Evening star., 1944-10-24

Can you give yourself q mani
cure? Or are you one who's al
ways secretly envying the girls who
do their own? You may not turn
out professional Job the first time
but with . few rules to guide you
and = little practice-you can prob
ably achieve q reasonable facsimile
thereof in short order.
First step Is the right setup. When
you get very sure-handed you may
be able to manicure your nails sit
ting on the edge Of the bathtub or
the edge Of the bed, but to begin
with, you'll do much better II you
set up table arrangement with
all your implements right at your
Ifingertips. So-line up your gear
your orangewood stick, emery board.
soaking bowl and polish equipment
and go to work. Then you're ready
to remove the polish. There's even
q right and wrong to this procedure.
The dab-and-daub method Is both
slow and sinen,cient. Instead
do as the professionals do. Satu-
rate small pad Of cotton, hold
| 1t against the nails for half q min
ute, then press 1t slowly down the
nail, removing with 1t every bit of
tired old polish. ANY old remover"
won't do because the base of some
brands has . tendency to dry out
your nails. There are some that
will remove the polish without ruin
Ing the nail through dryness. ~
| Shaping comes next. Shape be-
fore soaking" is q good rule to re-
member because 1t Is very bad to file
a moist or even damp nail. You'll
90 better, too, with q longish fiex-
ibie emery board rather than a
steel file which is harsh on, nails,
often tearing the delicate underlip-
Ing. The big DON'T in this depart
ment Is: DON'T file away the cor
ners OF your nails. They're needed
TO support the tips II you want long
lovely nails. For actual shape, most
nails look prettiest when they fol.
low the shape OF your fingers.
After shaping, soak your finger
tips in warm soapy water. Too much
dunking weakens the nail-so don't
get engrossed In book at this point.
Then comes the business Of the
cuticle. Slow and easy is the rule
here. Dip . cotton-wrapped orange
stick into good oily cuticle re-
mover. and then push back the
cuticle gently, working from the
base up. Never cut the cuticle-
never, dOuble-never bite tor do
you remember these lessons learned
at mothers knee? II your cuticle
Is stubborn or Is now raggy from
past mistakes, pamper 1t q bit by
massaging each night with q drop
or two Of cutice oil. Getting back
to the manicure-after you've worked
on the cuticle, wash your hands
again. carefully pushing back the
cuticle with the towel as you dry.
Next step Is the polish-usualiy
the stumbling block for US anna
teurs. Polish clings best to q smooth
surface, 20 be sure to get OF any
speck OF oil or moisture, then bufY
QUICKLY for . plus touch. Final
preparatory step is a good polish
base to assure q super smooth nail.
The best rule we've learned in ap-
plying nail polish is to hold the
brush rs If 1t were q pencil and
you were going to draw pictures on
your nails. Then, carefully, with
thC AttAC AAa8CA VI tAlc VI uSli- WlCtu-
ing hand resting on the palm of the
other, paint polish on your nails
using long quick strokes. Use q
lightly filled brush lest blobs ruin
your handiwork, and let this firsi
coat dry thoroughly before you ap-
ply = second. II any polish get,
around the edges, leave It until the
nails are dry and then remove with
your faithful cotton, orange stick
and remover. Finally add one coat
of q special preparation designed tc
Ithwart any chipping tendencies
1t will probably make the polish last
better.
| To make your nails appear longer
apply the polish over the moon. Fo,
nails already long let the moon.
show to give your fingers q more
ltapering look. On the other hand, II