What’s Trending Overseas for the New Season?

As South Africa heads into the Winter months, Europe has blossomed into Spring/Summer. Professional Beauty UK’s Kezia Parkins identifies the nail styles likely to trend during this time

"NOT EVERYONE can wear EXTR A-ADORNED NAILS EVERY DAY. That’s what’s great about PRESS-ONS – you can TRY OUT A TREND without the COMMITMENT. "

‘Clean girl nails’

An uber-minimal trend now widely known as ‘the clean girl aesthetic’ has risen to new heights. While this look is widely criticised for excluding people with certain skin conditions, colours and hair types, when it comes to manicures, it is essentially the TikTok generation’s name for the classic gel manicure. ‘Clean girl nails’ has 20.1M views on TikTok.

“For the minimal girl, I’m seeing this creeping back. Before lockdown, it was very much about nail art,” says nail tech and salon owner Faye Louise Dennis. “People went back into single colour or simple French manicures at home because they couldn’t go to a salon… now they’ve got used to natural nails.”

Faye Louise Dennis @fayelouisedennis

Chantelle Vermont @clawgasmic

The ever-evolving French

The French manicure, arguably the first example of a globally popular nail design, is here to stay with 1.1 billion views on TikTok, but for SS23 we will increasingly see it in a number of different iterations, such as the multi-coloured negative space version pictured above by Chantelle Vermont aka Clawgasmic.

While the classic French mani predates the 2000s and 1990s, these eras saw the style come into its own with blunt square shapes, milky pink bases and crisp white lines.

The style became synonymous with the prevailing ‘bimbo aesthetic’ of the era – think Elle Woods in ‘Legally Blonde’ – and the ‘mob wife aesthetic’ of Carmela Soprano. While simple, this style, with all of its points of cultural importance throughout the years, makes a statement.

This year we can expect to see a more muted version, believes Dennis, describing the ‘vanilla French’. This involves using a more neutral pink base and an off-white/ creamy vanilla shade for the tip.

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"THE AURA TREND, which has 29.5M VIEWS on TIKTOK, involves using a LIGHT TOUCH with AN AIRBRUSH to create a GR ADUATED BURST OF COLOUR."

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@nailsbyzola

Glazed and glossy

The ‘glazed doughnut’ is the perfect example of a micro-trend that absolutely exploded into public consciousness in 2022, with 175.8M views on TikTok. It was popularised by model Hailey Bieber last summer, who broke the internet when she posted a picture of her new nails – anude pinky base with a white pearlescent chrome pigment over the top, giving the effect of a pristine Krispy Kreme.

During Spring/Summer 2023, Dennis predicts pearlescent powders over different colours.

“We’ve not have a chance to try glazed doughnut nails on top of a lilac, hot pink or a bright neon,” adds Clawgasmic founder and chief executive, Chantelle Vermont. “This summer, people will really want to experiment with that glazed trend but with bright summer colours. Coral is such a go-to holiday shade, so let’s glaze it up.”

Also a rising trend on social media is ‘lip gloss nails’, which involves using a super-sheer pink with a double dose of super-shine top coat [sometimes with tiny flecks of glitter] to create an ultra-shiny, glossy effect.

Huyen Do on Pinterest

Metallic/chrome nails

The chrome or metallic look is a hark back to the Y2K era and the cyber excitement of the time. Chromed silver and gold claws donned the hands of countless people of influence last year, adding fuel to the trend, which has 486M views on TikTok. On the SS23 catwalks, chrome nails appeared in numerous shows, including Tommy Hilfiger.

“Regular clients are ready to dip their toe into this trend by doing it on a minimal scale,” says Dennis. Blending with other trends, Dennis says a chromed silver French tip or a liquid metal tipped effect will become more popular, as well as chrome accents like little silver or gold hearts over a nude base.

“Chrome is going to continue to be a big thing,” says Vermont. “Incorporating it with 3D is going to be really cool.”

Melissa Samuel, New York-based British celebrity nail artist and owner of salon Finesse Your Claws, is seeing pink chrome becoming a big trend across the pond, especially as we get closer to the release of the Barbie movie and the rise of another micro-trend, “Barbie-core”. “Pink 3D chrome will be big in summer 2023,” she says.

Melissa Samuel @finesseyourclaws

3D nail art

Almost-unwearable 3D nail art has become hugely popular in the music videos of Black and Latinx artists and in the editorials of fashion magazines and, with 136.4M views on TikTok, the 3D trend is starting to pique the interest of salon clients.

“3D nail art is definitely creeping its way into salons,” says Dennis. “I think there are going be some people who love it and some that hate it, but there are ways to make it wearable.”

Samuel, who creates extreme, textured 3D nails for her clients in Brooklyn, believes that when it comes to this trend, American counterparts are more experimental than the Brits. “A lot of my clients are born and raised in New York and Black culture here, especially in Brooklyn, is very prevalent,” says Samuel. “When people think about long, adorned nails, they think about these old ‘hood’ areas and chop shops with the long curvy nails or the square tips with hand-drawn flowers or airbrush designs. That’s come full circle and we are seeing these nails again, but now we’ve got more products.”

Samuel watches the runways carefully each year for inspiration and recently has been inspired by the work of couture fashion houses like Schiarapelli.

“I think 3D will go from being really editorial to wearable,” adds Vermont. “People are going to have fun with their nails again this summer and finally be confident enough to wear 3D every day.”

But where to start? Vermont says to try Swarovski crystals or embellishments to start building texture into the nail. “It doesn’t have to be really chunky and bold,” she says. “Work up to making simple shapes with builder gel, like a heart, or add swirls or a water drop going down the centre of the nail.”

"3D NAIL ART is definitely CREEPING ITS WAY into salons,” says Dennis. “I think there are going be SOME PEOPLE who LOVE IT and some THAT HATE IT, but there are ways to MAKE IT WEARABLE. "

@clawgasmic

Mood ring

The aura trend, which has 29.5M views on TikTok, involves using a light touch with an airbrush to create a graduated burst of colour. “People have become more interested in crystals, wellness and self-healing,” says Dennis. “The aura nail is an extension of that and people are wanting to carry ‘positive vibes’ with them,” she adds.

Contrasting colours can be airbrushed over the top of each other to create a completely custom nail, designed to suit the mood or aura of the client, which is why this trend is often referred to as mood ring nails. For those without an airbrush, this look can be achieved with gel and a sponge or pigment powder.

Another way to achieve a type of aura effect is with cat eye gel, which uses a magnet before curing to create a gradient effect in glitter gel. “To me, this is 2023’s version of glitter but it’s more elegant, classy and wearable,” says Vermont.

Nail techs on social media have been experimenting with using multiple cat eyes of different colours to create what they call ‘Northern Lights nails’, which also give that magical aura effect. Cat-eye nails in general are on-trend for spring and summer 2023 under the name ‘velvet nails’, which has 39.9M views on TikTok.

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Press-ons

Having taken off during lockdown, press-on nails are still trending strongly. They are fantastic for editorial shoots, catwalks, music videos or influencers because they can be popped on and off easily and allow for extra-long, extraadorned looks.

“People want to put things on their nails that resemble how they view their fashion choices,” says Samuel. “It’s bespoke art that wouldn’t necessarily make sense for everyone but it makes sense for them. Not everyone can wear extra-adorned nails every day. That’s what’s great about press-ons – you can try out a trend without the commitment.”

Vermont adds, “We will also start to see more press-ons for everyday wear – ones that can help achieve the clean girl aesthetic, for example.”

To read Kezia Parkins’ full article in Professional Beauty UK go to https://professionalbeauty.co.uk/site/ newsdetails/hot-nail-trends-springsummer