Hailey Bieber swaps glazed nails for glossy black - and it's fall's biggest manicure
Forget elaborate nail art, milky neutrals and even the season's usual burgundy and Bordeaux. Hailey Bieber, Dua Lipa, Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez have all gone back to black, and Vogue is calling the inky manicure fall's chicest trend.
At the 2026 Academy Museum Gala, Bieber paired her bubblegum-pink Chanel gown with glossy jet-black nails, a glam goth counterpoint to the sweet dress. Her nail artist Zola Ganzorigt used OPI Intelli-Gel in Black Onyx, shaping the nails into elongated almonds and finishing them with a lacquer-like shine. It is a marked switch from the glazed, barely-there manicures that became Bieber's signature.
Dua Lipa has long favored a midnight manicure, wearing the shade even in the height of summer, when brighter colors and fun decals usually reign. Kylie Jenner is another longtime devotee; she wore glossy black almond nails with a feather-trimmed pink dress at a Kylie Cosmetics holiday party. Both made the same case: instead of adding a bright pop to a neutral look, ground a sugary outfit with something dark and cool.
The velvet and cat-eye upgrades
There is room to experiment. Selena Gomez has tried a black velvet finish with her nail artist Tom Bachik, who, after shaping and prepping her nails, layered Chanel's deep, almost-black Le Vernis in Le Diable En Chanel over the house's La Base Camélia for a soft, light-catching effect. For the festive season, a dusting of chrome or a magnetic cat-eye brings extra drama.
Shape changes the mood too: long almond nails, as Bieber and Jenner favor, read sleek and glamorous, while shorter square nails feel more understated and punky. Nail artist Julia Diogo sums up the shade's versatility by calling it "winter nude." It works across skin tones and nail lengths, with enough presence to make a simple outfit feel considered.
The simplest version may still win. As nail artists put it, there is something chic about keeping things minimal: no art, no glitter, just two coats of glossy noir.
