Great news for summer: there are some inventive, stylish, and highly wearable mani trends happening this season. With a range of colors and styles to suit everyone’s taste, here are three of the hottest looks from the runways to recreate with your manicurist.
1. Grown-Up Black Nails
Most of us probably associate black nails with teenage rebellion. You’re probably conjuring up images right now of the badly-applied, angst-fuelled black nails worn by at least one kid in your high school class. Move that thought to one side; black nails can look super-sophisticated, elegant, and are bang on-trend right now.
Tom Ford, Koche and Philipp Plein models all sported black nails on the Spring-Summer 19 catwalks. High-shine, extra-long nails looked spectacular and the height of glam at Philipp Plein. These manis were finished with a few simple jewels. However, Tom Ford and Koche opted for a shorter and simpler rounded nail with an immaculate, high-gloss finish.
Black isn’t a classic look for summer, but that’s what makes it so fun, edgy and totally this season.
How to rock this look:
- If you want to avoid the high school experimental look, high-gloss black nails need to be perfectly executed. Unless you’re super-confident at DIY manicures, it’s worth heading to a nail salon for this one.
- Unless you want to go for a retro or goth look, keep your outfits fresh and summery. This bright (or light) and dark contrast will help draw attention to your incredible nails.
- For the same reason, keep makeup light and neutral. Barely-there summer makeup for lips and eyes looks stunning alongside the statement black nails on this season’s catwalks.
- If you’re still not sure about black, go a few shades lighter with a dark blue or green. Emporio Armani rocked high-gloss dark blue on this season’s catwalk, whereas Georgio Armani opted for almost-black, dark green manis.
2. Adventurous Two-Tone Manis
In an update on the classic French manicure, two-tone nails were all over the Spring-Summer 19 catwalks as well. The nude-white color combination was gone and in its place were some really interesting contrasts.
We saw nude with a crimson tip at Kith; a bold orange with a black tip at Gareth Pugh and a more understated, playful pink and white look at Jeremy Scott.
With this season’s two-tone mani, any color combination goes; you can go bold and daring, pretty and whimsical or anywhere in between. This makes it a super-wearable look for everyone.
While the two-tone runway manicures largely went straight across the tip like a French mani, there were a few fashion houses that played with this tradition too.
Models at Sadie Williams sported nails with a gold base that reached a point, with black tips. And with the orange and black nails at Gareth Pugh, the border between colors was blurred with a spray-paint effect.
How to rock this look:
- This is one of the easiest looks to rock for SS19: anything goes in terms of shape, line, and color. It’s a great opportunity to experiment. Have fun playing and creating your own truly individual look.
- A two-tone mani isn’t the easiest look to do at home. The line between colors needs to be ultra-precise so it’s worth investing in a nail technician’s expertise. This also gives you the chance to step-it-up a gear and play with lines and shapes as well as color in your two-tone look.
3. A Spin on a Bare Nail
It wasn’t all high-impact and high-contrast nails on the SS19 runways. There were plenty of nude manis proving that clean and natural, well-groomed nails remain a classic look.
However, there were a few twists on the nude mani, too. Taking the bare nail as a blank canvas. There were beautiful designs drawn onto nail tips. Moschino, Kith and Nicole Miller all went for super-simple lines and shapes drawn on in black. The square spirals on the nail tips at Kith were stunning, as were the subtly different designs on each nail at Nicole Miller.
- For a basic nail shape, short-ish rounded nails are a classic look that always look well-groomed.
- It’s time to focus on the condition of your nails and the skin on your hands. Treat yourself to some time in the salon. For example, with this luxury mermaid-themed manicure, you can release your inner-child and totally destress. The treatment will hydrate, moisturize, and smoothen skin as well as ensure your nails and cuticles are in great shape.
- Nail art can be as whimsical or audacious as you like, but SS19’s hottest looks tended to use one color for clean lines and high definition. Opt for stick-on or drawn-on: the choice is yours.
Which look will you choose?
The most exciting thing about this summer’s nails is that there is an on-trend look for everyone.
You can go for high-drama or super-subtle; the choice is yours.
Which look for SS19 is inspiring you most right now?
AUTHOR BIO
Hillary Kozma is the Owner/Managing Director/Creative Director of Kozma & Kozma Salon. Having built the foundation of her skills with an apprenticeship under a direct protege of Vidal Sassoon, Hillary and her husband opened Glow American Salon in Qatar in 2007 before expanding to Dubai as Kozma & Kozma in 2016. Hillary is hailed by the media as a “pioneer in her field” for introducing new talents, concepts, philosophies, and techniques to the Middle East.
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