You know those beauty trends that look really, really cool, no matter who's wearing them? (Lookin' at you, hair cuffs, shaggy bangs, and red lipstick.) Welp, you can officially add matte nail polish to the list; it's the only thing I'll be using for the next, uh, eternity.
Soft, hazy, and definitively understated, matte polishes turn any basic manicure into a legit beauty lewk. And to get you inspired to try the trend out immediately, I handpicked the prettiest, most screenshot-worthy designs to DIY at home.
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Candy Striper Matte
I get it—the last time you wore Barbie-pink polish was probably when you still played with Barbies, but this megawatt color looks anything but elementary when paired with some minimalist stripes and a modern matte finish.
Design by @nailsbeauty2010
Neon-Red Matte
Matte polish gets a bad rap for being flat and dull—but I'm guessing those naysayers haven't seen these bright, neon-red designs. DIY the cut-out look by placing a thin strip of tape down the center of your painted-and-dried nail, layer on a white polish, and (once fully dried), peel off the tape to reveal the red polish beneath it.
Design by @insta.nails.salon
Muted Blue Matte
The brilliance of matte polishes is that they manage to turn even the cutesiest of colors, like baby blue, into low-key, "what, this ol' thing?" statements. To get an extra creamy shade, mix a few drops of white polish in with your blue polish, then seal the manicure with a matte top coat.
Design by @nailtender
Negative-Space Stripes
To get these segmented, three-shade nails, place two pieces of tape over your nail, leaving a thin strip between the two. Paint the empty space with white nail polish, then (after it fully dries), cover half of the stripe with another piece of tape and paint the rest of the stripe red. After that polish dries, move the tape again to section off another part of the nail and paint it black. Finally, mattify the whole look with a matte top coat.
Design by @tior_nails
Matte Peach Designs
DIY this leafy design by dipping a thin nail brush into white polishand tracing the edges of your ring fingernail to create a border. Then, draw a wavy diagonal line down the nail and a few wavy lines branching out from it to create the leaf pattern. Paint the rest of your nails peach, then cover all 10 nails with a matte top coat.
Design by @bullienka
Matte Milk Chocolate
I don't know what looks better—the square of chocolate, or the matching matte-brown nails. (The answer is the chocolate. Always the chocolate.) Sing an ode to dessert—or all of the '90s, if that's more your thing—with a soft-brown matte manicure that looks genuinely creamy in real life.
Design by @farmasiiozell
Chloe Metzger
Deputy Beauty Director
Chloe Metzger is the deputy beauty director at Cosmopolitan, obsessively writing about new makeup launches, the best hair products (curly girl here; whattup), and the skincare formulas that really work for every skin type (follow her on Instagram to see behind-the-scenes pics of that magazine life).
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