Emma Watson's Partially Painted Nails: Yay or Nay?

Monday, November 28, 2011

22 comments
So I've been seeing a number of tutorials for a partially painted or deconstructed nail look, and I was pretty puzzled. Since when did we start putting out tutorials on how to make your manicure look totally ruined? Turns out, a celebrity wore it in a magazine! Emma Watson, in November's Elle magazine, had her nails painted to look half-done. This is the look in question:

(Image Source)


Some bloggers have called it a 'reverse french manicure', but to me, it just kinda looks like a very badly executed Ruffian manicure. And from the Elle website, seems like a lot of work went into getting it to look like that. The nail artist first painted the areas near the cuticles, and then used an airbrushing tool to get the colour gradation, but left the middle part unpainted.

Since the photo above wasn't too adequate in showing the nail look, I tried getting screencaps of the behind-the-scenes video. Here's what I got. I couldn't get a bigger version...it just ended up looking blurry.


I'm scratching my head as to why an airbrushing tool, of all things, was needed to make your nails look like a 5 year old painted them halfway. Hey guys, I'm airbrushing my nails to make them look all messed up! LOL.

Anyway, based on the tutorials I've seen, the look can be recreated using variety of other, much simpler, methods (smudging the polish while wet, painting the whole nail and then removing the center, and basically other methods of destroying your mani, preferably while it's still wet).

Anyway, I can't say I'm a fan of the nail look, although I love Emma Watson (aww, come on, who doesn't?). To me, it doesn't look deconstructed or trendy, it just looks like a manicure worn for waaay too long. And for some reason, it looks really dirty, as though dirt collected in the cuticle area. Well, on the bright side, if I walk into work with chipped and disgusting nail polish and my boss complains about it, I'll just tell him that this is how we all wear our nail polish nowadays!

What do you think of this look? High fashion, or just sloppy? Let me know!

22 comments:

  1. I'm all for experimenting with rules and for rocky/grundgy look but this just looks as if she was digging in the dirt and didn't wash her hands afterwards...I think they could've achieved the look by simply polishing the whole nail and then taking a sponge, dip it in the acetone and start patting it on the middle of the nail and go outwards...

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  2. I think Emma Watson is adorable and I quite like the effect purely because its not one I've seen before. However, I don't think its a look I'll be rocking myself as it seems like a lot of effort!

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  3. I actually do like it, it is a bit edgy for me. And she's so cute, she can wear anything, really.

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  4. It looks imperfectly complete? Haha. You know? Not just sloppy. Don't think I'd try that myself tho. Coz I'm no Emma Watson.

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  5. Oh man, how sad is this that I think its actually kinda cute? I think its the color. Now if it was say a brown color, I'd think the had been play car mechanic for years before she interviewed but the purplish color with the light center looks kinda cute. You could probably paint a dark color all over then sponger the center and tip to get this look too...

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  6. I love editorial looks (be it makeup, hair or nails), so I really like this one. However, I don't think it's a look that translates well off the pages/runway.

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  7. im not keen on this at all...just looks messy, worse than chipped polish...

    tzeyien89.blogspot.com xxx

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  8. I think that if there was another colour in the middle like a blue or so it would look cute, but to me it just kinda looks awkward with the centre removed. But disregard all that merely because Emma Watson is the cutest. xD

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  9. I like them a lot! I'd actually wear my nails like that.

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  10. Err... idk wtf is going on with her fingers. I love her to bits, but it looks like all her finger nails are dying? - like when you jam your nail and you have to pull it off.. that's what it reminds me of T___T

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  11. xDD Okay so, High School me is immediately going into "Poser Alert!" mode. I used to wear my nail polish like this: back when I painted my nails black once every few weeks and wore 4inch platform demonia boots and black lipstick.

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  12. I'm going to have to agree with you and say nay here even though I love her
    www.saysskippy.blogspot.com

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  13. i don't think i'd sport this mani - it looked like indelible ink was poured onto it (like the ones you get after voting in the Philippines - http://cdn8.wn.com/pd/8a/ac/e4ec82c762d7152f1261e5da5bf1_grande.jpg)

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  14. i'm not really likeing it..
    might be cool for a photoshoot or somehitng, but definatly not something i would wear..

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  15. awww I don't like it at all... it doesn't make me even think of weirdly applied nailpolish, but simply "honey please go and wash your hands"... terrible!

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  16. Emma is adorable but those nails...I feel the need to grab a cotton ball, some polish remover and clean that mess!
    Sorry, I'm not that "trendy" :-p

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  17. For editorial, sure, but real life, no.

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  18. since emma is emma, she rocks the look. but i definitely don't want to see these nail pop up on everyone! Its a bit like the overly distressed jeans trend- pointless& very few can pull it off!

    http://canvasofculture.blogspot.com/

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  19. I personally love it- especially the color she's wearing in the screen caps! And to the people who think it looks like she was digging in dirt: I don't think you've ever actually dug around in dirt, or else you'd know what that looks like. Protip: Nothing like this!

    What this DOES remind me of is the state of nails as a dead body is decaying. Some people may be turned off by that, but let's keep in mind just how reminiscent of cadavers many trends are these days.

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  20. I agree with Dani, like the look in the magazine but don't think it would translate well in real life!

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