Grand Duchess's Finger Nails & the Finger Found at Four Brother's Mine

[. My Pictures from the Past .]

i was looking at my nails one day. and i wondered if the GDs had manicured nails like their mother? do you think they did? or have any proof that they did?

Yes, they did.  Apparently in the Ipatiev House they helped ladies who came in to clean and one woman commented on their well-manicured nails and how they had gotten nasty and dirty and chipped when they had helped clean.

I wonder how nice Anastasia's fingernails were. She always climbed trees, and probably played around in the dirt.  

[AlyoshaSunbeam.com]

I don't really think that Anastasia cared how her nails looked like when she was in her tomboy faze which was practically all her life, lol!

[. My Pictures from the Past .]

I don't really think that Anastasia cared how her nails looked like when she was in her tomboy faze which was practically all her life, lol!

I wasn't quite sure about Anastasia... but I'm sure Olga kept her nails very clean lolz. but i wasn't quite sure if they did have manicured nails.  

I don't think they have manicured nails. Maybe they just used clear nail polish. If they do have manicured nails, it would have been dainty looking and ladylike as in hint of light pink shade. But I read somewhere in this forum that Nicholas II hates to see colored nails on his wife's fingernails. And also, did they find nail polishes in the Ipatiev house? It would surely be in the inventory list right?

[. My Pictures from the Past .]

i didn't know that they had nail polish back then? and i'm surprised the nicholas didn't like nail polish.

I think back then "manicured" meant well-taken care of, which is what I meant when I mentioned the GD's apparently well manicured nails.  Not like a French manicure or whatever we do today.

[. My Pictures from the Past .]

o ya i forgot. did they have nail polish back then? i wonder what it was made of back then?

What about pedicures? Were those done as well?

I think there was some for m of nail polish but not nail polish as we know it.

I think it would have been part of the duties of their personal  maids to take care of their nails and hair. Probably if anything at all was used on their nails it may have been a chamois or suede buffer to give the nails a shine.

lexi -

I believe they had pedicures, but only in the summer, in preparation for the yacht trip aboard the Standardt.  What I do not know is who DID the pedicures (did a maid do it?  Did each daughter do another daughter's toes?  was there a special Palace Manicurist?), whether the toes were simply buffed or whether they had nail polish (did each daughter have her own color, as she did her own scent?), whether they wore sandals or flip-flops....

We lack so much information.  What we need is a full-time researcher.

  The title of this thread makes me laugh - isn't there another thread about Alix's big toe or something? Shall we start Olga's left knee cap next?   (Btw grandduchess.42, I'm only laughing, not mocking the thread that you started!  )

Oh well, since it's about finger nails, this is what Maria Pavlovna wrote of Ella's:

"She did her nails herself. They were curiously shaped, very flat & thin, curving forwards over the ends of the fingers."

(As an aside, the most grotesque finger nails must be those of Leopold II of the Belgians. His were so long & curly that he could only shake hands using two fingers - urgh!!!)

Regarding manicures [a silly topic]  
  Some ladies did have their nails 'buffed' not painted.
There was nail rouge -  but it wasn't really a a paint and it was rarely worn. For some people like Alix and her daughters it may have seemed a bit "demi - mode" or courtisanish...

PLEASE realize that there are many non english speakers here, so TRY to post using standard English spellings. Reading this "shorthand language"  can be very difficult and often gives one the impression that the poster is poorly educated.

rskkiya