Baring all: natural nails and new-wave gels

New nail treatments care more for condition than colour. The Japanese manicure, or nail detox, uses a layering technique that buffs nourishing powders and pastes deep into the nail, polishing the surface, stimulating circulation and encouraging stronger growth. Lacquer need not apply; nails are left pink, shiny and beautifully bare. In professional gels, the biggest development since Shellac is CND Plexigel, which is shaped and sculpted to give flat nails a plumper, healthier-looking shape. It lasts for up to three weeks and helps to heal cracks and splits underneath by acting as a flexible protective shell. Smart nail salons are back with a bang, making thorough manicures and grown-up nail art easier to come by (the prettiest is still a clean, chic riff on French tips or minimal graphics on a glossy, bare-look nail). Where to find it In the Hot Oil Manicure at Agua Spa on London’s South Bank, vitamin E paste is buffed into bare nails followed by a hot oil wrap (from £55). CND Plexigel is available nationwide (from £35) including at Townhouse Nails, which has a new location in London’s Harrods. Come here for a Luxury Manicure with a seriously relaxing hand massage and hot cream treatment (from £57). And find new Nail’d It services, including some ethereally fine glitter pigments, at Harvey Nichols stores in Knightsbridge, London, Edinburgh and Liverpool (from £20 for a classic polish).