The first Thanksgiving I ever hosted, I spent six hours on a turkey and about eleven minutes on my nails. Which is why every single photo from that day features my chipped, half-picked-off burgundy manicure wrapped around a gravy boat. I’ve gotten better since. Now I plan my Thanksgiving nails about a week out, the…
I have a confession: I avoided brown nail polish for years. I thought it would look muddy against my skin tone, or worse, like I’d forgotten to wash my hands. My friend Priya finally convinced me to try a warm chocolate shade last October, and I wore it for three weeks straight. Not because I…
I used to think fall manicures meant one thing: dark burgundy, every single year. Which is fine, but after my third October in a row staring at the same wine-colored tips, I got bored. So this year I actually paid attention to what was landing in my saved folder, what my nail tech was genuinely…
I used to think fall nails just meant “swap the pastel for burgundy and call it a day.” Then my friend Jess showed up to brunch in October with this deep espresso chrome that looked completely different depending on where the light hit it, and I sat there staring at her hands instead of my…
I used to think short nails meant “barely there” polish and calling it a day. Then my nail tech at a tiny salon in Koreatown told me I was filing my nails wrong — not too short, just wrong shape — and everything changed. Here’s the thing: short nails are having a moment in 2027,…
I have a confession: I used to think December nails meant the same three things every year. Candy cane stripes. A snowflake decal that peeled off by December 12th. Maybe a red that looked exactly like the red I wore the year before. Then my friend Priya showed up to our holiday dinner with sweater…
I used to think October nails meant one of two things: a single glossy black coat or a full-on candy corn explosion. Then I spent three Octobers in a row screenshotting manicures on the train home, saving them to a board I never looked at again, and eventually realizing the best October nail ideas sit…
I’ll be honest with you: I have short nails. Not “short by choice for aesthetic reasons” short. Actually short. The kind where a nail tech looks at my hands and quietly adjusts her plan. For years, I assumed Halloween nail art wasn’t for me. Every inspo photo I saved featured these elegant, almond-shaped canvases where…
I have a confession: I used to be the person who bought those cheap cobwebs in a bag and threw them over a picture frame five minutes before guests arrived. It looked… fine. But then I moved into a place with actual walls I cared about, and I realized that Halloween decor doesn’t have to…
I have a confession: I used to be the person who slapped on a single coat of black polish on October 30th and called it a Halloween manicure. It chipped by the time I handed out the first piece of candy. Last year, my friend Priya — who does her own gel sets at home…