This might be blasphemous coming from a New Yorker, but: Neutrals are out this summer. Instead of our usual minimal capsule wardrobes, everyone is indulging their inner 12-year-old and piling on the baby-doll dresses, tie-dye, and jelly sandals. This fun loving spirit has bled over to our manicures, where statement nails are having a moment.
While nail art like confetti, stars, and rainbows are all good and fun, the simplest—and most summer appropriate—way to have a little fun with your mani is a bold neon. From the slime green that every fashion girl is obsessed with to hot pink fit for Barbie, neon is popping up left and right on Instagram. Even celebs like Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez are getting in on the trend.
Like most good things, the perfect neon nails do take a bit of work. To get the color to really pop, add a coat of white polish under the neon for full florescence. Even still, the color might take a bit of building up, so work with a few layers of thin coats to keep the polish from getting too gloppy. A good topcoat will add extra shine and keep bright colors from fading.
We selected our favorite neon polishes that will keep your (safe!) tan popping past Labor Day. Shop our must-haves below.
In the age of Instagram makeup, beauty has gotten technical, and if you’re someone who struggles on the daily to get a basic cat eye lined up straight, we’re betting you’re probably here for any trend that doesn’t demand uniformity. Mismatched nail art, one of summer 2019’s biggest manicure trends, offers endless takes on cool nail art without any do-overs. From geometric designs to cool negative-space cutouts, there’s literally no wrong way to jump in on this one. Click through for some seriously inspired takes on the imperfect and impressive mismatched nail art trend.
Did you know that June 1 is National Nail Polish Day? It’s OK if you didn’t. After all, it’s basically one of those Internet holidays that mostly serves to give us all a reason to post our great manis and pedis—confetti nails, anyone?—on the ‘gram.
But this year there’s an even better way to celebrate—even if you’re the beauty-obsessed type who treats every Saturday like a nail holiday, complete with a trip to the salon. Target is having a major sale in honor of the holiday. So major, in fact, that every nail polish in the store is up for grabs.
That’s right, every single shade from every single brand is available on June 1 for 25% off. That means great brands like Essie, Sally Hansen, and O.P.I. will be available for as little $3 and up. The timing couldn’t be better as summer is finally upon us (even though though we basically bypassed spring altogether), and we all need to stock up on some new shades for the season.
Whether you’re into creating cool trends like tie dye and bandana nails or just want the coolest shades of neon or opaque white, we’ve picked out some of our Target favorites that you can use for a DIY manicure or to take to your local salon.
Target
Essie Nail Polish in Ballet Slippers
A classic pale pink shade that works on every skin tone.
I’m good at many things. I’m an excellent gift giver, strong listener, and my brain is a storage unit for obscure Lana Del Rey trivia. Among my many gifts, however, is not the ability to do a smoky eye. I could do a winged liner in my sleep, but I’ve never been able to get the hang of a perfectly smudged and smoldering shadow, that somehow manages to look like you just rolled out of bed after a night of partying, yet put a huge amount of effort into looking glamorous and mysterious—my ideal look. Many of my personal beauty icons have made a smoky liner part of their signature look (Kate Moss and both Olsen twins to name a few), but despite years of trying, I’ve never been able to get it down.
My smoky eye FOMO was only amplified while covering backstage at New York Fashion Week. At nearly every show, I was greeted with smoky eye after smoky eye. It’s like the makeup artists were mocking me and my lack of blending skills. Now, smoky eyeshadow is nothing new, especially at fall shows, but paired with incredibly dewy skin and model bone structure, it reignited my desire to look like a rebellious Jenny Humphrey.
The stars must have aligned, because I attended a master class with makeup artist Diane Kendal to break down the Tom Ford makeup look, and she dropped a tip that rocked my world. It was like the clouds parted, and I suddenly had all the answers.
To create a lush, textured smoky eye (mine always look too flat and heavy), Kendall suggests starting with a cream liner to create a base, and then going in with eyeshadow. This is pretty standard advice that hadn’t helped me so far, but what comes next changed everything for me. She then says to line your eyes with a black liquid liner, and then to go back over it with a brown pencil. This creates dimension, and also helps to smudge it all out. Plus, for a liquid liner addict like me, it still gives me the definition I love, plus the smoke I crave.
Ever since adopting this tip, my confidence in my smoking skills has all but skyrocketed. I’ve swapped my normal going out look of an exaggerated eyeliner for a sultry smoke. Let me break it all down for you, below.
Gigi Hadid at the Tom Ford fall 2019 show
Step 1: Lay down the base Create the base for the shadow with a pencil. Kendal used Tom Ford Eye Kohl Intense, but I’ve been alternating between the Charlotte Tilbury Color Chameleon Eye Pencil and MAC Teddy Eye Kohl. Trace it along your upper and lower lashes, as well as into the crease, to create the shape and help the shadow stick.
Step 2: Sweep on eyeshadow At the Tom Ford show models wore cool toned shadow, but I’ve been using bronze to make my eyes pop—plus, I like more of a softer look. Using a deep matte shade, go over where you laid down the liner, and then add a lighter shade with a little sheen in the middle of your eye. Try to keep the shape rounder instead of a cat eye shape, and blend the edges so they look a little hazy.
Step 3: Add liquid liner Add definition with a liquid liner on top and bottom, staying as close to your lashes as possible (I love the Tom Ford liquid liner pen for this). You don’t really want to see the liner, it’s just there to add depth. A wing is not the look, but it’s OK to extend the line a little past your eye.
Few things are more cathartic than painting your own nails—and infuriating to have them chip or smudge minutes later. It’s a tale as old as time: You spend an hour meticulously painting with the patience of da Vinci only to nick your nails while putting the bottle away. Or worse, they look perfect, and somehow dry all warped and bubbly. (And don’t even get us started on glitter.) But the reality is going to the nail salon isn’t always in the cards (it’s expensive, it’s raining, a Harry Potter marathon is on…), so we rinse and repeat the process again with the hope things go more smoothly the next time. To help, we called on the pros to ask them what the most common at-home manicure mistakes are, along with their advice on how to keep your nail polish from chipping. Read up on their easy tips that’ll make your manicure last longer, then start planning what your next shade will be. We’ve got ideas.
I’ve always thought of spring nail polish colors as a wild gamble in the lottery that is the perfect manicure. I can chalk that up to the simple fact that as the weather warms up, pastel lacquers abound. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the concept of soft, dreamy colors coating my fingernails when it’s gloomy and gray outside. But let me ask you a simple question: Have you ever encountered a quality pastel, one that doesn’t streak or look kind of sad and limpid once it slides off the brush? In my experience, that is a rare find.
This year, I was seized by fresh determination to finally unearth spring’s best nail shades, the ones that look every bit as good on your hands as they do in the bottle. To weed out the duds, I turned to a few celebrity nail artists for their expertise. (If it’s good enough for a runway or a red carpet, it certainly works for me.) The result: 12 standout shades that range from ethereal to vibrant. There are egg-yolk yellows, whisper-soft lavenders, and iterations of pink for your every mood. And naturally, they all feature smooth, long-wear formulas that won’t make you throw the bottles straight out of the window in a fit of pique. Scroll on for this year’s batch of pro-approved shades.
