Intricate nail artistry is enjoying a moment in the spotlight, propagated by Instagram and TikTok. Like most trends, this one is difficult to pin down to one moment. But with people being limited in their pursuit of joy over the past two years or so, I like to believe that we looked at our nails and decided they were the perfect size for portable vessels of creativity. And it’s not just women; men are also using their nails as a canvas to garner some cheer through colours, shapes, spirals and, indeed, the odd sticky-backed diamanté.
look forward to my monthly trip to my nail artist, Izzy Bellamy. The benefits of showing off my new nail designs extends beyond flurries of likes and comments on Instagram. Sitting for two hours while I chat with Izzy is therapeutic. As I slide the door closed behind me and enter the plush pastel-pink and rose-gold interior of her London salon, the confusion that is our world today is shut out and we’re in an impenetrable sanctuary. A place where Izzy’s creativity, executed under an exacting eye and amazingly steady hands, is limited only by the size of my nails. If I had the patience to sit for longer than two hours, who knows what she could recreate? The Mona Lisa or Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus perhaps?
With the years that have just gone by, we all need someone to talk to. We chat about our family; I tell her about the latest antics my little godson Rían is getting up to. She recounts memories from her boarding-school days. My eating disorder — about which I have written previously in Life — never comes up, unless I want it to.
There’s something freeing in that. It makes me realise I’m more than this diagnosis that has consumed my life for years. I have more things to talk about, I have more facets to my personality — all of which is easily forgotten when one is in the middle of treatment and recovery.
Choosing the nail design that I want for the coming month is a process. My favourite choices to date are those that echo my childhood. I reminisced on early Saturday-morning cartoons by dedicating each nail to a Powerpuff Girl and their arch nemeses. In June, sparkly blues with accents of white and a couple of appliqué pearls and shells brought me back to the days when I wished I could jump into the cold Atlantic from a Kerry beach to join Disney’s Ariel and her pals as a fellow merman.
Fellow nail-art fan Dean O’Sullivan works in TV production and as a photographer. He takes inspiration for his nails from his present rather than his past. “I draw inspiration from what’s happening in my life,” he says. “For June, I had my nails painted in rainbow colours and the trans flag to celebrate pride month and to show support to my trans siblings.”
For Conor O’Donohoe, of the band Wild Youth, inspiration comes from “combining colour, pastel colours”. Or, when his brain is exhausted from writing chart-topping music, he’s happy to let the nail artists at Dublin salon Tropical Popical use creative licence.
My nail art has finally allowed me to respect, recognise and indulge my inner child. Rural Ireland in the early 2000s was not accommodating to a boy who wanted to do anything other than play GAA. It was clear when I started obsessing over girls’ hairbands and long hair as a toddler that I wasn’t interested in the things that boys are “supposed” to be into.
When I started school, I was exposed to the prejudices of wider society and other adults. I felt like something was wrong with me for wanting to play with my older sister’s Baby Spice doll from the Spice Girls Barbie range. I didn’t know what — I just knew it was wrong. I needed to find other interests, and force myself to like other, more “appropriate” things. It was either that or be bullied — or, worse, be seen as that horribly layered, derogatory word, “sissy”.
Twenty years later, I realise the damage that these attitudes — shot at me in my childhood from adults who should have known better — had and still have on me. Today, I’ve hit the ‘F**k It’ button on these attitudes; I no longer care about them and I want to destroy them with every nail design I choose.
Now, with the help of my talented nail artist, I feel I can assuage some of the needless embarrassment and anxiety my young self was burdened with. Choosing designs that echo my childhood started unintentionally. When I couldn’t think of what I wanted, the Powerpuff Girls came to mind.
Like me, Irish TikTok star Chris Murphy (@chrisisainmdom) initially saw his nail art as a form of protest against masculine norms, but now he takes a less militant approach to his fabulous nails. “Having my nails done has become so common practice in my life that I think it’s more of a self-care ritual for me at this point,” he says. “I do think it’s important to subvert gender norms and express ourselves.
Whether that’s with nails or clothes or make-up, something as simple as gender shouldn’t discourage our true identity.”
That sentiment seems to be echoed in the celebrity world, where the likes of singer Harry Styles, actor Jared Leto and model and photographer Brooklyn Beckham are normalising having painted nails.
US rapper A$AP Rocky, who has been seen with nail designs ranging from eyeballs to the US flag and Prada motifs, told Vogue: “I feel like men should be able to do nail art without feeling feminine.”
Closer to home, Andrea Horan, creative culture advocate and owner of nail salon Tropical Popical, says she’s seen a change in the kind of clientele she gets: “In the past, the men booking in for nail art were primarily members of the LGBTQIA community, but now we’re seeing straight cis males booking in for three hours of nail art.”
She adds: “It just wouldn’t have happened before. We were so used to men being embarrassed coming into the traditionally female space to buy vouchers — and joking that they were there to get their nails done as if it was the gassest thing possible that they might enjoy a bit of preening and colour on their nails. The ratios are definitely changing and we’re seeing more genders getting comfortable in the chair. We love to see it!”
In my experience, it isn’t just a handful of guys who are ready to explore colourful nails. I often get complimented on my nails in the street, in shops and on public transport by people of every gender expression.
Dean O’Sullivan has had many similar experiences. “Normally people love my nails and will compliment them and we’ll have a chat about them and why I chose the colours,” he says, “and then we’ll chat about their nails.” Murphy and O’Donoghue agree. However O’Donoghue also says he has received some “unusual stares” from time to time.
Jess Young, a London-based creative is fully behind nail art being open to everyone — for her, it goes beyond a trend. “I see the act of boys wearing nail polish as a liberation. A movement against patriarchy and toxic masculinity. I don’t want this to ever be just a trend. It is a lot more powerful than that.” Her Instagram account @boysinpolish is one to look to if you’re tempted to try some varnish.
We all deserve the chance to indulge in the little joys and, for me, a pop of colour on my nails can bring that.
But most of all, it is our right to leave our needless shame and embarrassment in the past, and I intend to do that, one fabulous piece of finger art at a time.
