Men’s nail polish shines
WHILE men wearing nail polish is popular right now, it certainly isn’t something new.
David Bowie’s flaming orange mullet and shimmering blue nails were his signature look. Kurt Cobain did the grunge chipped black nail polish image long before the Millennials did. Even Johnny Depp dipped into the nail polish and Kiss by a Rose singer Seal had a green nail polish moment.
Therefore, it’s really not that big a deal that more and more men are getting in on the male-mani action.
Rappers like ASAP Rocky, Lil Yachty and Tyler, the Creator, are often spotted wearing colourful nails. Late fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, kept his nail polish subtle yet bold, while Post Malone takes his nail inspiration from Cobain’s grunge era.
However, what we are seeing now is the rise of male celebrities launching their own line of nail varnish ranges.
Rocker-rapper Machine Gun Kelly, who is dating actress Megan Fox, recently released his own genderneutral nail polish line, UN/DN LAQR.
The brand will offer 10 shades from neutrals to bright colours, with one black lacquer named “Depressionist”.
Kelly said that now is the time to launch his brand “because individualism is dying and self-expression is how we keep it alive”, reads an email from his publicist. The brand name, UN/ DN, by undoing the word play, is an attempt to defeat the stereotype that most beauty brands are created by and appeal to women.
Shortly after the announcement of the launch of Machine Gun Kelly’s nail brand, there was a 420% rise in demand for men’s nail polish as well as a +85% surge for men’s make-up.
Last month, Harry Styles unveiled his beauty brand, Pleasing, which includes four polishes and two serums.
In a new Dazed cover story, Styles says the idea for the brand stemmed from “seeing a colour on a flower or a wallpaper or something and thinking, ‘Oh, I wanna put that on my nails’.”
Lil Yachty, a rapper who has mastered the mix-matched manicure trend with plaid, tie dye, and leopardprint nails, launched his collection, Crete, of gender-neutral “nail paints”.
Meanwhile, Backstreet Boy AJ McLean released a nail polish brand, Ava Dean Beauty, named after his daughter. The assortment includes classic shades like red, periwinkle, blush pink, and jet black, the shade he named for himself.
The colour cosmetics and nail categories have become an entry point for “non-sexist” beauty. And there is a special income opportunity in the nail category, which has seen rapid growth in recent months.
Trend forecaster WGSN predicts a “male make-up boom” will gain popularity by 2024: “Stripped of gender constraints and outdated visions of masculinity, colour cosmetics will be adopted as a ‘grooming hack’”.
Now is the time to get into the nail business: As with skincare, the pandemic has contributed to the growth of the nail category. With the closing of salons, home manicures have become a creative outlet.
According to data from the NPD Group, there was a 16% increase in nail care products sold in the US premium market from January to October of this year compared to the same period in 2019.