From slightly out-there to full-blown insane, we’ve rounded up some of the craziest nail art ever! Practicality is not on the agenda for these high-maintenance manicures.
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GEODE NAILS
Geode nails are the new thing for salons and nail artists. The look can be recreated by ‘marbling‘ the nail with water, then adding gold foil or glitter to mimic the texture of a crystal.
FUR NAILS
Created by the co-founder and style director of CND nail polish Jan Arnold, these faux fur nails caused a stir when they were seen on models at the Libertine fall/winter 2016 show. Washing your hands would certainly be an interesting activity with these.
CRYSTAL NAILS
If you’re into the healing power of crystals but can’t be bothered carrying one around all day, these might be for you! Or maybe you’re just into nails that are so damn pretty that you can’t stop staring. Regardless, we’re obsessed!
WIRE NAILS
Say goodbye to chipped manicures with wire nails! Eun Kyung Park, founder of Unistella salon, is credited with starting this chic nail art trend. Eun Kyung told marie claire she uses the thinnest wire and manipulates it into shapes with a tweezer. Once shaped, she places the wire onto clear gel polish, letting it harden under UV light, then adds a clear top coat to finish off. Love!
AQUARIUM NAILS
Now your manicure can actually MOVE thanks to aquarium nails. First, a double-paned acrylic nail is injected with the filling – it could be water, glitter, tiny hearts and stars, anything you like. The acrylic is then sealed and applied to the nail, where your friends can all gasp over your moving mani. We love this tribute to Fiji Water (with actual water inside the nail!) but glitter mixed with a little oil works just as well.
SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS NAILS
If you’re anything like me, whenever you eat spaghetti and meatballs you inevitably end up dropping spaghetti all over your top. So wearing it on your nails isn’t really that much of a stretch. Practical? No. Delicious-looking? Yes.
CABLE-KNIT NAILS
Winter may have come and gone, but don’t pack away your favourite knits just yet! Now you can use your cable-knit jumper as inspo for your next trip to the nail salon. Perfect for those who miss their winter woolies in summer.
LED NAIL ART
Libertine certainly didn’t hold back on daring nail art this year! Not only did the brand adorn the nails of the models with faux fur, it also went high-tech with LED manicures. One lucky model wore nail decals with 60 LED-lit Swarovski crystals. They were said to have taken more than 200 hours to make!
CUTICLE NAIL ART
The long-neglected cuticle is now taking centre stage in the nail art world. Using temporary tattoos, now you can extend your nail art right into your nail beds. Still not convinced? Cuticle nail art is said to have far more staying power than regular nail polish so perhaps this one isn’t as high-maintenance as you’d think.
SUCCULENT NAILS
Succulent nail art is the latest crazy mani to take Instagram by storm. Tiny baby succulents are glued to the nail to create a living succulent garden – right on your thumb! Check out more succulent nail art here.
JUNGLE NAILS
If leopard or zebra print nails are just too basic for you, try putting the whole jungle on your fingers! It’s bound to be quite the conversation starter if nothing else.
The fur ones are scary
Wow the nail art is next level
Some of these are practical designs but others like the Jungle nail art would be super hard to wear. I love the look of the Aquarium nail art.
The fur nails are gross. Imagine the things that’ll get stuck on that.