Nails That Cast a Spell

Has the latest fashion fever caught you yet? NAIL ART is the buzz word these days. Think beyond French manicures and transform your nails into a canvas for expressing your creativity. We are talking designs, patterns, colours, stickers, beads, glitters, glamour and all that jazz. NOIDAN WAY tells you about this latest craze that has got all hands jazzed up!

Beauty is definitely one business that has withstood the repercussions of the fluctuating economy graph and has bloomed unrestricted. The recent years have witnessed it mushrooming with beauty salons taking bolder strides to be at par with the international style parameters. With the growing trend of nail art, the latest craze among girls is to get their nails painted with seemingly endless designs created with the help of vivid nail paints, stars, glitter, stones, stickers, beads, and flowers. Nail piercing and wearing trinkets or expensive pieces of jewellery like ringlets, is also on a rise.

The arrival of easy-to-do nail art is a great boon for modern women constantly in a rush. Simple nail art not only conceals the flaws in your nails but also exudes a great style statement. The list of nail art techniques is endless. Moreover, nail art is not a time consuming process and therefore can easily be adopted in one’s daily lifestyle.

The regular way of filing nails and touching them up with a single coat of polish is out of fashion. French nail art has taken over. French manicure provides a good base for nail art designs as it ensures extended longevity.

Homemade Recipes
With a little bit of creativity and a dash of imagination, your nail can achieve a professionally created designer look. Spice your unique style with funky accessories and watch your nails attain a unique character of their own. Here are a couple of tips on how to go wild with your creativity and create dazzling nail art designs on your own:
• For starters, you need a clear base coat, a top coat, nail polish or color and a tooth pick.
• To begin with, file your nails properly with a nail file.
• Apply the base coat on your nails followed by a coat of nail polish. Let it dry properly.
• After the polish has dried off completely (make sure it s not lumpy and is free of bubbles), start painting the nails with the help of a toothpick dipped in your favorite nail color. Create your own designs to adorn your nails.
• Put the final or the top coat to make the pattern last longer.
• Before applying the top coat, you can choose to add glitters to make the designs more attractive.
However, if you have a paucity of time, you can go for fabric or stickers to achieve similar results.
• In order to use fabric to create nail art, make an outline of your nails on paper.
• Cut the fabric to perfection according to the size of your nails.
• Using adhesive or a thick coat of nail polish stick the fabric on your natural nails. Remember to use a transparent nail polish in case you want it to act as the glue.
• After the fabric is stuck on your nail, apply a coat of transparent nail polish to make the design look natural. Lo and behold! You have the most attractive nails to flaunt!

Classic Nail Art
Classic nails are based on beautiful, well-trimmed and shaped nails polished to perfection. You do not need to exaggerate the design to make your nails attractive. Being practical, strong and reliable, class nails are a perfect choice for a working professional. Teamed with pre done French manicure, it lends an ultra feminine streak to your personality. It is undoubtedly an evergreen trend and usually blends well with any outfit or occasion.

Edgy Nail Art
With fashion trends being redefined and experimented with, nail art designs has also adapted to edgier looks. Learnt from the Japanese, who have mastered this art, edgy nails involve unreal designs, over accessorizing and the use of ceramic shapes that make the nails look like a real work of art. Although the edgy nail art is not a practical option, nonetheless, it does leave the nails looking drop dead gorgeous.

Nail extensions
There may be several reasons why women are unable to grow their nails to a fashionable length and maintain them. Brittle nails, working factors, lifestyle or the most popular vice of biting nails may be a few reasons. However, nail technicians have come up with the alternative of nail extensions that help curb all these factors and let women flaunt great, stylish nails.
Artificial nail extensions not only provide long lasting polished looks, but also have unlimited possibilities of designing them and latest techniques to achieve the desired results of unbelievable designs and unique styles.

Nail extension involve the fixing of artificial nails on top of the natural nail. As and when the natural base nail grows, the gap is filled with nail extension material. Depending upon the type of material used, nail extension can broadly be categorized under acrylic, silk wrap and gel extension categories. These are unnatural nails grown naturally on fingers. However, they can also be used on healthy nails to accentuate style at occasions or as daily wear.

Says Meenakshi, Owner of Meenakshi Beauty and Nail Hub, Greater Noida, “We mostly do UV gel extensions using Star Nails, a product made in USA. One UV gel extension sitting costs Rs. 1800 and lasts six months. However, a major part of my clientele visit me for the more sober French nail extensions which comprise a gel overlay that makes the nails stronger and prettier and lasts up to six months with regular refills. These refills are basically essential to cover up the gap between the artificial extensions and the natural nails. The price tag is a nominal Rs.1100 for ten fingers.”

Beyond the clichéd
For those who want to go beyond the traditional nail art designs, ideas are inexhaustible. As far as the design and color are concerned, women choose them according to the season and occasion. While pink ruled the roost initially, the advent of gold, magenta, red and black have transformed the clichéd perception and has rendered a more dramatic character to this art. Designs are mostly freehand. However, you can opt for using your own nail art brushes, acrylic paints, beads, glitter, and rings etc. to create masterpieces.

Says Taruna, a professional nail artist, “Liquid and powder nail extensions, also known as acrylic nails are most popular these days. Colored powders are mixed in varying proportions to achieve a typical desired shade. This is topped up with glitters, dried flowers, beads, pearls, crushed shells, and synthetic or semi precious stones to create fascinating designs. French manicure, on the other hand involves the use of liquid and powder acrylic, fiberglass or UV gels. To create these designs, white enamel is used to paint the free edge of the nail and give them a French manicure look. The art work follows later.”

Taruna adds, “Women like to have more intricate and embellished designs at occasions such as weddings. Red and gold are the hot colors and nails are accessorized heavily with gemstones, rhinestones and pearls to attain a bejeweled look. For occasions like Christmas, holly leaves can be painted on the nails while on Valentine day red hearts and cupids painted meticulously on the nails look fabulous.”

Nail piercing
After exhausting the possibilities of body piercing, the fad of nail piercing is on a tremendous rise. Pierce your nails carefully and adorn them with ringlets and studs. Choose a shimmering color and design that suits your personality and create sensational nail art designs.
A pinch of imagination + A dash of French Manicure

French nail art, replete with innovations and techniques, is all about treating the nails as individual canvases. Some eye-catching designs ideas that can let you own a stunning set of nails are as follows:

• Jewels have more to do than adorning ears, neck and hands. For a formal do, garnish your nails with small silver ringlets or similar jewelry when it comes to French nail art. All it requires is drilling a hole in the nail.

• Experiment with various colors and coloring techniques. Choose a color and a design carefully for each occasion. Go wild with jungle theme and animal prints!

• Most French nail art enhancement products comprise a white tip to achieve a French manicured look. Use dried flowers, glitters, acrylic shapes and bullion beads etc to create permanent French nail art. Experiment with rhinestones, flicks, dots and glitters.

• Use stick-on stones. There are plenty of options available in the market. Invest time and imagination to create a sensational look.

• Experiment with various airbrush techniques.

Try the reverse French tip. Use white on the entire nail and pink at the tip. Some gorgeous combinations are bright pink and bright yellow and metallic purple and silver. Top it up with glitter to add more jazz.

According to Sathya, Proprieter, Sravi Enterprises, Greater Noida, which supplies nail extension kits, “for a professional nail artist and parlours, we have nail extension kits that three gels – clear, pink and cover pink, primer, finishing gel, acrylic stick, brushes, buffer, cleaner, gel cleaner solution and brush cleaner solution, available at Rs. 9250. All gels are 15 ml as against the standard 7ml gels available in the markets and of international quality. The kit, however, does not include a UV lamp and customers need to buy it from the market.”

Meenakshi suggests, “Always ensure you follow all the instructions your salon may offer regarding nail care. This is primarily important when you experiment with nail art design and need to keep your nails maintained for a long period of time.”

Says Taruna, “There are endless ways to style your nail, according to the outfit you want to match it with, the occasion you are going to, or simply to your personality. You can choose simple, or extra edgy styles, starting from the classic French manicure and till the ceramic figurines that can be applied on the nails.”

Nails are an important part of our entire look and hence their importance should not be underestimated. Nothing is more repelling than dirty, unshapely fingernails. Even the minutest detail can make a difference. The key is to find the right style that suits your personality, and make it your signature manicure. Make the most gorgeous nail art designs on your own, or visit a professional for more intricate styles and get yourself some jaw-dropping glamorous nails.

P.S. I got a wonderful nail job done at Scratch, GK-2, New Delhi. The services @ Scratch are credible and extremely affordable (not to forget, probably the cheapest in Delhi too!. You can check them out here: www.scratchnails.in

Tattoo: The Living Art

Tattoos can well be defined as live art reflecting an individual’s unique personality, psyche and character. Getting a tattoo is no more a fad but a common practice today. Tattoos are worn by the rich and famous as well as the poor and unknown. People with tattoos have one thing in common – their desire to enhance their self-image through the use of colorful skin designs. Ready to take a plunge?


Ancient, forgotten tribes have from eons immemorial used coloured ink to depict primitive human characteristics like tribal status, personal achievements, personality traits, gods, demons and the forces of nature in the form of decorative body art, known to the modern civilisation as ‘tattoos’. In the primitive ages, certain colours might have represented success in love or war; various animal symbols could have suggested a desirable personality trait. But the art of tattooing in modern times is a cult – far more dynamic in character, much more varied in its depictions.

Specialised tattoo artists inject coloured dye below the skin’s surface using a hollow needle. Tiny dots of colour are injected along a pre-selected design. When the ‘mildly’ painful task is over, a colourful pattern emerges to illustrate a picture, a verbal phrase, a symbol or even an object. A tattoo can be made on any part of the human body, depending on whether one wants it for public display or personal viewing only. The size may range from a tiny dot to gigantic designs that spread across the length of the torso, a limb or even the entire back. Tattoos are an addiction and it is a common practice by those who already have one to return back for more.

Why do you want a tattoo?

Different people get different tattoos for very different reasons. The motive may be interesting, bizarre, personal, obscure or even funny. Head-bangers and DJs get tattoos to impersonate popular rock-stars like Eminem and increase their ‘cool-quotient’. People in love get names of their partners tattooed on their arms, wrists, neck, back, chest, et al, just too please their partners or prove their commitment in the relationship. A few others get tattoos to show their affiliation to a group – Marxists, capitalists, nihilists, romantics, raiders, pirates or even alcoholics! Some get it to identify themselves with a certain sub-culture famous for tattoos while others wear them to flaunt their independence, individuality, style and uniqueness. As ironical as it may sound, some people get themselves tattooed to remind themselves of fond memories of a special period in their life and some to remind themselves of the hurt inflicted upon them by someone who didn’t care! Quite frankly, all of the above are valid reasons for getting tattoos.

“Portraits of your loved ones or gods are very much in this season. This is people’s way of showing how much they care for them,” says tattoo artist Lokesh Verma from Devil’z Tattooz.“People prefer portraits of their spouses, girlfriends and kids. In fact, I recently did a portrait of a guy’s girlfriend on his arm. One of my other famous portraits has been Heath Ledger’s character of ‘The Joker’ from ‘The Dark Knight’. People also like to have gods like Shiva, Rama, Krishna and Sai Baba,” says Verma.

Ajit Singh, director of another reputed tattoo parlour feels the same. “There’s a particular thing involved in tattoos and it is called shading which is done with the grey wash ink - a mixutre of black ink and distilled water. Portraits are the most time-consuming and the hardest because there are wrinkles on the skin and not a single wrinkle can be missed from shading. Images have a lot of intricacies and they have to be of a favourable size - a minimum of about five inches. You can’t have very small portraits or the image will lose its intricacy,” explains Singh.

Media professional Vishal Gupta, 21, who has the portrait of Leprechaun, a male fairy from Irish folklore, as he believed it was his lucky mascot says, “Ever since I was a child, I found that he was very lucky for me and hence when I decided to get a tattoo, I knew what I wanted”.

The risks involved

A tattoo is a permanent body art, and this means ‘permanent’ with a capita ‘P’. A tattoo is designed to last. However, it may need a touch-up after sometime to brighten the colors, which usually fade or become lack-lustre over time.

The primary concern with getting skin tattoos is the possibility of health risks. For instance, if the needle used during the process has been used by others infected with certain blood-borne diseases, you may become exposed to the same bacteria and develop conditions as severe as hepatitis or even HIV. Blood poisoning or skin infection is also possible if the needle happens to become contaminated by airborne or localized germs. Ensure that the tattoo artist's hands and equipment are sterile, and that the proper technique is used for designing the tattoo on your body.

Some other problems you may face with your tattoos are as follows:

Getting a tattoo may impact your personal or professional life too. For example, some employers do not want their workers to exhibit tattoos in the presence of clients. And one may have to cover up one’s tattoo or stay away from clients at the workplace.

Curiosity kills the cat! A tattoo is a very personal thing but since it is mostly out for public display, people may not look at it in the right sense or even ask personal questions driven by their curiosity. You may be required too cover yourself up properly in a negative environment.

If, after getting a permanent tattoo, you wish to have it removed, you will need to visit the tattoo specialist and have the dye removed from your skin. This can be a difficult and painful process, as well as costing more money.

Removing a permanent tattoo is neither cheap nor easy. You may look at quite a bomb of an amount to be shelled out while considering a laser surgery to have the tattoo off your body. A non-laser technique will leave you with an ugly scar. Bad news is, health insurance companies do not fund tattoo removals.

Celebrities and their love-affair with tattoos

From rock stars, to movie stars, from pop stars to athletes and even the socialites, almost everyone is a proud owner of a tattoo design and body art. Shedding off their stigmatic perception of tattoos, they have been flaunting more and more tattoos to sport their style, status, fashion and freedom.

Soccer star David Beckham is known as much for his fashion sense and tattoos as he is for hsoccer playing abilities so much so that his entire body looks like a gigantic tattoo museum! Right from the name of his first son, Brooklyn, to that of his second son Romeo and moving on to the third named Cruz, Beckham’s body sure is a masterpiece of body-art. Besides these, he has a ‘guardian angel’ on his shoulder blades, a winged cross on the back of his neck, his wife Victoria’s name written in Hindi on his left arm, and the Roman numeral VII and the Latin phrase “Perfectio In Spiritu” inscribed on his right arm!

Following Beckham’s footsteps are Academy-winning actress Angelina Jolie who has various tattoos in mixed languages, styles and forms on her arms, stomach and back, gathered during her tours around the world.

Epic boxer Mike Tyson recently expanded his tattoo collection (which includes Chairman Mao and his name Mike) to include a tribal-style facial tattoo which is inspired from the Maori tribes and their fighting spirit.

Our very own Bollywood siren Mandira Bedi was in a thick controversy when she walked the ramp with the religious Sikh symbol ‘Ek Omkar’ tattooed on her bare back. Besides this, a Buddhist symbol tattooed on her naval has also grabbed a lot of eyeballs.

Action hero Sanjay Dutt has his parents’ name inked on his body. Chhote Nawaab Saif Ali Khan was much in news when he got girlfriend Kareena’s name inked on his arm. Esha Deol has the ‘Gayatri Mantra’ tattooed on her back. Among other ‘much talked about’ bollywood celebrities, Suniel Shetty, John Abraham, Rakhi Sawant and her boyfriend Abhishek, Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen and many others are now getting into the groove and trend of the hot body art with tattoos!

Like any other expression of art, tattooing requires a lot of aesthetic sense, patience and artistic skills. It is advisable to weigh the risks and benefits of getting a tattoo before making a head-on decision that is likely to be permanent. Tattoos can be beautiful and exhilarating and can totally transform your world. Make sure that you want it and make sure that you do it right.

Share|