Cosmetic nail covering

Abstract

A cosmetic nail cover for cosmetically disguising, with a temporary covering and conventional nail polish, an unattractive nail area on a hand or foot digit, which includes an elongated strip of tape with adhesive and a pad. The material of the tape is resistant to damage by conventional nail polish chemicals, and is suitable for application and adherence of a coating of the conventional nail polish by conventional means. The adhesive substantially coats the back side of the strip of tape, and is suitable for removable adherence to skin of the hand or foot. The pad is flexible and has a firm smooth top surface for adherence to the back side of the strip of tape. Preferably the tape material is transparent and non-glossy, and the pad has thickness comparable to that of a nail and is trimmed to the size and shape appropriate for the nail area to be covered by it.

1 . A cosmetic nail cover for cosmetically disguising, with a temporary covering and conventional nail polish, an unattractive nail area on a nail portion of an affected hand or foot digit; the cosmetic nail cover comprising:
 an elongated strip of tape that has a front side and an opposed back side; material of the tape being resistant to damage by conventional nail polish chemicals, and the front side of the tape material being suitable for application and adherence of a coating of the conventional nail polish by conventional means;   an adhesive substantially coating the back side of the strip of tape, wherein the adhesive is suitable for removable adherence to skin of the hand or foot; and   a flexible pad having a firm smooth top surface for adherence to the back side of the strip of tape.   
     
     
         2 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1  further comprising pad material that is:
 suitable for conventionally trimming to a size and shape appropriate for the nail area of the affected digit; and   has a pad thickness comparable to that of a nail for the affected digit.   
     
     
         3 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the tape material is substantially transparent or translucent, and the front side is non-glossy.   
     
     
         4 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the adhesive and the tape material are medically approved for application to human skin; and   the pad material is medically approved for application to exposed, medicated, or healing nail beds; and has a bottom side that is sufficiently soft to avoid irritation of an exposed nail bed of the affected digit.   
     
     
         5 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the cosmetic nail cover is provided pre-cut and preassembled to a specific size and shape that is appropriate for cosmetically covering the nail area of a specific affected digit; such that:   the pad has been trimmed to the specific size and shape appropriate for the nail area of the specific affected digit, including a curved cuticle edge of the pad spaced apart from an opposed pad outside edge by a pad length, and two opposed substantially parallel and linear lateral pad edges spaced apart by a pad width;   the pad top is adhered to the adhesive coated back side of the strip of tape, with the pad length being aligned with the tape width, the pad cuticle edge being close to a cuticle edge of the strip of tape, and the pad being approximately centered in the tape length;   the strip of tape has been trimmed to a tape width that aligns an outside tape edge with the outside edge of the adhered pad, and a tape length sufficient to wrap approximately once around the nail portion of the specific affected digit; and   a strip of backing paper is releasably adhered to substantially all exposed portions of the adhesive coating, and also covers the pad bottom.   
     
     
         6 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the strip of tape is provided in a plurality of tape widths and the pad is separately provided in one or more pre-cut shapes and sizes.   
     
     
         7 . The cosmetic nail cover of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the tape material with adhesive coating, and the pad material, are supplied separately in a kit with instructions for trimming and assembling a cosmetic nail cover that has a size and shape appropriate for covering the nail area of an affected digit.   
     
     
         8 . A method for cosmetically hiding an unattractive finger or toe nail area of an affected digit with a temporary, cosmetically appealing covering, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing tape material that has a back side substantially coated with an adhesive suitable for releasably adhering to human skin, and that has an opposed front side that is suitable for coating with nail polish;   trimming the tape material to form a strip of tape having a tape length sufficient to wrap approximately once around the nail portion of the affected digit;   providing pad material that is semi-rigid and which presents a smooth firm surface on a top side;   trimming the pad material to form a pad having a pad length, a pad width, and a cuticle edge curved shape appropriate for a desired shape of nail for the nail area of the affected digit;   removing backing paper, if present, from the adhesive on the back side of the strip of tape;   positioning the pad on the adhesive coated side of the strip of tape such that the pad length is aligned with the tape width, the pad cuticle edge is close to a cuticle edge of the strip of tape, and the pad is approximately centered in the tape length;   pressing to adhere the pad top surface to the strip of tape;   positioning the pad over the nail area of the affected digit with the adhesive coating facing the digit;   wrapping the strip of tape around the affected digit;   trimming a pad outside edge and a corresponding outside tape edge as needed to form a desired shape and dimensions for the outside edges of the nail covering; and   applying nail polish on the tape front side above the pad as cosmetic decoration to match that of other nails, thereby presenting the appearance of one nail-polished natural nail among others on the same hand or foot.