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For a long while, I have been interested in learning how to do nails because I think that it is a beautiful art and a very important part of your life! Whether you are a man or a woman or a child, its important to keep your nails looking good.  Even if you're not painting them, you have to cut them and shape them and keep them clean and healthy so you don't get a fungal infection.  I also have always considered maybe pursuing a career in manicure when I get older.  Obviously before I work at a salon I will need to graduate an actual nail school, but I think this project will help prepare me.  Right now, I am actually really bad at nails because I just don't have the time, energy, or resources.

I think the first step is learning about basic health and upkeep of natural nails. The naked nail is like empty canvas, and any painting needs to constructed upon a sturdy canvas.  I will also need to learn the parts of a nail, for example as of now I am really not sure what a 'cuticle' is.  After I learn about treating the naked nail, I will need to learn about shaping them. 

This image shows some possible ways you can shape a nail, and I will definitely need to practice and learn how to do this.  I think I am going to master the canvas before I move on to practicing the painting.

My final goal in this project is to be able to produce nail art that is actually amazing.   Something worthy of a salon, and a variety of nail art too.  Here are some pictures of where I would like to be:
Something like this, miniaturizing art onto your nails, combining beauty and art.
And interesting patterns like this.
Incorporating jewels and decals like this, and the basic but beautiful french manicure.
There are endless ways I can express this end product I want, and endless different types of art one can put on their nails.  Basically, I want to be able to produce a variety of different nail art.  I will document this project with photos of different nails I do.  My main resource will be the internet, but I might pick up a guidebook.  There are actually millions of nail tutorials on Youtube and beauty websites offer tips and tutorials as well.