CHENNAI: Imagine getting cute little beads or bows on your nails, or some intricate piece of art with a bright red or yellow background colour. Nail art has been trending for a while and the trends keep changing quite often. “I like art but I’m very impatient. So I can’t really sit myself to do a big canvas, so I use that on my nails. It is definitely a kind of art too, isn’t it?” Swashya Suresh, an architect asks.
From using one single quote of a colour to using several of the two and customising it, nail art had indeed come a long way. Anmol Mutreja who runs the Instagram account ‘Polishdnailart’ has been fascinated by nail colours and nail art, ever since she was 13. Recalling an incident from her childhood, she says “As a kid, every time I had holidays at school, even if it was just a weekend off, I would go to my mom and ask her to apply nail paint for me. Also, I always had an inclination towards design, art and craft and hence this way my way of expressing art.”
Different techniques
From simply taking nail paint off from the bottle and applying a coat of nail colour, today the art includes different techniques of applying a coat and that using various materials. “There are several kinds of designs I do including the most basic one called stamping, reverse stamping, drag marble, vinyl, decals, rhinestones, marbling, velvet nails, etc. Whenever I find something new, I always try to get the materials and try it on,” Anmol adds.
Each technique has a different and interesting look. Stamping includes a pattern being printed onto the nail; sponge is used to get a faded or gradient look; a certain powder is sprinkled onto the nails to give it a velvety look, and so on. From combining different colours to trying out different patterns, you can experiment a lot on this.
“I mostly try out a lot of geometric patterns and combination of colours and use anything and everything from paint brushes to match sticks and even toothpicks to draw on them. The best part? I get to explore my creative side and give real fun and beautifu, elegant looking nails,” smiles Varsha Sunil, a law student.
Tutorials
There are a lot of social media pages and YouTube channels that showcase latest trends and techniques in nail art. Giving out tips to be followed and the method to do them, pages like @astrowifey (Ashley Crowe), @jinssoonchoi (Jin Soon Choi), @ciaomanhattan2012 (Miho Kawajiri), etc are quite popular across the globe.
“YouTube videos are fun! In fact I once tried a newspaper print nail art which looks absolutely amazing after watching a tutorial on YouTube,” says Shreya Anand, a junior copywriter. However most of these are west-based pages and channels and for most people, it is indeed a task to access majority of the materials used in these. “The video do look attractive, but most of them are either unavailable here or cost a lot of money,” avers Dimple Nagpal.
Prices
Depending on the intricacy of the art and the materials used, prices tend to vary. Some of the techniques use rhinestones, different kinds of beads, glitters, stamping set, top and base coat, etc. and each of these cost different. “I do nail art for myself and my loved ones. I always try to keep it minimal and do away with whatever I already have. And by substituting certain materials and mediums, it is much easier to cut some extra cost,” explains Swashya.
On the other hand, Anmol who does nail art professionally and charges from `100 onwards. “I have to import most of my materials are from Korea, US and China, since there aren’t many dealers in India, the prices are based on that,” she explains.