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As the conversations around beauty have evolved, so have the people who are actively claiming their places in the beauty community. From the rise of acne advocates to the normalization of traditional face tattoos in media, what was once an intentionally exclusive community has grown to include people from all walks of life. Nowhere is that more apparent than with the rise of the “menicure.”
Men wearing nail polish was popularized in the ’70s and ’80s when musicians like Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Robert Smith, all had manicures as a part of their aesthetics, but men’s nail art actually dates back much further than that. “A number of Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2150 BCE) elite tomb chapels include scenes of men receiving nail treatments,” Elizabeth Frood, associate professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford, previously told PS.
Performers like A$AP Rocky and Bad Bunny have made nail art a part of their signature styles, proving to naysayers there is no gender binary in beauty, especially in the nail space. With that, there has also been a rise in brands created by celebrity men. Machine Gun Kelly revealed that he was working on his own nail-polish brand, Un/Dn Laqr, in April 2021. Shortly after, Harry Styles announced the launch of his nail-polish line, Pleasing, in November. Tyler the Creator became the latest to throw his hat into the beauty game with the launch of Golf le Fleur, which features three nail polishes, in December of the same year.
We’re seeing men experiment with their nails outside of the entertainment industry. Dwyane Wade’s nails were a topic of discussion when he wore a black-and-red Miami Heat-themed manicure during his Hall of Fame induction ceremony in January 2024. Recently, football player Caleb Williams was spotted with pink nails as he supported his USC schoolmates and not long after, Duke University basketball player Jared McCain made a TikTok video addressing negative comments he received about his painted nails at games.
Because there has been so much inspiration going around as of late, we rounded up the best male celebrities that you can follow to recreate their looks.