Taylor Swift Trades Her Shimmery Manicure for Matching Cherry Red Lipstick and Nails

The pop star ditched her signature nails for the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards.

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Taylor Swift at an award show wearing red lipstick with red nails
(Image credit: Getty Images)

It's no secret that Taylor Swift loves to get her nails done. On the Eras Tour, the only beauty signature more consistent than her bright red lipstick was her rainbow manicure, which assigned a different color representing her albums to each of her fingertips. She's since dabbled in minimalist white nails and several shimmery glitter manicures for various red carpets, as well as Chiefs games.

One thing she doesn't do very often, however, is color-coordinate her lips with her nail polish. It's surprising, given her love of nostalgic fashion and beauty references! Matching your lipstick to your nail polish is a practice that dates back to early 20th century, when red lipstick and identical nail polish were issued to women in the American Marine Corps during World War II. Now, it seems Swift is finally embracing the look with cherry red lips and nails for the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards.

A photo of Taylor Swift accepting an award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards with matching cherry red lipstick and nails.

Taylor Swift accepts an award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards with matching cherry red lipstick and nails.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

On Mar. 17, the hitmaker called into the ceremony to accept the award for "Tour of the Century" wearing an opaque swipe of Pat McGrath Labs Liquilust lipstick in Elson 4: the very same "vivid blue-red" she sported throughout the global concert series. She also sported her signature jet-black winged eyeliner during the remote acceptance speech, along with a diamond snake necklace and a Cartier watch. But as she held her trophy aloft, I couldn't help but admire her freshly painted set of cherry red tips. Nail artist Lisa Peña-Wong—who was the steady hand behind Swift's maroon Super Bowl 2025 manicure as well—really popped off with this one.

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A photo of Taylor Swift delivering a virtual acceptance speech in a black long-sleeved t-shirt paired with pops of bright red on her lips and fingertips.

Taylor Swift delivers a virtual acceptance speech in a black long-sleeved t-shirt paired with pops of bright red on her lips and fingertips.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Peña-Wong generally keeps the exact shades she uses on Swift under wraps, although she will occasionally confirm or deny good guesses in her comments on Instagram. She did, however, recently reveal to one lucky follower that Swift generally doesn't wear tips or overlays—just gel polish applied atop her natural nails.

With that in mind, I have a few theories of my own about the hue Swift could have been wearing during her virtual acceptance speech. Peña-Wong frequently works with OPI so, barring any custom mixes, I have a feeling the color in question is either Big Apple Red or Cajun Shrimp—the brand's two most iconic red lacquers. Do what that information what you will, Swifties!

Shop Cherry Red Nail Polishes Inspired by Taylor Swift

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Hanna Lustig
Hanna Lustig
Staff Writer

Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.