The imperfect manicure—smudged, poorly and haphazardly applied nail polish—is the most irreverent nail trend we’ve seen take off. A liberating choice for the Miu Miu models at the most recent Paris Fashion Week, we’ve been seeing nail artists and enthusiasts embrace the look for fall more and more. At first glance, the imperfect manicure resembles the Brazilian manicure, a technique that involves applying polish beyond the edges of the nail and then cleaning up the edges. The difference is that in this case, the poorly applied polish stays exactly as it is.
Would you ever have expected to see deliberately messy and imprecise manicures be considered cool? And on top of that, appear during a Paris Fashion Week show? Well, it happened at the Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2027 runway show, which generated a lot of buzz, from the styling choices to the presence of actor Olivia Colman among the models. Add the manicure to the list of details worth discussing from that show because nail artist Mei Kawajiri, also known as Nails by Mei, decided to embrace what is usually avoided: imperfection.
Although this is a runway beauty look—which often embodies the most creative side of the arts—the fact that Miu Miu’s imperfect manicure is now becoming a larger trend beyond fashion week shows the desire we have for more freedom in the world of nail art. It’s a stark contrast to the obsessive perfectionism inherent to that space. After all, nothing demands millimeter-level precision more than applying nail polish when doing elaborate and complex nail art designs.
Choosing to apply polish haphazardly, without cleaning up the edges of the nails, is perhaps the celebration of normality we’ve been waiting for. It’s a signal to let go of expectations of perfection that shouldn’t belong to us but still influence us all far too much.
How to achieve the imperfect manicure
Probably not even Kawajiri herself would feel comfortable explaining how to do this manicure, because—for once—we’re all great at doing it. The nail artist describes the imperfect manicure as the nail art that “even your boyfriend could have done.” The point isn’t to copy it and walk around with smudged nail polish, but to learn a lesson from it: If your manicure isn’t perfect, it doesn’t really matter.
Originally published on Glamour US.
