The Nail Art timeline
5000 BC: Indian women used henna on their nails.
3000 BC: The Chinese invented lacquer ( gum arabic/beeswax /flowers for colour) and painted their nails.
600 BC: Rich Chinese men and woment covered their nails in gold and silver dust (so can you with Sparkler!) and used gold nail extensions to lengthen their nails (scary!).
0-1600: The middle ages were a desert for the manicure…only the Incas flew the flag ( or in their case the bird) by painting their nails with pictures of eagles..and it wasn’t until the renaissance that the manicure began to re emerge.
1800 -1900: Was the age of the modest manicure a dab of red oil and heaps of buffing... Victorian work ethic rules ok.
1920: God bless the flapper..nails were back and they were blood red and the Moon Manicure was invented and flaunted by such stars as Bette Davies (everything you need for the perfect moon manicure is in Dark Arts).
1930: Charles Revson and Charles Lachman aka Revlon brought nail polish to the masses based on a recipe from the car paint industry
1930: A dentist called Maxwell Lappe invented the false nail (why you have to wonder?)
1937: Earl Tupper (yes Lord Tupperwear himself) produced glue on appliques for nails (it did with hindsight prove to be a sound business decision to desert the manicure industry and concentrate on producing little boxes for left overs instead).
1950: Blow me down another dentist called Slack used acrylic material to mend a broken nail and inadvertently invented the first acrylic nail.
1960’s: Nails disappear with the coming of the hippy scene... fashion and make up were au natural and nails (and boobs) were bare… thank God for the mods, Ready Steady Go and Mary Quant’s Nail Bullion silver flecked nail polish.
1970: The ubiquitous French Manicure as created by Jeff Pink.
1980: A rainbow of colours appear on the market from neon yellow to electric blue the brighter the better.
1988: Nail art is born when Florance Griffiths Joiner beaks two world records at the Seoul Olympics with long curved blingy nails.
1990: See saw again and it is back to traditional shades red, pink, nude...only Grunge fans rebelled and painted their nails BLACK.
Late 1990’s: Missy Elliot airbrushed and pierced her nails and Lil’ Kim wears dollar bills encased in acrylic.
1999: Covergirl launch Crackle Lacquers.
2000: The nail bar comes to town their growth driven by technology…acrylic materials, nail wraps , gel polish and the two week manicure.
2007: Beyonce does the Grammy’s in foil nails and Louis Vuitton models bestride the runway with jewel encrusted nails (you can do both with Dark Arts).
Late 2000: Nail art become a DIY event with girls doing it for themselves (that’s why you need Dark Arts).
2011: Frontcover launches the first ever complete Nail Art kit called Brushworks which sells out in just 5 weeks.
2012: Nail art comes of age and moves from bling and tacky to sophisticated and luxurious... Karl‘s models sport a two tone manicure at the Chanel Couture show... Perfect grooming meets jewellery... And, Frontcover again take up the trend and launch their second nail art collection - Dark Arts.
Has nail art now become real art?
