For 85 years, half moon nails have been creating a striking look for women's fingers. By 1932, when Revlon introduced the first line of pigment nail polish, the half-moon style with partially bare nails was all the rage. Read on to find out how to get this look yourself.
Image via Essie


Gather Supplies
As with any manicure, you'll need a base coat and a top coat. You'll also need a favorite shade of nail polish. For half moon nails, you'll also need nail polish remover, a flat makeup brush, and a package of reinforcement stickers from the office supply aisle.

Coat
First, apply a base coat, such as OPI Chip Skip, $13.99, to your nails. Allow this to dry.


Cover
When the base coat is ready, it's time to break out the reinforcement stickers. These will mask off the lower part of your nail to keep polish off this area. Try Avery's Self-Dispensing Package of Reinforcement Labels, $1.88. Stick one on each nail so that the edge of the hole hits right near your cuticle. The white sticker should cover about one-quarter of your fingernail. Press firmly around the edges to create a tight seal between the sticker and your nail.


Paint
Any nail polish will work for this next step, so feel free to use your favorite. For a long-lasting, five-free polish in a classic color, you might try RGB Nail Polish, in Scarlet, $9. Go over the whole nail up to the reinforcement sticker with a thin coat. You don't need to paint over the entire sticker, but overlapping polish onto it a bit will help give you a clean line.


Paint Again
After giving your nails a couple minutes to dry, apply another thin coat of polish.

Remove
Right after finishing the second coat, peel up the reinforcement stickers and throw them away.

Touch Up
Some polish may have gotten under the sticker, so you'll want to do some touch-up work. Dip your narrow brush -- such as an E.L.F. Small Precision Brush, $3 -- into your nail polish remover. After the polish has had a few minutes to dry, use the wet brush to touch up the spots where the polish has crept into the bare half-moon area.



Top
To finish your half moon nails, go over each with a top coat. Orly Sec'n Dry, $11, is a good choice.


Alternative Approach
Half moon nails can also be a two-color affair. Between prepping with the base coat and applying the reinforcement stickers, add two coats of polish in a second color. Allow this to dry fully before positioning the stickers and continuing with the next steps of the half moon nails process. This approach leaves less room for error since touching up leakage will remove the color in the half-moon, so save this look for after you've mastered the one-polish half-moon.