This Summer Is All About The Nude Pedicure

By Celia Ellenberg

Throughout the modern mani-pedi movement, the mandate on nail-color theory has always been fairly straightforward: business on the tips, party on the toes. While ballet-slipper pinks and sheer ivories make for a neat and tidy manicure, pedicures are meant to be wild, painted in shades of crimson, oxblood, and black—even more so when the weather gets warmer and bright neons and cool pastels get the spotlight, thanks to an uptick in strappy sandals.

For many summers, I complied with this unspoken rule, hoarding fluoro-oranges and shimmering minty green varnishes for my toes while keeping my nails coated in barely there shades of bisque, ochre, and caramel. But a few years ago, fatigued by the craze for nail art and gel tips, I flipped the script and discovered the power of the nude pedicure. Clean and streamlined against sun-kissed skin, neutral toes immediately expand both your shoe and wardrobe options; very few colors go as well with all manner of prints and patterns. I’m not the only one signing on to this less-is-more mentality below the ankles. "Women are ready to apply a ‘no-makeup makeup' approach to their entire beauty routine, and this naturally carries over to the nail category," explains celebrity nail artist and polish creator Deborah Lippmann, who adds that nude lacquers, like her nearly universal Naked, a sheer beige, offer "a chance for rebellion in a simple, fashion-forward way."

While finding the right nude for your next pedicure requires a lot of trial and error (Jenna Hipp's excellent collaboration of nail "foundations" with RGB Beauty is a good place to start), looking at your cuticles is one way to determine if something isn't working. "If a nude lacquer isn't right for your skin tone, the cuticle will actually look red or dirty," says Lippmann. Looking to your closet should help, too, she adds: A glut of mostly blue, green, and purple staples typically indicates a cool skin tone that will benefit from nude polishes with pink or bluish undertones, like Jin Soon Choi's nail color in Nostalgia and Côte's polish in No. 9. If you can pull off earthy shades like olive, burgundy, and burnt orange, then warmer nudes with yellow or spicy undertones, like Floss Gloss's lacquer in Tan Lines or Dolce & Gabbana's Caramel, are best.

But the nude pedicure's biggest selling point just might be the way it manages to successfully divert attention away from the requisite damage that comes with walking the city streets in open-toed shoes. Nothing conceals wear and tear quite like two, foot-flattering coats of tonal polish.