Rene Magritte

This past December, we shared some beauty and fashion-related trends that we here at The Stylish City are so over. For example, Micky Filip says low rise pants are unflattering on roughly 99.99% of the population, Caitlin Colford despises the sheer tees over black bras trend and Mirela Gluck just can’t understand the obsession with nail art.

While we don’t redact our distaste for cultural appropriation, dangerously high stilettos or jeans that give every wearer a muffin top, we have decided to embrace the nail art trend. Not just because everyone’s doing it, but for other reasons, too.

Let me just say that I began dabbling into the nail art trend a few years ago and since then have become quite obsessed. To clarify, nail art is any design on your nails that doesn’t involve one solid color on all 10 fingers. They could be as simple as eight pink nails and then two sparkly accent nails — or as difficult as the mona lisa painted on every single finger.

Regarding the latter, why spend so much time working on a tiny piece of art that chips and/or is removed by the wearer the next week? Let me explain.

It’s Fun and Relaxing

Painting my nails is one of the most fun and relaxing things I do. I admit that I sometimes spend hours working on one hand, but I think it’s a better use of time than mindlessly looking at Facebook. I consider every nail a mini canvas and am proud of the artwork created. One of my most impressive nail designs was my “famous painting nails” (which took 5-6 hours to create) and included Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Rene Magritte’s Son of Man, Edvard Munch’s Scream and Money’s Field of Poppies.

There’s a Community

I’m sure you follow blogs or belong to forums that cater to your interests, be they fashion, couponing, gardening or cooking. There are also communities of nail lovers out there who share their work with others. It’s fun to see and comment on what other people create and to get feedback on your own designs. My favorite nail community is Beautylish. You can also share on Pinterest and Instagram.

It’s a Form of Self Expression

Just like your dress or bag make a statement, so do your nails. For example, I am drawn to vintage nostalgia and retro colors, so I often incorporate those elements into my nail designs. Check out the two sets of vintage roses I painted below. One’s the standard mint green and pink while the other is blue and silver, but both are very fitting of my personality.

So Many Options

From real 24k gold nail polish (Deborah Lippmann) to stamping collections to glitters, mattes and liquid sand (Zoya and OPI) — there’s a nail polish for every one. In fact, WWD says that the nail care business is worth $1.6 billion big ones and continues thriving. In an attempt to snag as much business as possible, nail brands are coming up with the zaniest and coolest products. Buying and trying the new nail polish lines that come out on a near weekly basis is exciting (and admittedly expensive).

By Wendy Rose Gould