable dyes and for the colors, they used to crush rose petals and orchids. This solution was applied and left on the nails overnight for the desired results.

4. Middle Ages and Nail Art

During the middle ages, manicure was considered as a thing of the past. But, during the Renaissance, manicured nails again raised its head, but without any pigment. The type of nail art that we see today, with animal prints, floral designs on the nails, it was actually invented by the Incas. The Incas used to paint images of eagles on their fingertips.

5. 17th- 20th century

Nail art with manicured nails again found recognition among the Victorian ladies. The 1920s saw the concept of red nail paints. In 1932, the first bottle of the modern nail polish made its appearance on the shelves of the market, followed by the invention of fake nails in 1934. The concept of long fake nails was well adopted in Hollywood in the 1970s and finally the concept of French manicure came into existence. From 1990s to 2000 the market saw the coming of neon nail paints, nude shades, glowing fuchsia, shocking blue and pink.

6. 2000s to the coming of shellacs

Nail industry prospered a lot during this time as people started developing interest in the concept of nail art. Matching outfits and nailpaints became a necessity. In 2008, shellacs came in the market and there was no looking back ever since. The gel polishes and the DIY techniques have gained a huge popularity among the womenfolk of all ages and countries.

Well, now that you know the history of today’s nail art, buy opi gel nail colors in various shades and start experimenting with nail art!