“Only Skin Deep”

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 63, Issue 2, 15 August 1941, Page 170

“Only Skin Deep”

Nails Must Be Neat \7OU will remember that last month YOU was telling you how to keep I was telling you how to keep your hands looking smooth and white. I just wonder how many of you have been persevering with what I told you to do? I know it is hard—so easy to forget that bottle of lotion after you have washed your hands,, but I know that amongst you there are some who have faithfully carried out my directions, and it is to these that my advice goes this month. After all, there is no necessity for keeping your nails polished and shining if your hands are not dainty enough to set them off ' to good advantage. ■ The first golden rule . about fingernails is never to' cut them, but always file them. Be. careful how you use your nail file — your hands are long and slender, then taper your nails accordingly, but if your hands are squat and inclined to be dumpy, shall we say, then do not make the mistake of pointing your nails- file them to the shape of your fingertips. - What are the contents of your manicure box? I do hope you have it well suppliedyou simply must have a good steel nail file, some emery boards, cottonwool, and an orange stick. Further, you will need nail polish, either liquid or . powder, cuticle cream • and remover, and plenty of warm, soapy water, with a small nailbrush. Set aside half, an hour a week for your nailsthey are worth it. Start off by filing your nails, and then give them a soak and scrub in the warm soapy water. Now dry them carefully—not forgetting to massage

your lotion into your hands!—and off we go. Gently press back the cuticle with the cuticle remover your orange stick for this, with a little cottonwool wrapped round it. If you like nail white, apply this carefully, and then on to the polish. If you use the powder polish, you will need a good buffer and plenty of patience, but you will be well rewarded. However, if time is precious, a good liquid nail polish produces . excellent results in a very short time. Make sure that you have removed all traces of old' polish before applying the new, and apply it with gentle , strokes downward from the moon to the tips. Never make the mistake of putting liquid polish over the moons on your nails—this is where your fingernails breathe. After your polish is applied, sit down for quite five minutes and do nothing—you need every minute of this time . for it to dry properly. Make very i sure that the , polish remover you use is a good oily one. Sometime, just for a change, it is exhilarating to go really mad with nail polish— a bright scarlet one, and see how well it looks on “occasions” when you are wearing your smart black frock. But a word of warning: if your good man dislikes brightpainted nails, don’t on any account wear a conspicuous polish. k Two reminders . about nails: always keep them neatly filed, and never let

your polish peel —your fingernails look very much better- minus polish than minus half then’ polish!