Remember that time Harry Styles’s nails were painted with bright yellow smiley faces? That was the handiwork of manicurist Jenny Longworth, who also tends to the nails of everyone from Rihanna to Timothée Chalamet, as well as a roster of major fashion and beauty clients. She was also the brains (and hands) behind the Chanel logo nails at the Métiers d’Art 2019 show – ultra chic and often imitated.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Read more: The Unexpected Nail Trends Set To Be Huge In 2021
Now, Longworth is preparing to take up residence at luxury fashion retailer, Browns, on London’s Brook Street, offering her nail services for four days (from 20 April) to those who manage to snag an appointment. “We’re offering luxury manicures so we’ve kept the menu small and bespoke,” she tells me over the phone. “I’m going to be doing lots of nice scrubs, hand masks and massages – it’ll be a real pampering treatment, rather than a quick in-and-out manicure.”
Much-needed after months in which DIY treatments were the only way to address our ailing fingertips, Longworth’s focus will be on nail art – which is good news for those wanting to recreate Styles’s smiley faces. She also predicts that abstract nail art will be popular with customers at her pop-up, as well as logos and transfers. “I will be doing the Browns logo because everyone is going logo crazy again, it’s a massive trend,” she says. “Other micro-trends at the moment include psychedelic, multicoloured nails – which are big – and hand-painted butterflies too.”
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Read more: The Best Epilators For Silky Smooth Legs At Home
Another innovative new treatment she will be offering is “Apres nails”, a new way to add length and shape without having to use acrylics. “Imagine that a full cover press-on nail and gel nail extension had a baby – that’s an Apres nail,” she explains. “It looks like a structured press-on nail but it’s made out of gel and sits on top of the natural nail to create length.” Coming in an array of different pre-shaped tips – from long coffin to square and almond – it’s an exciting new treatment you should expect to hear much more about.
When I ask her what her signature nail style is, she says it’s all about what’s right for a particular image or person. For Styles? “If you look at the smiley nails that I did on Harry, you’ll notice that it’s not a perfectly-painted smiley face – that’s intentional, because I wanted it to look a bit crude and a little bit like he’d done it,” she tells me. “That’s the thing I’ve had to learn [as a nail artist]: the work I do is about a character, and it’s not always literal.”
