Fantasy has entered nail fashions in recent years. Both women and men can be disturbed by nails that split, chip, and break which may affect employability, self-esteem, and interaction with other people. Moreover, any abnormality of the nail can cause impaired function of the hand or foot. Nail cosmetics is gaining popularity among dermatologists as they can improve the condition and appearance of the nails if used wisely. Since the nails are often difficult to treatand takes longer time to respond, nail cosmetics may be an effective support to medical treatment. They may help the patients to cope with their nail dystrophies while waiting for treatment to show its efficacy. It may also be the only choice to hide irreversibly damaged nail. Although, theirpopularity is greatest among women, the market for male manicures is also growing rapidly. The adornment and grooming of nail is an enormous industry, with over US $ 6 billion spent annually at nail salons in the US alone. Although, we do not have this data in India, it is well known that the nailsalons ismushrooming rapidly in Indian metro cities.Nails are painted with exotic colors and designs. Ornaments and even expensive jewels are used to decorate the nails. Nails have thus created a great deal of interest among people as well as among cosmetic industries.However, injudicious use of nail cosmetics and nail grooming tools itself may result in adverse reactions promoting nail disorders and sometimes even deformities.HISTORY OF NAIL ARTAncient women used to strive for beauty and were eager to discover various means to capture the imagination of men. It is due to this factor that nail art origins were concentrated mainly in the sphere of men-women relations. History dates back to 5000 years ago when henna was used for the first time for manicure in India.Nail art origins are traced from the term mehendi, used synonymously for henna, derives its name from the Sanskrit word mehandika. In ancient India when a young girl has had her first menstrual cycle, she was considered ready to enter into a marriage and this was when her lips and fingernailswere painted bright redhenna.