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I don't want to hear any complaints about how the pastel nail trend that's been transitioning us from spring to summer—we've seen it on Taylor Swift, Emily Blunt, Michelle Obama, and more recently—is too delicate, too sweet, too jejune. The prettiness is the point, of course, but just because a color is light and soft doesn't mean it can't have some edge to it, and Rita Ora's latest manicure is proof.
Ora performed at the Isle of Wight Festival over the weekend, wearing a completely impractical but absolutely fabulous striped, satin ensemble including a bra with a matching high-low hemline vest and rosette-embellished bloomers, not to mention some seriously fierce white, knee-high boots and sassy oval sunglasses. But one of my favorite details, easily, is her manicure.
Photo: Getty Images
Nail artist Michelle Humphrey shared a close-up of the awesome nail design, featuring the palest possible pastel periwinkle base in a soft-focus jelly finish. Humphrey tells Allure that she then added slices of prismatic glitter over the translucent look to create an iridescent ombré effect that looks incredible on short nails like Ora's.
Photo: Michelle Humphrey
“K-beauty is obviously a huge thing at the moment, and I've recently just gone mad buying loads of Korean jelly gels, syrup gels,” Humphrey tells Allure. “Rita's such a huge fan of them, so I was delighted to get those out and experiment.”
Humphrey also shares that photos don't do the entire manicure justice because her right hand is actually different from the left. Instead of periwinkle, they were tonal butter yellow and soft green, making this pastel masterpiece even more interesting than we originally thought.
Photo: Getty Images
As a short-nail-haver myself, I can attest that I'm definitely taking screenshots of this look to the nail salon for my next manicure.