HOME MANICURE.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOME MANICURE.

LOOK YOUR BEST.

(By DOROTHY COX.) Standards of good taste for fingernails are fairly definite. The nails ehould be long enough to protect the tipe of your fingers, but not to protrude, exaggeratedly beyond them. Viewed from the side of your finger, the nail should extend far enough to make a graceful finish to the curve of the finger- j cushion. Very iong nails are ugly, be- j cause they are an exaggeration. The nails should be curved at the tips, not phavfly pointed, *also curved at their base, to disclose the half moons. And they should healthy, pink, clear, I shell-like. Let us see how this ideal may be achieved If lie your nails carefully, watching every stroke of the file, to see that the nail tip ie taking the shape you wish. When finished the nails should be unii form in outline. A long, arched tip on one beside a short, blunt curve on another looks ugly and inexpert. Use an emery board to finish filing the nails , close at the sides, so as not to risk filing j the skin itself. Repeated bruises here cause the skin to thicken like a callous. Use the emery board, too, to file away the lining of the nail which appears as a ragged skin about the edge of the nail as you shape it. Wash your hands care- j, fully at this point to soften the nail* 11 and the surrounding cuticle. Avoid cleaning your nails with the point of your steel file. It is apt to scrape the under side of the nail and \ cause dirt and stains to gather on the rough, scaly spot you scratch on the ' under surface of the nail. Instead, use ] one of the modern chemical bleaches j and cuticle removers to cleanse under ' your nail tips. Cover the tip of an s orangewood stick with a wisp of absorb- . ent cotton, dip it in the liquid and wipe j ■ under your nails with this. ! | This cleansing is the next step in j 1 your manicure. Professional manicurists j i have a trick of wetting the tip of the | orangewood stick before twisting the ] cotton over it. This prevents its slip- <

ping aroriiid. Use tlio cuticle remover on the same stick, with a bit of cotton, perhaps, to work carefully around the , base and sides of each nail, removing j . the dead cuticle film which coats the. , nail itself, and loosening and pressing back the thicker cuticle which tends to i grow over the nail from the base and sides. I urge you not to use a knife blade to scrape the nail surface or to cut the cuticle, except on occasional , instances, where there aro unexpected j tags of skin poking out. Even these can j usually be worked off with a little j i patience by the cuticle remover and' orangewood stick, to avoid cutting the cuticle at the base of the nail to shape 1 it. After a few weeks you will have infinitely prettier nails if you train the j cuticle back with persistent manicure, slight pressure and your orangewood stick. If your nails had a liquid polish on , last time, this is the point in the procedure for its removal. You can't put on a good polish without completely . removing the previous one. Next —and this is a trick lots of muni-

curists or books don't tell you —wash your hands -with warm water and a gentle soap and a lemon. Many of (he cuticle-removing preparations are alkaline. To check their "bite" and prevent ■ the slightest possibility of dryness in your nails, the lemon is perfect. ]t is also a slight bleach; its tendency to ! whiten your fingertips will make the effect of your finished nails doubly attractive. Dry your hands thoroughly after washing- them with the ienion. Then you arc ready for the polish. Liquid polishes go on in no time at all. And they last. They are impervious to much wear and tear. They keep the nails beautifully lustrous for ia week or more. One-lias only to \n\ careful to have the nails free from oil 1 !or creame before applying a liquid ' polish to prevent its peeling-off. If you wash your hands just before the polish is applied, yon avoid this possibility of dissatisfaction for which these polishes J arc ofteu undeservedly blamed. j