Blue Half-Moon Manicure
ThreeAsFour’s Fall 2010 fashion show featured metallic-matte half-moon manicures. So have recent shows by Dior, Thakoon, and Ruffian.
The half-moon mani, also called a “reverse-French,” is where the moon of the nail, rather than the tip, is painted a different color. This was the style worn by actresses in the 1920′s. And it became mainstream in the 1930′s and 1940′s.
It has been back in style for quite some time. Dita Von Teese is rarely spotted without it. It is supposed to be a “burlesque” look for your nails. Whatever that means.
Of course, Siouxsie decided to give it a try.
Siouxie knows her limitations though. So she went to a salon. To her dismay, the manicurists had no clue as to what a half-moon mani was. They thought Siouxsie was nuts. Luckily, the salon owner’s 90-year-old grandmother was at the salon getting her hair styled (set?). This golden girl totally knew what Siouxsie was talking about. It turns out she was formerly credentialed as a beautician in the 1940s. And to get her license, she had to learn how to do a half-moon mani.
So this story has a happy ending. Siouxise got her half-moon mani (albeit probably not Dita Von Teese quality).
Siouxsie chose silver as the base and dark blue as the top color.
In an attempt to set herself apart from the crowd, Siouxsie decided to mattify her moon mani. She applied one coat of ManGlaze’s Matte-Astrophe, which ManGlaze was kind enough to send to her, to the dark blue part only.
Here is a DIY tutorial:
If you can’t get the song from the tutorial out of your head, just go with it:
Lady GaGa: Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
February 22, 2010 at 7:01 am
oooh i loved this post! i always wanted to have/learn how to do a half-moon manicure. definitely testing out that video
February 22, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for the tutorial. I’ll have to go try this out. I remember seeing images a while back of the half moon manicure but when I tried to do it myself … well let’s just say my efforts fell flat.
February 23, 2010 at 1:04 am
Thanks! I think I am a half-moon convert.
By the way, here is another tutorial. This one might be slightly easier to follow. I would have embedded it, but the code was disabled.
February 23, 2010 at 6:03 pm
OOOH. i’m totally getting one of these. and i love the blue/silver combo.
February 23, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I’m hooked.
Here’s an interesting fact: Supposedly, when this trend started back in 20′s it was because women who painted their entire nail were seen as too “tarty.” So women would leave the moon part of the nail unpainted (or simply paint it nude or sheer pink).
February 24, 2010 at 5:17 pm
In human anatomy, the half moon by your cuticle is called the lunula–moonlike!
March 9, 2010 at 7:04 am
Love the mani.
April 5, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I was searching google for information about manicure styles and this is some great info. Just what I needed. Thanks.
August 2, 2010 at 5:06 pm
[...] From time-to-time, I like to post pics of my nails. Check out this blue half-moon manicure. With this manicure, I typed out an especially wicked motion for summary [...]