BEIRUT: Winter’s nail trends have taken a tip from the box office from Bond Girl glittering metallics to vampire-inspired wine reds.
Fashion designers took a cue from the dark fairytales flooding pop culture – sending their models onto runways with makeup in tune with gothic-inspired looks.
Equally dark nail shades like deep wines, eggplant purple, dark navy and nearly black greens have done away with the neon nails of the long Lebanese summer.
“The colors are very dark: dark blues and greens, dark purples and dark reds like burgundy,” said Zeina Aouad, owner of Emak Urban Spa in Beirut’s Ashrafieh.
In contrast, dark fashion looks have also inspired purely nude makeup trends. Natural colors – nude champagne, tinted clear polish, creams and light neutrals like almond brown – can complement rather than dramatize the look.
MAC, a leading international cosmetics brand with a shop in Beirut Souks, launched permanent nail lacquer line for the first time this season.
For the nude look, Essie nail polish comes in a slew of very light tints and opaque creams. Try Essie’s Brooch the Subject, a creamy neutral, or Sand Tropez, a sandy beige.
To make a dark look even darker, try MAC’s eggplant-colored Dark Angel lacquer or charcoal-colored Nightfall.
The femme fatal of this season isn’t only the pale, dark-clad beauty.
OPI, a ubiquitous, professional-quality nail polish brand, released a Skyfall collection inspired by the most recent James Bond blockbuster now in theaters.
The collection features a range of shimmering metals and dark sparkling colors. The line includes a clear topcoat with 18K gold leaf flakes.
“For 50 years Bond beauties have graced the big screen with their dazzling looks and opulent style, and gold has always played a prominent role,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI’s executive vice president and artistic director, in a press release launching the collection.
Aouad of Emak said metallics and other special nail effects have become very trendy at her salon. For example OPI’s crackle nail polish breaks into a bark-like texture to reveal a second base-coat color.
Emak recommended paring a dark color with a metallic crackle in bronze, silver or gold.
OPI’s Skyfall collection introduced special effect polish that uses magnetism to make designs in the wet lacquer. The three – wave-patterned deep burgundy, diagonal-striped gunmetal gray and diamond-patterned gold – are in shades perfect for either a gothic or opulent look.
Essie also launched their own magnetic pattern line with colors like reptile green, desert bronze and a rich metallic navy.
If traditional matte colors are your preference, play with the look by changing only the color of one ring finger to an effect nail polish like crackle or pattern detail. The youthful trend started with pairing green and yellow for summer and has gained in popularity over the last year and a half, Aouad said.
With the range of color options, what’s out this winter? With luxury and darkness inspiring the trends, best to stay away from anything innocent or garishly cheery like pastels, pinks or neons.
Style suggestions for this season: let the nails be an accessory by pairing black from head to toe with a cobalt such as Essie’s Butler Please blue; try a glitter top coat on the ring finger such as OPI’s The Living Days; or go nude with an opaque neutral like MAC’s Skin beige.