Above: 1932 Cutex Club Kit. A complete set of manicure preparations in a leather case with bottles topped with Bakelite caps.

The first coloured Cutex Nail Polish, later referred to as a Natural (i.e., light pink) shade, was probably tinted with a soluble dye like carmoisine or safranine. A deeper tint called Deep Rose was introduced in 1925. In 1928, the company also began selling its Clear (colourless) polish with a separate bottle of tint to enable colour to be added by personal preference, a reflection of the conservative nature of many Cutex customers. Price is then of course the second part of this tip, and the advice here is to take the time to really study the price of Cutex Hydrating Cuticle Oil against other products in the Manicure and pedicure tools category. To help you with that, we’ve run some analysis for you. Above: 1958 Cutex Designer Case. Based loosely on earlier designs by Helena Rubinstein and Revlon, the case did away with the ‘bullet look’ and came in a range of coloured stripes. The new Cutex Liquid Polish … is of just the right consistency to flow evenly and pleasantly over the nails from the tiny camel’s-hair brush with which it is applied. It dries instantly, and leaves a charming rose-petal finish that retains its brilliant lustre for at least a week. And, best of all, when you wish to renew it, no special “remover” is required. You simply use another application of the polish, and wipe it off. A cuticle oil can also extend the life of a manicure, whether it’s gel or polish,” adds Littley. “Strengthening and protecting the nail is important through the use of an oil, especially if you get manicures biweekly or monthly.”Nail Polishing Cake:“Gives a brilliant lasting polish with little effort. Free from grit and is absolutely harmless. In Pink and White.”

A new range of manicure sets was also developed named the Compact, Traveling, Boudoir and De Luxe Sets. The composition and naming of these manicure sets changed frequently over the years.

Will you be claiming the VAT back?

The actual price of the product that you choose is of course one of the most vital aspects of choosing the right product, we will go into that in more detail in just a moment.

It certainly does! “Applying cuticle oil can help to stimulate nail growth and promote stronger nails while protecting them from the elements they’re exposed to,” explains Asami Irigaki, a nail artist in New York City. Cuticle oils work by penetrating skin to infuse it with hydration and create a watertight seal to prevent infection. Above: 1953 Counter display for Cutex Red Hot ’n Blue shade promotion with non-competitive product tie-ins: Chlorodent Toothpaste, Lady Esther Four Purpose Cream, Lilt Home Permanent, Maybelline Make-up, Pacquin’s Silk ’n Satin Lotion, and Prell Radiant Shampoo. Chesebrough-Pond’sSutton, D. H. (2009). Globalizing ideal beauty: How female copywriters of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency redefined beauty for the twentieth century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Bliven, B. (1917). Creating a special class of salesmen to handle unusual type of customer. Printers Ink, 48(12), 37-40, 45. Cutex also generated interest in the liquid polish by altering the manicure instructions that came with its other products so that they now included the use of the liquid polish. The example below is from 1926. Cutex was analysed by the American Medical Association (AMA) a few years after it appeared on the market. Some removers of the time used a weak acid to help remove the cuticle but the AMA determined that Cutex used a weak alkaline solution of potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide instead to soften the skin, with glycerine added to reduce irritation and rose oil included as a perfume (Street, 1917, p. 68). The use of the harsher sodium hydroxide was later dropped from the formulation. Cuticles are literally and figuratively the root of nails, so it’s important to keep them happy and healthy, and cuticle oil is the best way to do that. “It keeps the nails flexible so they bend but don't break, it prevents the layers of the natural nail from peeling, and it prevents hangnails,” Kandalec says. “And if you wear enhancements, like gel or acrylic, it prevents them from curling away from the enhancement, which can lead to lifting and allow bacteria to get between the nail and enhancement.”

We found this oil to be very lightweight but still powerful, and we didn’t have to worry about getting residue on our sheets or clothing. It took around 10 minutes to fully absorb, but the more we massaged it in, the faster it seemed to absorb, and even when it was sitting on top of skin, it felt silky rather than greasy. After using the oil for a week, our nails and cuticles were significantly softer and more hydrated, and it made our entire hands look much healthier. Above: 1934 Cutex Color Selector counter display. The base was moulded plastic, surmounted by a finger rest. Over the finger rest was a disk which contained transparent nail shaped sections of the six Cutex colours – the Clear shade not being included. By pushing a button on the rest and rotating the disk, the customer could see how each shade looked on their finger. L’Occitane’s beloved cuticle oil may be simple, but it is mighty. With a blend of shea butter, almond oil, castor oil, and avocado oil, it’s deeply hydrating and leaves nail beds nourished and soft. The brush tip applicator makes it easy to apply the cuticle oil with no mess or wasted time. Plus, it smells absolutely heavenly. Northam Warren also regularly updated its nail polishes and added new lines. Starting with Cutex Nail Brilliance (1947) containing ‘enamelon’ in eight shades, the company then added Cutex Pearl Brilliance (1950) and Cutex Chip-Pruf (1953). In 1957, the polishes were also reformulated to help reduce sedimentation, create a more uniform colour, give greater lustre to pearl forms and generally improve wear.

Liquid polish colours

Above: Cutex Nail Polish Bottles with colour inserts and Oily Polish Remover designed by Donald Deskey [1894-1989].