Nail Art

Nails are no more layers of keratin but tools of expression. Designers and fashion gurus are using nails to articulate their mood, fantasyand imagination. Creativity, which was once expressed on clothes,shoes,accessories gradually moved from material to man in the form of tatoos and body piercing. Today it has become more sophisticated and has reached new arenas like nail art.

Nail art originated 5000 years ago in India as a form of manicure. A herb called henna was used by Indian women to decorate hands and nails which also had a soothing effect. Tatooing is also believed to have originated from henna which is also known as mehendi art. Nail care which started with manicure therapy like hand massage,nail filing ,polishing,painting slowly moved towards nail sculpture where nails were carved into different shapes. Gradually it developed into nail art with the emergence of acrylics, shimmers, nail piercing,rhinestones,etc.

Organized nail art however started with French Revlon in 1932 which introduced pigments became widely popular along with the French manicure.Nail industry uses about 10,000 chemicals for manufacturing various decorative nail products including fish scales, pearl essence,gels,glitters,rhinestones apart from hundreds of brushes including airbrushes which spray paint . Nail art has become more sophisticated like any other industry and has emerged as a serious profession to lot many designers. Digital nail art for instance, allows you to print any picture of your wish on your nail. Nanotechnology is used to build nail plates from inside out. Acrylic nails are preffered to natural nails for designing because of the sustainability and flexibility.

The recent interesting embellishment to nail art - fimo frootsies, which are polyvinyl chloride polymer clay drilled,sliced, cut,painted and made into beads/different shapes used to decorate nails.

While the traditional art emanated from India, Japan is believed to be the mother of modern nail art. Designer nail art market in Japan was estimated to be worth $2.2 billion in 2008. Nail art festival, which happens annually in Osaka is a stage for thematic innovative nail designs like 3D art.

The United States which covers the majority of world nail art market employs about 15000 employees, about 43% of them being Vietnamese.The size of US nail art market is about $20 bn and has more than 5000 professional establishments.A nail salon normally charges a minimum of $15 per treatment, provides an earning potential of $2000-$4000 to every nail artist employed there.

While the whole world is submerged in recession, nail art industry seems recession proof. With 160 million visits to spas and salons, the industry has grown 18% from the previous year. Women, surely are pleased by this wonder art and are a major force behind this creativity's flourishment. With advance technology being brought into this market, nail art is expected to become further more convoluted and pull in more market!