Super bad nail artist Sophy Robson via her new Tumbler, Sosoflynails, natch, has been observing and commenting on the NYFW nail art scene and these “Lucite” nail from Joy Cioci’s show were the first to impress her. However, judging from this quote…

“Wow finally an interesting look at #NYFW! …..designer Joy Cioci showed some love to nail art by showing clear lucite tips covered in white lace. Not bad but lets see what London has to offer next week.”

….we get the feeling she thinks London Fashion Week is going to throw down all over NYFW where nail art is concerned. In which case…it’s on London! We’ll be watching to see what you all bring to the table. No pressure, ladies! ; )

We caught this lovely lass on the way out of the Surface To Air store-opening party in SoHo last week. She was serving up free (and delicious) ice cream from a truck brought in for the event. Check out her nail game!

Me and SGP were cracking ourselves up after, trying to guess her ethnicity and agreeing that the standard formula for white chicks in NYC with flavor is to conclude they’re Russian. She’s slick, wears gold, has edgy style….Russian! Meanwhile, she’s probably straight from Iowa with a family line that goes back to the Mayflower.

One more look on the next page.

We’ve been hit with another case of serious Nail Envy when we gazed upon the nails at the Norman Ambrose show that took place in New York this week. Take another look on the flip via CDN.

Just like his presentation Diego Binetti’s Spring 2012 featured a statement-making   “Harlequin and Hardware” design by CDN’s Candice Manachio. A look that’s giving us nail envy for sure. See more images on the next page.

Some major nail art love for this look by Wanda Ruiz for Jen Kao. Titled “Lethal Love” the bold color gradation  is show stopping and has us fiending:

The technique used  was airbrush diffused, gradation manicures that attract the eye with bold shades, but like a poisonous frog, have dangerous undertones. These four uniquely artful manicures were shaded using an airbrush tool, but can be re-created at home using CND Colours in Midnight Sapphire, Anchor Blue, Rouge Red, and Green Scene each combined with Inkwell and topped with Air Dry Top Coat while wet for an ombre finish. Via CDN.

More on the flip.

We mentioned London’s Degree Art Gallery “Nailphilia” exhibit last week, and we see (with great envy!) that Susie Bubble was able to make a visit. Above is a creation by Laruicci (who worked on Beyonce’s nails for her “Run The World” video) that Bubble snapped while there, among a bunch others you can view here.

On a sort of side note, Bubble shows some photos on display from the exhibit, and mentions how the art form has blown up beyond “ghetto” nail salons. I would be shocked if Bubble meant anything negative by the word ghetto and my guess is she was trying to say it’s gone from being a trend sported by a narrow demographic to one embraced worldwide. But for Americans (which Bubble isn’t) the word does have negative connotations, which speak to a phenomenom Samia was alluding to the other day. How expressions of creativity like nail art, one like many that was born, grown and continues to be nurtured in predominantly black city neighborhoods, are dismissed and even mocked until they are embraced by outside cultures. We like to think nail art is nail art and it looks as eye-popping and amazing on the 16-year old in Flatbush, Brooklyn, as the runway model in Paris. And there is no ghetto style…just forms of creativity that have yet to be interpreted and co-opted by the masses.

Maki, THE woman as far I’m concerned when it comes to nail art, was away for some months so I essentially spent the summer wandering from salon to salon like a lost child in the desert trying to cobble together decent nail art stories. On this page you’re seeeing her latest work, a “feather” mani which, yes, is highlighted by an embedded feather on five nails plus stone work. It’s kind of elegant, no? Yet still decadent, which…..heart all a flutter–you know how when you first get a mani and can’t stop looking at it and you never want it to fade or go away? I’m so there.  

If you’re in NYC and want to get your nails Done for Fashion Week, click after the flip for her email

Walking around various neighborhoods and boroughs in New York like Queens, Harlem or Brooklyn, you realize that women’s passion for a tight  manicure is an old story. While nail art and nail extensions  to some extent were  relegated to stereotypes like Sheneneh in bigger cities, designed manicures crossed continents and  were recognized as edgy … Needless to say the  upcoming Degree Art “First Official Nail Art Exhibit“ makes us happy (high five to the UK) . More details here.

The simplest things can just be too fierce for words, via Bleachblack.

Totally just for fun as a testament that nail art, truly is an art.Via Algae Veronica, full view on the flip.