Cy Girl style Manicure

An easy way to improve the looks of v1 Cy Girls is to give the glossy hands a coat of flat clear varnish.

	The early Cy/Cool Girls come with shiny vinyl hands and often there are some traces from the molding process visible, such as molding seams.
	First thing to do is to remove any molding seams. Note that the vinyl is easier to cut when the material is cold. Take a sharp X-Acto knife and carefully run it along any seams, cutting away just enough to remove the seam whilst taking care not to create any ugly flat spots. Also check for seams, flat spots and other unnatural looking bits between the fingers and on the palms of the hands.
	Then pick your favourite brand of flat or satin clear varnish and paint all of the hands flat. I prefer an acrylic flat varnish such as Polly Scale or Model Master Acryl because of the not-too-flat finish, but these acrylics are not as resistant to wear as, for instance, Testor Dull Cote is, so if you handle your figures often you might prefer Dull Cote or similar. Clear varnish will also prevent the hands from getting stained by dye from clothing. Another benefit of acrylics is that the paint can be removed later by just soaking the hands in rubbing alcohol for a few minutes, this won't harm the plastic. After the flat varnish coat has dried, paint the nails. I usually use gloss clear varnish and paint the edges of the nails white (the natural look, also known as a French Manicure) so the nail color won't clash with any clothing. Do note that a flat finish will get smudgy if you handle it often, a more glossy finish won't pick up smudges as easily. Another thing to note is that a flat or satin finish makes the color of the hand appear slightly lighter. (BTW, the rim-like stain on the hand in the picture was already on the hand before I painted it).