The 411 on Pastel Polishes, Nail Art and Fingernail Jewelry

Keep your clients on-trend with shimmering or glossy pastel polishes and new twists on nail art. 

EMBELLISHED MANICURES

Glass-inspired nails created by the CND Design Team at Mary Katrantzou’s Spring 2019 runway show.

Embellished clear manicures are having a moment, and you can expect the trend to continue into spring. Take a cue from the glass-inspired nails the CND Design Team created at Mary Katrantzou’s Spring 2019 runway show. Manicures were clean and polished, but far from boring, ranging from avant-garde glass-blown nail bubble encasements to silver halo nails, a clear nail embellished with two silver half frames.  

PASTEL POLISHES

New spring shades. Left to right: Morgan Taylor Follow the Petals; Essie Tiers of Joy; OPI How Does Your Zen Garden Grow?; Zoya Fern

Like the flowers that bloom, nail polish collections will be popping up in pastel shades this time of the year. “In the winter we go for heavier coverage with opaques and glitters, but in spring we lighten it up with sheers, pastels and glosses,” says Essie celebrity manicurist Michelle Saunders (@michellesaundersjames). “This year’s collections offer a dose of fun, are high-gloss or have a subtle sheen that pops in the sun.” Try a different color on each nail to create a rainbow of possibilities, tip each nail like a colorful French manicure, or sponge a few colors onto the nail to give a soft texture to the manicure, Saunders suggests. 

NAIL JEWELRY  

Instagram favorite and one of Korea’s most sought-after nail artists Eunkyung Park recently took on a new project: nail jewelry. Named Unistella Jewelry after her Seoul salon and Instagram account @nail_unistella (”uni” for “unique” and “stella,” the Latin word for “star”), the creations are crafted from sterling silver-plated white and 14k gold, and several come with the option to add a Swarovski crystal gem. “I’ve always been interested in futuristic nails,” Park says. “I looked back and thought about the things I’ve struggled with while doing nail art and tried to approach the essential parts of it in a more wearable way. That’s how the nail jewelry came to life.” The jewelry, which ranges in price from $25 to around $135, is the perfect add-on to any manicure, easily dressing it up, if only for the day. unistella.com