Polished Women Are Ditching Gels Right Now—Bare Nails Are the New Status Symbol

I haven't looked back after giving up gel manicures a year ago. While I love the look of preened hands, and the creative side of nail art, bi-weekly salon appointments were setting me back hours each week and hundreds of pounds a month. As it turns out, I'm not alone.

Thick, glossy French manicures held a certain cachet just a few years ago—not unlike small designer goods (and often just as expensive). Recently, however, I’ve noticed a shift towards bare nails, which was echoed on the runway this season. At Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2026 show, nail tech Jin Soon Choi groomed models’ nails to within an inch of their lives, completely sans gel or polish. Similarly, designer Joseph Altuzarra requested no visible colour—instead, nail lead Erica De Los Santos used sheer polishes matched to each model’s skin undertone.

Of course, this isn’t about bare, raggedy-looking nails. Amid the over-saturation of salon-worthy manicures, (which conveniently cover up a multitude of sins) the pendulum has swung back towards perfectly groomed nails as a new status symbol, in the "quiet luxury" ilk. They’re impeccably maintained: meticulous cuticle work, perfectly buffed surfaces and oodles of natural shine. In many ways, they’re harder to achieve than a gel manicure, and, if done “right”, can cost just as much in time and money.

Angela Lei is a beauty journalist turned brand founder of Fette, which sell reusable, hand-painted press-ons for professional-looking results, minus the damage. "Salon gels are starting to feel a little over-engineered, outdated and artificial," she says, pointing out that the bare nail trend has made its way into celebrity circles too. "Instead of heavily embellished sets, there was a nude movement at the Met Gala. Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner, both trendsetters in the nail sphere, had nude nails. Kendall Jenner, Irina Shayk and Margot Robbie all had what looked like completely bare, natural nails too."

This has been reflected in Fette's sales, Lei adds: "We're seeing higher sales of subtle French tips, ombré nudes and solid studio colours—there's much less of the intricate, 3D, design-led sets that used to dominate."

Similarly, Donia Chrifi-Alaoui, founder of West London's high-end salon chain, Swanky, tells me she’s recently seen a massive uptick in demand for the Japanese Manicure, despite offering it for the past 15 years. The treatment focuses on improving nail health from the inside out, buffing nutrient and vitamin-rich pastes into the nail plate to leave a soft, natural shine that can last for weeks.

“More women are prioritising nail health now and becoming far more conscious about what goes on and around their bodies,” she explains. “Natural nails have always been chic, but now healthy nails have become aspirational. So many people are asking for our Japanese Manicure because it restores the natural nail rather than covering it up, leaving a clean finish that feels modern and understated.”

Per Lei, this all reflects a broader movement within the online beauty space. "A decade ago, beauty online was often about visible effort and perfection; now people are drawn to things that feel more effortless, healthy and real. It’s less about performance and more about substance and lifestyle."

To me, though, it also suggests that we may be swapping one mode of perfection for another.

Swanky’s Japanese Manicure gave me the best nails of my life, but I won’t be tying it to the same rigid two-week appointment cycle I had with gels. Going forward, I want to define “natural perfection” by my own metrics. As fellow Beauty Editor and longtime bare nail fan, Madeleine Spencer says: "My nails look best when I've been swimming in the sea—they turn into little pink shells that look classic and pretty..." That's something that feels aspirational to me.

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