The Manicure Of The Future Is Polish-Free

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You're over polish. Who can blame you? The market is boring as hell, stocked floor to ceiling with the same shade of candy apple red and tasteful nude. And you've tried them all, in earnest, but everything fails to excite you—you're a person of interest, a traveler of the world. Your fragrances are atelier, and so is your understated Danish jewelry. There is no Essie shade for you, because you transcend colors and puns. What nail options exist for a cultured, elegant, universally well-liked figure like yourself? (Not adorning your fingernails, by the way, is squarely out of the question. You do it out of respect for the people you meet, because you're a class act. God, we're in love with you.)

This is the kitchen sink approach to nailcare, which is an especially apt metaphor here because it involves raw materials you might sooner find at Home Depot than on your nails. But that's an Alicia Torello manicure for you—expect the unexpected. ITG asked, 'Alicia, what's cool and new in nails?' and she answered with two manicures from the future: both sleek, both fresh, both minimalistic but somehow also statements. It's amazing, and it's all very Alicia.

The first is more of a gesture of color—that color being Deborah Lippmann's pale Blue Orchid in the middle of the nail and anchored with a small gold bar, placed with tweezers and some nail glue. The second is a holograph: tiny metallic sheets ordered from Daily Charme, cut and applied a few different ways on each finger (and set with Seche Vite). The whole idea is to look beyond polish, possibly beyond color, and toward construction. How do you make nail polish new? You play around with some stuff that isn't nail polish at all. Alicia loves the aforementioned Charme and Born Pretty for all kinds of nail treats. Wander over and let inspiration strike. We'll wait right here.

Angelica Erthal (The Society) photographed by Tom Newton. Nails by Alicia Torello.

Maybe polish is your thing—you do you. Here are our favorite shades for the season.