I’m Bored of Neutral Manicures, so I Asked an Expert to Give Me a Celeb-Loved Upgrade

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Toasted chestnut. Peach champagne. Velvet noir. Fleur blush. A seemingly random cluster of adjectives until you scroll through Tom Bachik’s Instagram, a treasure trove of celebrity manicures and bona fide beauty trend blueprint. The iconic manicurist is responsible for a slew of swoon-worthy nail moments on your favorite A-listers (Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez, Margot Robbie, Hailee Steinfeld, Anne Hathaway… I could go on!), many of which go viral the second he immortalizes them on the grid. (Looking at you, Romeo + Juliet nails.) So if you’re wondering what manicures we can expect to dominate the next few months, you’d be wise to consult Bachik; chances are whatever he’s got cooking will wind up on the chicest hands in a snap.

I decided to ask him this very question IRL, when I was lucky enough to find myself in his makeshift salon chair during a New York pit stop: What nail trends does he suspect will pop off this spring? “I think we’re going to see more focus on beautiful, sheer, nude tones,” Bachik declares. “[There’s a] timeless elegance that I think people look for.” But wait! There’s a catch! At the same time, he suspects an uptick in subtly glam, futuristic accents, like gemstones, chromes, or crystals, to punch up the contrast of that minimal, “naked” base—”neutral nails 2.0,” if you will. “I’m pretty sure we’ll see this quite a bit,” Bachik notes.

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And see we surely did. Consider the Wuthering Heights premiere in L.A., where celebrity manicurist Betina Goldstein scattered real diamonds and rubies over a delicate, barely there base for Margot Robbie, or the Grammys red carpet, where both Olivia Dean and Laufey donned light-pink manicures bedecked in tiny rhinestones. It’s not a brand-new concept by any means (Bachik did something similar for Jennifer Lopez’s Super Bowl performance in 2020), but it is reaching new heights in 2026. A clean, soapy manicure will never fall out of favor, but beauty lovers are clearly craving something extra spiffy for spring and beyond.

The only question that remains: How do you achieve neutral nails 2.0 at home? Scroll ahead, and you’ll find a step-by-step tutorial from Bachik himself. Note, his instructions pertain to gel manicures (consider this your sign to snag an LED lamp and gel kit!), but you can totally master it with traditional polish too. I’ve made sure to flag where you might need some tweaks, like extra drying time. With that, let’s dive in.

The Ultimate Tutorial for Neutral Nails 2.0

1. Even Out the Length

First things first: You can’t expect an elevated result without proper prep. “People always ask me what’s the most important part of my look. It’s the manicure. If the manicure itself doesn’t look good, then the nail doesn’t look good,” Bachik declares. “It’s like having a newly painted house and then having a really bad yard.” That said, he starts by evening out the length of my nails with Tweezerman’s Stainless Steel Nail Clipper, starting at the corners and gradually moving toward the center. “It keeps you from splitting your nail,” he explains, adding that it’s especially important to mind for those with thicker nails. “If you just start in the middle, then you’re flattening out that nail.” Ouch.

2. Perfect the Shape

Once you cut your nails to your desired shape (be it square, squoval, almond, et al.), grab a high-grit nail file (240 is generally the ideal grit for natural nails) to refine the outline. Like all professionals recommend, “I like to file from the outside edge to the center,” notes Bachik. “What I do to one side of the nail, I do to the other side.” Be sure to avoid “sawing” your nails back and forth, which can create splits at the free edge.

After filing, grab a cuticle pusher and round out the cuticle at the base of the nail in soft, circular motions—a step Bachik deems “100% necessary.” He adds, “This helps you give [then nail] a beautiful, natural shape.” (If you’re using traditional polish, pushing back the cuticles will also help your color last longer. Just an FYI!)

3. Clean Up the Cuticles

This step is technically optional, but if you have any frays popping out of your nail beds, Bachik recommends gently cleaning those up with a cuticle nipper. Just be sure to only clip pieces that are already loose and avoid tugging at the skin, which will only create more frays down the line. Finally, he polishes the surface of the nail, focusing on the cuticle to softly exfoliate that area of skin. Buffers come in all shapes and sizes, but Bachik prefers to use one that’s super soft and spongy “so you don’t have to worry about it burning or cutting,” he says.

4. Prep the Surface

Once he finishes up the manicure, Bachik soaks a cotton round with 90% alcohol to prep the surface of the nail before polish. “This helps remove any dust, debris, [and] any natural oils,” he notes, which, in turn, will make your polish appear smoother and last much longer. “Do this right before you polish them, so do one hand at a time.” That way, you can ensure a completely clean canvas right before coating on the lacquer.

5. Apply Base Coat

Finally, time to paint! Apply your base coat—which may sound simple, but Bachik does have a helpful hack for optimal coverage. “When I’m polishing, I like to push toward the cuticle, so that you can stop right at it, then just simply bring it down from side to side,” he shares. Then he takes a small brush (a lip liner brush would work perfectly, he says), soaks it with polish remover, and traces it around the cuticle to lift any product on the skin. “This really helps around the side walls of the nail,” he explains. If you’re using traditional polish, this extra step in between each coat will also help clean up any extra polish spilling into the nail beds.

6. Paint Your Polish

After curing that base coat (or letting it dry for a beat, if you’re using traditional polish), Bachik grabs a sheer, pinky nude. “When I’m creating this look, I want to choose a color that picks up the natural tones in my client’s skin tone,” he shares. “That will naturally help elongate the fingers.”

The specific lacquer he chose for me—Aprés Gel Couleur in Burnt Blush—has a barely there hint of peach that flatters the warmer undertones in my skin. He opts for just one coat to create that beautifully sheer, “my nails, but better” effect, again using that same technique from the base coat step as he paints. “Use a small amount of color just on the tip of the brush, push it back toward the cuticle, then put a little bit of pressure so that it thins the color out,” he says.

7. Apply Topcoat and Crystals

Okay, here’s where things get a bit technical. At this point, you should be left with a stunning, clean, neutral manicure. You could stop right there if you wanted to, but if you do choose to dress it up with crystals, you’ll want to slow down and focus on one finger at a time. “When you apply crystals onto a wet topcoat, gravity still wants to work,” Bachik explains. “If I apply [them] onto all your nails, the crystals would slide with the topcoat while I’m doing the other ones.” Be sure to cure each nail (or wait until it’s completely dry, if you’re using traditional polish) before moving on to the next. Yes, it’s a bit tedious, but the striking end result will be well worth the painstaking time.

Grab your crystals of choice (Bachik uses a smattering of Swarovski stones, which you can find on Amazon or Etsy), apply a layer of topcoat to the first nail, and, using a pair of tweezers, place the crystal(s) directly onto the wet polish. “I like an intentional placement [that’s] also sporadic,” Bachik says. No need to make each finger look exactly uniform; the contrast is what makes it cool.

8. Trace the Crystals Again With Topcoat

After placing the crystals onto your fingernail, dip a tiny detail brush in some extra topcoat, and trace it around the edge of the gem. According to Bachik, this extra layer helps the crystal better cling to the nail without having to encapsulate it completely (thus dulling its shine).

“You don’t want to just polish over the stones [with topcoat] because the stones are faceted. That’s what gives them the sparkle,” he notes. Pop your hand back into the LED lamp for 10 seconds to quickly cure. “That’ll freeze the gel so that the crystals won’t slide anymore, and then we can do the next finger,” Bachik adds. (Traditional-polish users, you’ll want to wait until your topcoat completely dries before moving on.)

9. Repeat for Each Finger

Copy and paste steps seven and eight until all your fingertips are positively sparkling. Again, tedious work, but placing the crystals can be actually quite meditative once you get a rhythm going. “I tried to set [the crystals] up celestially,” Bachik explains. “You don’t want to overdo it. You want to keep everything small, almost like it just sparkles on the nail.” If you’d like an accent nail (for example, with a crystal of a different color or size), he recommends doing that nail first and using it as a guide for the rest of the manicure.

10. Finish With Cuticle Oil

Finally, “I like to use a great cuticle oil to finish,” Bachik says. After cleaning the surface of the nail with that alcohol pad and tracing the cuticles with remover, your fingertips might be pretty parched. “We always want to rehydrate,” Bachik shares, massaging Chanel’s Huile de Jasmin into my nail beds. No cuticle oil? No worries: He says a facial oil (like the aforementioned Chanel hero) works wonders, if you have a few drops to spare from your skincare routine.

The Final Look

And there you have it: A timeless manicure that’s equally striking and minimal, like tossing on a pretty accessory to elevate your neutral wardrobe basics. “Like jewelry on the nails,” Bachik agrees.

Tom Bachik Artist Pass – YouTube

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