A beauty technician has divided opinion online after sharing a unique manicure trend – bejewelled nails for men.
Anouska Scarlet Anastasia, co-founder of Nuka Nails in West London, took to Instagram to debut the ‘Chained Windows Men’s Mani’ – a type of nail art which features a silver jewellery chain moulded around a well manicured nail.
Using a male model to demonstrate the eye-catching creation, Anouska said she was ‘obsessed’ with the look and urged more men to join in the trend as it was giving ‘serious masc (masculine) energy’.
Despite her proclamations, many were quick to critique the look, with some women saying they’d hesitate to date a man sporting the style, while others branded her a ‘genius’.
Narrating the video, Anouska said: ‘I genuinely think this might be the most elite men’s manicure I’ve ever done.
‘So I was initially inspired by grillz for this look, just the simplicity of a window.
‘As soon as I got my hands on this solid silver – yes solid silver chain from Pup Up jewellery – I knew what I had to do.
‘I present to you the Chained Windows Men’s Mani’.
The clip broke down the step-by-step process behind the manicure from start to finish.
It began with the shot of a well groomed and trimmed nail, which featured a thick slather of glossy ‘super clean’ transparent nail polish.
She then applied what appeared to be a thick tube of clear nail glue around the outskirts of the nail bed.
Once set and dried, she attached a line of thin silver chain-link jewellery around the outline of the nail bed, taking her time to ensure it attached to all four corners of the model’s nail.
Using a sharp tool, the influencer then snipped off the remaining unused portion of the silver chain.
Describing her method in more detail, she continued: ‘The two statement metal outline nails on top of a super clean clear base mixed with matte and gloss finishes.
‘Honestly I’m obsessed. I’m all for guys getting their nails done’.
The content creator then questioned the so-called rigidity of social norms and urged both men and women to get such manicures done more regularly.
‘I’ve been saying for years that nail art isn’t exclusively for women’ she continued. ‘Why should it be?
‘And honestly I feel like this design could change some minds. It’s so different from the classic perhaps more feminine nail art that we all know.
‘Personally I think this has a serious masc energy. To me this is basically like jewellery but for your nails.
‘Same way guys accessorise with rings, necklaces, piercings – what makes this different?
‘Is it just that we haven’t normalised guys getting nail art yet? I feel like we need to change this narrative and normalise it because it is a look’.
She concluded by asking her fans to weigh in on the look before pleading with them to keep their responses ‘respectful’.
Perhaps expectedly, the video has since gone viral, garnering a whopping 3.6 million views and over 1800 comments.
Unfortunately some viewers ignored her request to keep things polite and instead posted a few negative remarks.
One person declared: ‘Please stop encouraging men to be more feminine. You all are killing us and don’t even know it’.
Labelling the whole idea a ‘turn off’ and explaining why, another wrote: ‘Love the idea it’s very cute, but I can’t find it normal more like a big turn off for a man to colour or decorate his nails. But each to their own. Just my opinion it looks weird for a normal heterosexual.
‘Show me his nails like ask me “you like my new design?” Like animals all have their differences and don’t try to look like each other. So why do we have to now all share the same things? Like can certain things just be for us girls/women or are we all eventually [going to] be the same?’
In agreement with this sentiment, someone else said: ‘I don’t see nothing masculine about that. Men shouldn’t be doing none of that. A clean set of hands with a little clear polish is enough. All that is unnecessary because men use their hands to work not to display’.
Meanwhile one woman ‘loved it’: ‘Very unisex. I don’t care that guys paint their nails it’s all self expression. Go CRAZY!!!’
‘You are another level of genius’ commented another.
