TikTok Has A Genius Hack For Making Short Nails Look Longer
You've heard of the French manicure, the white-tip, neutral-base nail design that took over the '90s (and has seen a huge resurgence in recent years). You may have even come across the Russian manicure that took off in early 2022, a method that involves using an electric file to shave down the cuticle and surrounding skin in order to make the nails look cleaner and the paint job last longer. Now there's a new nail trend taking over social media—but this one, the Italian manicure, is quite different from the aforementioned.
Meet Our Expert: Lilly Rojas, nail artist and cofounder of Lili and Cata salon
What is the Italian manicure?
The Italian manicure went viral on TikTok over the summer after manicurist Alexandra Teleki, aka @thehotblendofficial, shared a short clip of the hack. It isn’t exactly a type of manicure or design as much as it is a painting technique. Simply put, it’s a specific way that nail artists paint the nails to make them look slightly longer.
How can you do an Italian manicure at home?
According to Lilly Rojas, nail artist and cofounder of Lili and Cata salon in New York City, the technique requires you to paint as close to the cuticle as possible (without touching the skin) when painting the nails a solid color. “Then paint a vertical line up the nail, leaving negative space at each edge of the nail,” she says. The negative space, as she points out, will give the illusion of elongated nail beds, making your nails look a little longer than they actually are.
“Another technique is to paint the full nail bed and then grab a thin nail brush dipped in acetone or nail polish remover to create a trim along the nail edges, removing the polish around the edges to create the negative space,” Rojas continued.
Who is the Italian manicure best for?
Teleki points out in her video that the technique “can be used for a full-color classic manicure or painted tips,” and typically looks best on short, square or “squoval” nails. Rojas also adds that, if you’re testing out the trend at home, you may see better results with a darker nail color, though that doesn't mean bright, neutral, and pastel colors are off limits.
Scroll ahead to see the trend in real life.
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