Top Prom & Wedding Nail Trends

With both prom and wedding season fast approaching, we tapped essie editorial manicurist and global lead educator Rita Remark to share the top nail trends on her radar. —Noa Nichol

Spring has sprung, and summer is right around the corner. Seasonal celebrations include prom and wedding season, so let’s talk trends … what’s on your radar right now for nails, for both occasions?

For weddings, bride, bridesmaid or guest opt for soft pastels like lilac, peony or cornflower blue. Designs like colourful french tips or a few small rhinestone appliques add luxe to any manicure without being over the top. For prom, think—Euphoria! High concept, super expressive and artful. Designs like checkerboard, nail art decals, small designs like hearts or stars and more!

Can you give us tips or steps on achieving one of your fave prom and wedding nail looks?

One of my favourite wedding looks is a neutral rhinestone look. Polish two coats of your favourite cloudy jelly essie pink (think: inside scoop or sugar daddy). Working one nail at a time, apply a voluminous top coat like gel.setter and press small crystals into the nail using a damp toothpick. Dont add another topcaot (it can dull the facets of the crystal). Apply 3-5 crystals on each nail for a delicate wedding look. One of my favourite prom looks is mismatched waves and french tips. This looks is great because you can go as bold or as subtle as you like depending on which colours you choose. Start with base coat and using a detail brush, polish a french tip to the pinky, index and thumb nail. Next, on your middle and ring fingers, polish curves vertically down the nail using the same colour and shade and the other nails. Use an angled eyeliner brush to clean up mistakes and finish with a high shine topcoat.

What are some of your favourite products, besides colour polishes, to keep our nails in tip top shape over the spring and summer months?

A longwearing topcoat like essie’s gel couture platinum topcoat, apricot cuticle oil, sunscreen! (our hands age fastest!) and a pedicure file for sandal season!

What essie shades do you suggest we use to create some of the looks you mention above?

sugar daddy
inside scoop
lilacism
bikini so teeny
in the cab-ana
bachelorette bash
chillato

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