Stark Naked

As the warm weather ramps up, it is a better time than ever to start thinking about your summer manicures. Or rather, what about your lack thereof? Well-looked after natural nails – and we mean naked, not nude or soft pink – are having a moment again. After “clean girl” trends saw us embracing organic, barely-there makeup and haircare, it is about time it reaches our fingertips. At both Dior and Fendi AW26, bare nails dominated. But beyond the runway, how do you achieve resilient, glossy natural nails at home? 

Builder gel is an effective means of keeping your nails in one piece, but can be a bit of a fuss to do outside of the salon and can be tough to remove if you don’t have all the tools. Instead, if you focus on year-round care, that will prove to ultimately be the most inexpensive way of never having to flee to the salon or fret over a broken nail. So actually, what you need is a regular routine.

Nails, like hair and skin, can be improved with both internal and external care. Perhaps it’s a placebo but since I started taking BetterYou’s Hair, Skin and Nails Oral Spray, my nails have been on the up, not a snap or splinter to be seen. Beauty supplements got a bad reputation after many years of influencers promoting expensive gummies with misleading properties, but I find this £5 spray to be quite reliable and unpretentious. Keeping company with a toolbox of files and pushers means you’re able to address problems as and when they come up, and cultivate the shape and length you want without becoming obsessive. Tweezerman and Margaret Dabbs are two brands which many professionals prefer.

However, the most crucial stage, in my opinion, is slightly cheating: a clear nail polish. I’ve found Mavala’s Natural 44 polish to provide the best shine, but to each their own. In the bottle, it appears a very subtle pink, although it is essentially clear when worn, similar to Dior’s Nail Glow. Some claim that nail polish is essential for care because it protects them, but to be honest I just like the extra gloss: it is the ultimate (false) signifier of inner health.

If you’re reluctant to bare all, a layer of barely-there milky pink polish like Hermes’ Rose Coquille or OPI’s Put it in Neutral will serve as a close second, the sister of which (Put in in Airplane Mode) was worn by Hailey Bieber at the Met Gala this year and is more neutral-brown. Alternatively, Harriet Westmoreland, a celebrity manicurist, launched her own gel polish brand to address what she felt was a lack of natural-looking nude shades for all skintones, and has plenty of advice on how to achieve her signature milky gloss. Although, I am tempted to say that being nearly naked is beside the point.