nail art
The machines are available at arcades and amusement centers in the “purikura” section and offer over 1,500 designs.
Typically, nail art in Japan is bold and colorful or just plain huge, but it turns out neither are requisites to being impressive! Sometimes small can be just as amazing as big (at least that’s what we tell ourselves), and one Twitter user has gone a long way to proving that with her diminutive and delicate nail art, created by literally carving the tips of her nails!
Japan’s ganguro fashion started among Japanese girls in the mid-90s. Ganguro fashionistas are difficult to miss with their deep-tanned (or darkly made-up) faces contrasted by seemingly sporadically-placed white makeup, wildly-voluminous hair, and brightly colored clothing and accessories.
While ganguro are a dwindling breed, specimens can still be found, like this Twitter user who has decided to take her manicures to the next level as well, leaving us wondering how she goes about her daily activities with those impressive talons.
As we face the approaching summer, more and more people bare their skin, a trend that in turn is followed in Japan by an incredible increase in the number of young people sporting nail art.
And to meet the expectations of these young people, Japan’s nail art scene has made extraordinary steps forward. One such nail art, characterized by its sparkling sense of individuality, is what we will be focusing on this time: ita-neiru.
It’s part of the manga and anime culture Japan boasts to the world.
Nail art is pretty big in Japan. For a lot of women (and some men?), getting their nails not just colored, but decorated with gems, 3D flowers and mini-paintings is a monthly routine and fashion must. Usually it’s fairly subtle, but some nail art aficionados think bigger and bolder is better, no matter how hard it makes typing a mail or wiping your bum.
Between the spring cherry blossom season and the hot, humid summer is Japan’s rainy season, which can leave everyone feeling a little blue, not to mention soggy. But the rain can also be an inspiration for fashionistas, and these Japanese girls (and guys!) certainly don’t mind getting their nails wet (although the same probably doesn’t go for their hair).
Japan is always in the lead when it comes to nail art, with western countries only just starting to catch on to techniques that have been common in Japan for years, particularly when it comes to gel nail designs. Just like with clothes, new trends come and go all the time, and the latest one doing the rounds here is water droplet nails.
What’s the only accessory you can wear 10 of but barely notice you’re donning them at all? Yup, nail art! Japan is all about colorful, creative decoration for the fingers and its nail art can get pretty fancy. But it can also get kind of pricey. As not everyone is gifted enough in the intricate craft of nail painting to do it themselves, DIY tricks have been cropping up, but they don’t always work as well as expected.
Renowned video game developer Sega has an answer to our nail woes. They have created a machine that prints specially shaped nail art stickers, so the average Jane (or Joe) can decorate their nails to their heart’s content. The machine is aptly named Nail Puri, short for nail purintaa (printer). What’s even better is that there will be a free demo of the machine in Ikebukuro this coming weekend!
Painting your own nails can be a stressful affair fraught with frustration – nail polish is actually a pretty difficult medium to work with, and a steady hand is required to end up with finished nails that don’t resemble those of a two-year-old who spent the afternoon finger painting. This new “water marble” technique promises to help even sausage-fingered ladies achieve gorgeous nails simply by dipping their digits into a bowl of water and nail polish.
But does this supposed nail hack even work?
With the first season of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal well underway, not only is a new generation of wannabe Sailor Scouts emerging, but thousands of fangirls of the original 1990s series are rekindling their love for Usagi-chan and her evil-fighting besties.
Marketers timed the release of this new anime series well, as the original fans are now young adults who have money to spend on Sailor Moon goods, like aprons, lingerie, and even feminine pads, which allow them to bask in nostalgia, but still pass as adults (more or less).
Some veteran Sailor Scouts are choosing to show their support in a different age-appropriate way, by transforming their nails. Sailor Moon themed nail art has become a fashion craze and is blowing up in nail salons all over Japan.
Nail art is something that’s increasingly popular among Japan’s ladies due to the fact that it’s an easy way to express your individual style. As well as DIY-ing it at home with 100 yen store nail polishes and nail stickers, you can also get reasonably affordable yet super-durable gel manicures in a salon which are set by UV light and last for at least a month. Nail art trends tend to come and go depending on the season and whatever’s in style, but occasionally there’s a “boom” for a certain kind of design, with more and more people jumping on the bandwagon. First came anime nail art, and now it’s the turn of traditional Japanese performance art, Kabuki!
In a country where concepts like uniformity and social cohesion are praised from kindergarten to retirement, and where those who seek out their own paths are considered quirky at best and troublesome renegades at worst, it is difficult for young professionals in Japan to stand out and make a name for themselves. For men especially, who more often than not must don the same black suit, white shirt and neutral-coloured necktie combo as their millions of peers, it’s easy to become just another face in the commuter crowd.
But a new generation of young businessmen has recently started bucking social trends in order to do precisely what they were always discouraged from: stand out and get noticed. Known as bijinesu neiru (“business nail”), thousands of men working in industries from pharmaceuticals to video game design are now paying hundreds of dollars a week to have their fingernails prettied up with gemstones, pastel-pinks, hearts and even company logos, with many claiming that, since getting their nails done, they have been rewarded with pay rises and promotions, and now have more friends and lovers than they could ever have dreamed.
Japan knows a thing or two about human billboards. And now, from the PR company that brought the world adverts stuck to girls’ thighs on the condition that the girls wear short skirts and knee-high socks, comes a brand new marketing idea: Candy Crush are sponsoring this girl’s fingernails, with a wacky, candy-based design that’s as bold and colourful as the game itself.
Nail art is booming in Japan, and sometimes the designs are simply jaw-dropping. From small gems to unique anime designs to nightmarish talons from a horror movie, women everywhere are keeping nail salons in business with the seemingly unstoppable trend. But if you’re thinking about surprising your man with a set of designer nails, you might want to think again, as a recent survey reveals that an overwhelming majority of men just don’t like nail art. The reasons they gave all point to the fact that the state of your nails can reveal a lot about who you are.
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