5 Components To An “Aesthetic” Manicure

If you’ve been hanging out on Instagram long enough, you’ve probably caught on to the beautiful aesthetic manicures profiles, those manicures that look elegantly chic, touched by diffused lighting, decked with jewelry, and sometimes even bundled in cozy apparel.

The designer and creators of these manicures are often very elusive, fashionistas themselves, and often command Instagram audiences of over 300,000 subscribers!

Now, they’re called aesthetic manicures because they are pretty aesthetically pleasing. Everything from the hand pose of its model to the way the light hits is just eye-soothing. They are definitely magazine-worthy, and so many of these nail curators do end up working in some sort of editorial work.

Alright, are you ready to break into the components of the aesthetic manicure? Let’s begin.

Component #1 The Nails

Can any length account for the aesthetic manicure? How about the shape? Can any shape qualify for an aesthetic manicure? How about the nail art?

In an aesthetic manicure, the preferred length seems to be long. The preferred shape seems to be almond, and the preferred nail art seems to be minimalistic and hand painted, with swirls being the most dominant.

But overall, I think hand-painted minimalistic is most important. But the easy bet is true swirls.

Component #2 The Lighting

Is natural lighting enough, or must I budget for a studio? How much will the right lighting cost me?

Are you ready for this answer… natural light all day, every day does it here. No need for anything fancy. That is why you will not see any light apparatus reflecting directly on the pictures of an aesthetic manicure. Find a window and the sun and take your photo on the opposite side of where the sun is located because IT is your light source.

Component #3 The Pose

Is there just one pose that counts, or is there flexibility?

Overhand and straight, softly spread or softly bent seems to be it, but I think there is flexibility here, no pun intended. Personally, I think whatever pose displays your nails best counts in that natural diffused light.

Component #4 The Jewelry

Does an aesthetic manicure have to be accented with jewelry? Absolutely. I think jewelry is non-negotiable. It’s like the final touch. In fact, celebrity manicurist Betina Goldstein created her own jewelry line and now her set of elegant nail tools, including a nail art palette and brushes. But even if you’re not going to go into business designing jewelry, if you are expecting to become an aesthetic manicure content creator, there are opportunities for you to gain commission on rings, not just the products you use for your manicure content. So it is wise to include jewelry for that purpose.

Component #5 The Clothing Piece

Must fabric be included in an aesthetic manicure photo? This one is optional. Hooray! But it does seem that fabrics count in the Fall and Winter seasons when it is sweater weather. This may be a great retail-therapy opportunity for you also.

Component #6 The Products

Can I use any product, or must they be high-end? Hmmm… this one also borders on being optional from what I’ve seen, but I don’t know… personally if I recognized a brand as a cheapie, it would be a vibe killer. So I think high-end is highly recommended, but anything else could work.

For prospective editorial manicurists, I think high-end does count.

I will use Betina as an example again as I’ve been following her work for a while, and in fact, since I can remember, she has been using Chanel. In the latest peek at her profile, she is now an official Chanel Manicurist! So you can see that associating yourself with the brands you ultimately want to work with is a wise and strategic choice.

Others Like Vivian from @vwnails_ often work with Japanese Gel Nail Brands like Leafgel.

So whatever you use, just make sure it aligns with your style and the brands you want to work with.

Regarding what products to use for content creation so you don’t destroy your natural nails…

You could overlay your natural nails with a soft gel, Japanese Soft Gel is what we focus on in this channel if you’re new here because it is pretty long wear and that with only gentle prep. If you haven’t already checked out the free masterclass below, where I will share why exactly that is. But either way, after you have overlaid your nails with a gentle-application gel, you could paint your design on top with gel or regular nail polish so long as no tacky surface is left behind.

You can also use a peelable base gel directly on your non-buffed nails. You’ll want them un-buffed because if they are even slightly buffed after peelable base gel application, you could potentially peel off some keratin from your nails and damage.

UNT is a super popular regular polish peelable base, and if you are looking for a gel type, Lily Gel by Leafgel just released one too.

Alright, Thank you for hanging out, and I can’t wait to see your aesthetic nail pictures! Which tip helped you the most? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll see you next time, bye for now.

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