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Subversive Femme

Quick Tutorial: Do you do the moon? (Half moon manicure)

Half moon manicures are super easy (if a bit time consuming) and they definitely get easier with practice.

1940s vintage half moon manicure nail polish review tutorial 1950s

I’ve seen a lot of tutorials posted online using sticky tape, or those ring binder things to make the shape – but I promise, you only need two special tools to do a half moon manicure:

 Acetone nailpolish remover, and a soft flat brush (I use a spare eye shadow brush).

I prefer Gel Nailpolish as it’s long wearing and my nails are really brittle, and the polish is easier to maneuver (it levels itself). Tasha has a really good Gel Nail series on her blog here, so I won’t go over how the nailpolish works or how to apply it. If you’ve never tried it before, give it a go, but for now I’ll assume you’ve cleaned your nails and set your base coat under the lamp.

Step 1: Apply a thin coat of colour polish starting about 5mm (1/5 of an inch) from the base of your nail – you want to leave the lower part completely blank

Step 2: Make sure your brush isnt too loaded with polish, and carefully do the sides at an angle

If it doesn’t look neat, don’t worry you can fix it later (i.e. like my index finger here)

Step 3: Get your soft brush and dip it in the acetone. Blot off the excess onto a tissue, and carefully ‘push’ the ragged edges of the nailpolish with the brush until you get a curved shape you like

Do this for every finger, and set the colour coat under the lamp. (I finish one hand completely before starting the other one).

Step 4: Apply a second colour coat, keeping within the nice curved lines you made. I normally get close to the edge, but not right up to them

Step 5: Set the second coat, do your top coat and cleanse with your alcohol cleanser as per normal. Finished!

I admit it does take a bit longer than applying gel nailpolish the plain way, but it’s not very hard either.

Do you do a half moon? What are your tips?

Outfit:
Gel nailpolish – High Roller from Couture Gel
1940s repro jumper – Sweater Girl at My Baby Jo
Diamond ring – Safari Lee
Jewellery and scarf – various
Lipstick – Nars velvet matte pencil in Red Square

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No Comments

  • Reply
    Virginia Crawford
    May 29, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    Oooo! That's really neat! I might give it a go this weekend (with normal old nailpolish though). Thanks for sharing this 🙂

  • Reply
    Jessica Cangiano
    May 30, 2014 at 4:22 am

    Do you feel that? That's me giving you a giant hug for presenting an alternative to using tape or binder stickers, both of which always seem to give my sensitive skin a pesky rash. I will be trying your wonderfully easy method asap. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

    ♥ Jessica

  • Reply
    Bex
    May 30, 2014 at 6:45 am

    Aww Jessica! Xx good luck and I hope you have success 😉 x

  • Reply
    Mrs. B
    May 30, 2014 at 1:20 pm

    Gorgeous nail colour and gorgeous outfit you have on. Love the green sweater!

  • Reply
    eileensbasement
    May 31, 2014 at 2:05 pm

    Outstanding! Thank you! I've been using the gel nail polish since Tasha did her series, and I would love to do a half moon now.

  • Reply
    zilredloh
    June 2, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    huh

    I'm new to gel nails, and have done them a few times now.

    This is really interesting, I may have to play around with this next time. 🙂

  • Reply
    Bonita Vear
    July 1, 2014 at 8:26 am

    Gosh, you are clever! I love my gel polish, but never thought it would be possible to do a half-moon mani with the UV curing polishes. I've got to try this! Thank you for sharing! ♡

    xox,
    bonita of Lavender & Twill

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