Retro Half-Moon Manicure

Good evening! At the beginning of December one of my best friends had a murder mystery party based on a 1920s theme. For the uninitiated, a murder mystery party is just what it sounds like - it's a boxed game where a fictitious person gets murdered, and each party guest plays a particular character who is both a suspect and has to figure out whodunnit. We all dressed up like our characters. Mine was based on Chanel so I wore a little black dress, black heels, and a Chanel-esque cream cardigan that I found in Primark for a tenner (bargain!). Naturally, I had to paint my nails to match the theme!

Yup, I went with a half-moon manicure. I've done it once before for a vintage weekend at work (you can see it here) but I like this one more. I used a brighter red this time, Orly Ruby, and I think it looks kinda sexy. ;)

I wasn't the murderer and didn't even guess correctly who it was...boo. But I had a great night anyway. :)

Vintage Half-Moon Manicure

A couple of weeks ago the historic house I intern at had a 1930s/40s-inspired weekend, so I decided to paint my nails to celebrate. I settled on a half-moon manicure, which were very popular in those days because painting the whole of your nail was seen as a bit tarty. Nowadays I think half-moon manicures are considered kind of edgy, so things have definitely changed a bit!

I began by painting my nails with a coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!, a white jelly. The half moon on my nails is visible on some nails and not others (is anyone else the same?), so I thought it would be best to start with a blank slate. Once DTMT was completely dry I used some hole reinforcers to mark off the half moon and then painted on two coats of Revlon Vixen.

Hmmm... Revlon Vixen. Where do I start? It sucks. I don't have many dark reds and I thought it would be appropriate because Revlon was actually around in the 40s, but I didn't realise it was so sheer. It's not a jelly - more of a creme-jelly hybrid. After two coats it was still kind of patchy, but I couldn't be bothered with a third. It also bubbled horrendously (which fortunately you can't really see in my photos).

I only wore this manicure for the vintage weekend, because although I loved how it looked from a distance, the bubbles drove me nuts. :(