Is the French Manicure Back and If So…How Do We Feel About It?

I grew up in the eighties and being a teenage girl in Southern California meant a few things were certain. First, you were going to throw your head down and flip it back several times a day to get the perfect Farrah Fawcett feathered sides. Second, you were going to spend way too much time in the sun (or the tanning bed) trying to achieve a “healthy” glow and third, you were always going to ask for a French manicure when you got your nails done.  When the French manicure finally got the death knell many years back, I thought it was the end of it. Fashion and beauty magazines decried the look as “tacky." As Heidi Klum famously quipped at the end of every Project Runway, “One day you’re in and the next day you’re out.” Just ask Jessica Simpson who was blasted by fashionistas for wearing “mom” jeans only to see the high waisted denim look take hold a year later. Just as soon as you’ve rid your closet of every platform heel, they’ll be back. Everything old circles back again. Is it a lack of creativity or nostalgia?Lately I’ve noticed the French manicure showing up more and more on celebrities. It started out innocently enough. A reverse French manicure where the white was at the cuticle and the tip was bare. Then the tip was colored, and the nail bed was bare. But recently, the original white-tipped French manicure has been making appearance after appearance and I have to admit…I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s like culottes or bell bottoms. Are those ever going to be okay again? 

Ariana Grande

Gigi Hadid

 There are definitely some beauty faux pas I made that still have me wondering what I was thinking…yeah…I’m talking about concealer as lipstick. Sometimes I find myself drawn to the idea of the French manicure…nostalgia? But then the images of my sixteen-year-old white tipped nails come back and I think…I can’t go back there. Can I?