Dear Reader,
I chose the topic of nail art because it's something that I've recently become interested in. I love painting my nails and creating new designs, but I found myself wondering: Where did this all begin? Nail art is important to me because I love being able to express myself with different colors and themes such as seasons, holidays, or just doodling on my nails. I've always been artistic and loved painting, but using canvases seemed like such a hassle. One day I saw a picture on Instagram of a professionally done nail art design, and I thought, "Well that doesn't look so hard.." I was COMPLETELY wrong, but with lots of practice and new tools I taught myself to create complicated designs successfully with and on both hands.
I didn't really know a lot about this topic before I started which made me more excited to research it. Apparently not many people knew or cared either because the internet became a barren wasteland when it came to nail art history! I could only find four sources because six different sites had the exact article copied and pasted on their pages! I couldn't find anything! Once I found some useful information, I was inspired by the designs in the past. So much so that I already tried three designs on myself!
I had to come up with a couple of research questions to guide my paper, but I couldn't really think of any interesting ones. I thought of the usual ones such as, "What colors meant what?" or "What designs were most popular?" Those weren't helping me very much, so I came up with some other ones. "What was the symbolic meaning behind the designs created in each era?" "What colors displayed the differing social statuses, and what were the consequences of wearing the wrong color?" "Was nail polish reserved for the high class, or the lower, and why was this?"
The only resource I used to find my information was the internet because there aren't any books on nail art besides the tutorial ones....which wouldn't be much help! However, I used two online magazines which were actually very informative. One source was a prezi-like display and the other was just a generic informational website. I wanted at least five sources, but I didn't want to use bad sources just to have another source. Therefore, I only have four, but I feel like I had a good paper with the few I could find.
I learned a lot through my project. I learned differing views on nail polish in different eras, which was very interesting. For instance, in the Victorian age, a strong principle of the time was "inner beauty," so nail polish was either nude or very light pink if it was even allowed at all (I could not live in that time period!). At the same time in China, wealthy women wore deep reds to display their power; completely differing ideas just half a world away!
My research doesn't really make a difference to me or anyone else except that whoever reads this will be just a little more informed on the art of nail designs. Also it would be really cool if I get some more followers on my Instagram account! I already have 278, so maybe a thousand more would do it....just kidding. My research does do the past nail artists justice, and it gives them credit for the ambitious and sometimes insane innovations they contributed to the world of nail art. Without them, I wouldn't have a way to express myself except for regular painting, but that' s too
main-stream for me.
Sincerely,
Aimée Collins
I chose the topic of nail art because it's something that I've recently become interested in. I love painting my nails and creating new designs, but I found myself wondering: Where did this all begin? Nail art is important to me because I love being able to express myself with different colors and themes such as seasons, holidays, or just doodling on my nails. I've always been artistic and loved painting, but using canvases seemed like such a hassle. One day I saw a picture on Instagram of a professionally done nail art design, and I thought, "Well that doesn't look so hard.." I was COMPLETELY wrong, but with lots of practice and new tools I taught myself to create complicated designs successfully with and on both hands.
I didn't really know a lot about this topic before I started which made me more excited to research it. Apparently not many people knew or cared either because the internet became a barren wasteland when it came to nail art history! I could only find four sources because six different sites had the exact article copied and pasted on their pages! I couldn't find anything! Once I found some useful information, I was inspired by the designs in the past. So much so that I already tried three designs on myself!
I had to come up with a couple of research questions to guide my paper, but I couldn't really think of any interesting ones. I thought of the usual ones such as, "What colors meant what?" or "What designs were most popular?" Those weren't helping me very much, so I came up with some other ones. "What was the symbolic meaning behind the designs created in each era?" "What colors displayed the differing social statuses, and what were the consequences of wearing the wrong color?" "Was nail polish reserved for the high class, or the lower, and why was this?"
The only resource I used to find my information was the internet because there aren't any books on nail art besides the tutorial ones....which wouldn't be much help! However, I used two online magazines which were actually very informative. One source was a prezi-like display and the other was just a generic informational website. I wanted at least five sources, but I didn't want to use bad sources just to have another source. Therefore, I only have four, but I feel like I had a good paper with the few I could find.
I learned a lot through my project. I learned differing views on nail polish in different eras, which was very interesting. For instance, in the Victorian age, a strong principle of the time was "inner beauty," so nail polish was either nude or very light pink if it was even allowed at all (I could not live in that time period!). At the same time in China, wealthy women wore deep reds to display their power; completely differing ideas just half a world away!
My research doesn't really make a difference to me or anyone else except that whoever reads this will be just a little more informed on the art of nail designs. Also it would be really cool if I get some more followers on my Instagram account! I already have 278, so maybe a thousand more would do it....just kidding. My research does do the past nail artists justice, and it gives them credit for the ambitious and sometimes insane innovations they contributed to the world of nail art. Without them, I wouldn't have a way to express myself except for regular painting, but that' s too
main-stream for me.
Sincerely,
Aimée Collins