Jennifer Lopez’s Otherworldly Butterfly Nails Were a Met Gala Winner

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Never one to shy away from an experimental manicure, Jennifer Lopez’s Met Gala nails did not disappoint. Tapping into “The Garden of Time” dress code, her longtime manicurist Tom Bachik took inspiration from the wonderful world of butterflies. “Butterflies start life as a shimmering chrysalis before they transform,” Bachik tells Vogue. “So I encased Jen’s polished, natural nail in a translucent pearl cocoon.”

Courtesy of Tom Bachik

This is a manicure for the magpies. The perfect partner to Lopez’s beaded Schiaparelli dress, Bachik’s creation was glazed, glowy and surprisingly versatile, and he set the look on an almond-shaped nail. “I applied CND’s pre-shaped, clear coffin tips and then refined them to a medium-length almond shape,” he explains, adding that he used his favorite tools from his collaboration with Tweezerman to create meticulous cuticles and the perfect shape.

Then he applied a tonal shade to “play off her skin tone” by adding a bit of CND’s Shellac Top Coat to the brand’s Flowered Folly, diluting the slightly peachy hue into a softer, semi-sheer colour. “I used that mix over the natural nail bed and slightly beyond it to extend the length, but left the tips completely clear,” he explains. “Then I encased all of it in layers of the Shellac No-Wipe top coat to create an elegant, high-shine finish.”

To complete the reflective, opalescent and otherworldly effect, he finished the look using CND’s Pearl Obsession, a pearlescent nail pigment that can be smudged onto nails for a “glossed finish that matched her make-up.”