First there were swirls, Seventies psychedelic to be precise. Next, an influx of tortoiseshell, negative space, marble print and every extra nail art design you could think of started to fill our feeds. Your nails were no one if they weren’t wearing an elaborate coat of many colours. Then, just as quickly as OTT nail art arrived, it reset, went back to basics and declared discreet, barely there nails the trend du jour. Gone were the XXL acrylics complete with Y2K phone charms, and in their place something subtle, chic and almost invisible arrived: the nude manicure 2.0.
Personally, I have been known to declare a set of nude nails ‘basic’. Elegant but expected, inoffensive but unimaginative, an impeccably neat, faux-naked manicure has always stood for the opposite of everything I admire and aspire to; the antithesis of eccentric fashion extroversion. Or so I’d decided. So, as I found myself descending into The Corinthia’s cream, cocoon-like spa en route to the most-hyped nude manicure of the moment, costing a cool £160, I did have a moment of asking myself, ‘How did I get here?’’
It’s Harriet Westmoreland’s fault, really. She’s the manicurist behind Zendaya and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s nails, and the woman responsible for the 2020 French tip revival. She’s also the one to credit with elevating the nude manicure to one of the most popular new symbols of stealth wealth. If you know, you know. Racking up millions of views on TikTok, a residency at Soho House, and armed with a designer kit of Dior and La Mer, she’s among a new generation of elite nail artists altering the way we treat our hands. Thanks to the likes of Betina Goldstein, Julia Diogo, Iram Shelton and a wave of fellow Insta-friendly luxury tastemakers, having the ‘right’ manicure is as much a signifier of taste as wearing a certain kind of Chanel or Hermès bag. In this world, a 20-minute stint at the local nail bar simply won’t cut it – 2022’s manicures are exclusive and expensive. Or as Westmoreland herself puts it, ‘Manicures have become a whole new status symbol for your fingers.’
It’s all about artistry, aesthetic and more than a shelfie’s-worth of aspirational beauty products. ‘It’s this winning formula of precise nail-shaping craftmanship paired with exclusivity and a specific look that creates this cool girl vibe everyone wants,’ explains hand model and founder of inclusive Instagram account @browngirlhands, Hannah Harris. The look in question? Healthy, natural-looking, #cleangirl nails that are at once long but short, in a precise shade of milky pink. The ‘I woke up like this’ of manicures. ‘I call them juicy nails,’ says Diogo, The Corinthia’s resident manicurist and the woman tasked with transforming my stubby fingers, a process that involves Diogo painstakingly trimming my cuticles for almost an hour, gently altering the shape of my nail beds so they seem to double in length, and selecting a Bio Sculpture gel base to suit my nails’ specific needs. All carried out in the comfort of a private treatment room in a five star hotel. ‘Once you’ve had the experience, you understand it,’ says Westmoreland. ‘The exfoliating, hydrating, the shape, the application. Everything goes into the perfect finish.’
Even I can’t help but admire my newly ‘juicy’ rosebud-coloured tips (a bespoke combination of Bio Sculpture’s Rose 68 and Baby Heart Confetti 162, chosen to complement my hair colour and skin tone). My hands look unquestionably more expensive sophisticated and, yes, somehow less stubby. It may have taken 90 minutes and cost more than my annual water bill, but I find myself drinking the Kool-Aid.
Expert cuticle work, tailored colour choice and the sheer level of care (Diogo even washes my hands for me) aside, it’s undeniable that it’s the products people come for. ‘I do love the Baccarat Rouge 540 hand cream and oil, but I use them because I know people are obsessed with that perfume at the moment,’ Diogo admits. I message a fellow beauty director to let her know my hands now smell exactly like her signature scent. A scent that costs £215… Even the nail tools are next level. You’re no one if you’re not using Navy Pro’s gold cuticle nippers, a snip at £56. Hermès nail files, Augustinus Bader face serum and Sisley moisturiser are manicure kit staples. At Townhouse’s Harrods location, a signature manicure (£185 for 90 mins) treats you to skincare products including Chantecaille’s Rose de Mai Cream and a black volcanic sand scrub enriched with mother of pearl.
Forget hand cream for your hands; at this level, nothing less than high end facial standards will do. As Diogo puts it, ‘These manicures are more like two hour bespoke rituals for your hands. I call them “skinicures”.’ An enticing selling point that hasn’t passed Westmoreland by: ‘I didn’t make any money for two years because I was buying Crème de la Mer and still charging £30 for a manicure. I’d have to do 10 manicures just to cover the cost of it, but the reaction I got from clients was amazing. They couldn’t believe I used those products on their hands – it made them feel special.’
Stuff is always more than just stuff. Wearing designer clothes, buying a swanky car – spending money is all about feeling something. And nails are no different. ‘As the world continues to open up again, luxury treatments are back on the agenda and this includes higher end manicures,’ says global director at Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, Emma Chiu. ‘People want to treat themselves and spend more on quality and experience.’ After a tough couple of years where self-care and at-home beauty routines became the focus of our extracurricular activities, we found a renewed love for the little things. Post-pandemic, those small acts of self-indulgence have elevated to luxury levels. Add an incidental new respect for hygiene and it’s no surprise that #cleangirl nails are top of our to-do list.
In the past few years, Westmoreland’s star has risen (‘People like being able to say, “Harriet does my nails. You can’t get an appointment with her,”’ she says) as has her product porn. One video of a pastel pink Dior Prestige face scrub being painted onto a client’s hands garnered over 15,000 likes, whilst a similar clip featured a £110 Chanel face scrub with real vanilla seeds. A previous residency at Claridge’s only added to her roster of upscale clients looking for the ultimate nude manicure with a hit of material indulgence. ‘Clients would come into the room at Claridge’s and immediately ask to take a photo of the products in the bathroom,’ says Westmoreland. ‘Then they’ll sit for four hours to get the perfect manicure. For them, it’s a complete extension of their outfit.’ More than just a swatch of gel polish, these manicures have become luxury destination experiences offering access to the most exclusive hotels in the world. No, spending nearly £200 on your nails isn’t cheap, but compared with a night in Claridge’s it seems a bargain. And this way, you leave the hallowed marble halls with a world-class manicure.
For Betina Goldstein, the focus on a premium service and aesthetic has led to her own jewellery brand, Doublemoss – a diamond-encrusted extension of her own understated nail offering that in turn adds even more appeal to her manicures. The hands make the rings look good, while the rings make the manicure look even better.
And it’s not just major cities getting in on the opulence. Status manicures are on the move, with nail services like Surrey-based @put.it.in.nudetral (an ode to OPI’s iconic nude-nail shade) offering bespoke fragranced manicures, scented with the likes of Byredo EDP. But not everyone is excited by the rise of designer manicures. ‘I worry that copycat treatments and accounts are going to buy a designer hand cream and then charge extortionate rates that no one can afford,’ says beauty journalist and founder of relatable nail art account @allnailswelcome, Laura Capon. Cost aside, Capon’s concerns lie with the unrealistic expectations luxe manicure accounts are creating. ‘They’re selling you something you can’t have unless you have impossibly long nail beds. Realistically, you won’t come away with the nails you see in the pictures. For me, it’s aspirational rather than practical.’
Other critics of the trend are struck by the lack of age or skin tone diversity present on some artists’ feeds. Scroll through and more often than not you’ll see one type of Hailey Bieber-esque beauty being heroed. It’s young, slender and invariably white – a limited visual that ‘nude’ or ‘clean’ beauty has championed, and fallen foul of, time and again. ‘For some reason, people of colour are often left out of aesthetics like this,’ says Harris. ‘Often if a beauty brand is minimalistic or “clean” or chic, it’s not thought to be an aesthetic that people of colour can embody.’ For Diogo, who is Black, she didn’t wait for the movement to include her; she created the work and entered the space herself. ‘The Corinthia didn’t come to me, I went to them,’ she says. ‘I pitched the residency and made it happen. I stepped into that space instead of waiting for someone to put me there.’
Tip Off
Chanel Le Manicure De Chanel L'Huile Camelia - £28
Never again shall a nail bed go thirsty with this oil with built-in cuticle pusher.
Dior Nail Glow - £21
One swipe of this pink polish gives nails that healthy flush, minus the two hour sesh.
Hermès Les Mains Hermès Top Coat - £42
Recreate a plushy gel finish with a generous layer of Hermès' clear top coat.
Navy Professional Dust Brush - £14.95
Sweep cuticle snippings away with the pros' choice of nail brush.
For better or worse, those plump, pink gel nails we all seem to want aren’t going anywhere. But, with looming inflation meaning that even sitting inside with the lights on is becoming expensive, justifying a manicure that costs hundreds of pounds isn’t accessible for everyone. Juicy nails, however, can still be yours for a fraction of the price if you’re willing to prioritise visuals over experience. Simply do as Capon does and take your Instagram of choice to a local nail salon to replicate the look. Or, DIY it at home using Dior’s healthy flush Nail Glow, a gel-finish top coat and a good hour dedicated to trimming your cuticles.
It might not include a private suite at The Corinthia, and your nail beds won’t necessarily double in length, but you will be able to access the trend without resorting to watching Netflix by candlelight. For me, my fingertips have shed their shoddy at-home polish job and graduated to perfectly preened, nude and neat adulthood.
This article appears in ELLE's September 2022 Issue, on sale on July 28.
