By Bella Blissett

References to nude, nude, nude, beige - and a bit more nude - had all but re-written the language of New York nails. Yet just when we had all but given up hope of seeing the kind of arty tips this city has become famed for, CND nail artist Michelle Huynh saved the day with a labour intensive, handcrafted textured look at Rodarte.

Yes, it was beige. But basing it upon the woven design of a skirt from the main collection, Huynh mixed the CND Colour & Effects fleshy-toned Desert Suede, pearly white Frosting Cream and cocoa Chocolate Mink before painting the custom cocktail in strips onto a piece of wax paper. She added a coat of matte topcoat and then left them to dry over night.

As show time approached, she slicked a blend of the Desert Suede, Frosting Cream and a super glossy topcoat onto nails that were shaped to follow the natural curve of the models' fingertips. Having been cut to the correct length, 10 strips were applied to each of the 33 girls' 10 nails, taking a total of 15 minutes per model. And by our reckoning, that's a total of over eight texture-tipping hours divided up between the CND team. Which is one hell of a commitment to the nail art cause.

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