I've just returned from a nice Shiraz down at the pub, where an Australian tourist told me she liked my nails.

The salon I have mine done at has one picture in my file as a template that can't be deviated from...



I am not interested in other colours, other lengths, or other shapes. Particularly not those horrible oval and slightly pointed ones I see so often these days. I've always had an almost visceral reaction of revulsion to long squared off French manicures.

I'm not a fan of nail art, and that was cemented for me during the 1996 Euros when suddenly everyone had red and tippex St George flags. Thankfully I haven't seen nail jewellery for some time, so there must be a lot of Argos 9ct gold pendants in people's drawers.

Bitten nails of any type make me feel sick. In restaurants, I do send food back to the kitchen with an apology and a simple explanation of why, if the waiting staff show any evidence of having this disgusting habit.

At the other end of the scale, nails so long that you can only wonder at the logistics of how the person attends to their basic hygiene are also grotesque. What are everyone else's thoughts on this vital issue of very public aesthetics?

I didn't like the nail jewellery phase. I would love to have more decorative nails but I do so much typing that they get bashed and broken.

Long fingernails are horrible. Every time I see them, I want to take nail clippers to them.

I type a lot too, that's why I have them done exactly as above. Any longer would be impractical. I think drumming them on a table while you're thinking must make them stronger because that's a habit of mine and I've never had any major breaking problems. I have an electric buffer which does nicely between appointments, because I can't stand chipped varnish so once there's a hint of that, it all comes off. On a high speed it gives a great gloss.

I've just checked for you. It's Revlon. I thought it was Babyliss.

Good nails...



One to be added to the repertoire.

Nothing wrong with an out of character change for some young persons birthday party...



Entering into the spirit as a supportive guest at a Pride...

These are the kind of crimes that make me flinch. I don't know where that horribly unnatural pointed shape came from but I'm sick of seeing it...



I have a friend who gets hers done like that - whenever she shows me her newest colour or drinks from a glass sitting opposite me, I can feel my saliva production increase and I have to swallow hard. Apart from anything else, I find the way false nails sit so high up to be self defeating - nobody could ever mistake them for real nails so what's the point?

I always made sure my grandmothers nails were beautifully shaped and manicured, with a mood brightening range of polish colours for her to choose from. Including unusual for her generation black and metallic varieties. I bought her a pillar box red varnish and the same night my mother rang in a temper to say she had removed it when she visited an hour or so after I'd been, and why had I done her mummy up like an old prostitute? I thought that was wicked - she looked like a 90 something old lady with lovely red nails to match her favourite cashmere cardigan.

I should've charged the nursing home really - by the end I was doing the nails of six or seven of the old ladies there. They didn't get deep cleaning starts and special scented moisture hand massages to finish - that was a reserved extra for my own little darling. That's the kind of thing that's so easy to do, so pleasant to give, so essential to receive, and so heartbreaking in light of the social distancing now required in these settings. It will never not upset me to think of those in those places right now. They must be so lonely and so confused about everything.

I would never, not even for a night - but I think if you are young black or Mediterranean woman with lovely slender hands it can suit you and look fun...

In tribute to some much loved persons favourite thing, I might for a night out...



To support a cause or social movement for one day only...

I really did hope this thread would be about nails.

You do need to be black to pull this off. Looks great on her.

Nightjar wrote:

I really did hope this thread would be about nails.

I'm sure a thread devoted to the other kind would fit well in the householding chores section.

There's that terrible pointed shape again...



It it was a pets claws you'd be looking at the easiest ways to fix it before the night was out.

Thinking today of a very great friend, only missed ever more after all these years.