Polished digits are a must to complete any red-carpet look, and celebrity manicurist Michelle Saunders knows how to whip up beautiful creations thanks to her love of color and attention to detail. She’s worked on a lengthy list of Tinseltown’s elite, including long-time client Kate Beckinsale as well as Taylor Schilling and Taraji P. Henson. Here, Saunders handpicks her favorite designs she’s created for the red carpet.
“A soft, feminine, subtle pink is always a perfect option for the red carpet. Here we matched the polish to Saoirse Ronan’s custom Calvin Klein gown. You can easily recreate this look with the new Essie rose-quartz pink shade, Wire-less is More, from the Serene Slate collection.”
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“Mandy Moore is always happy to add a fun flair to a classic manicure. We lined the cuticle area with gold glitter over a base of sheer pink. This is my favorite red-carpet manicure look so far and I’m happy we used Essie’s newest Concrete Glitters collection!”
“Because Taylor Schilling wore a suit we wanted to echo the sleek and elegant silhouette with a dramatic polish, so we went for a garnet red.”
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“Kate Beckinsale has been my client for a long time, so we’ve had a lot of red carpets together. I can almost guarantee Kate will do a fun nail. Here, I used black as the base color and foiled silver on top to match the metallic lace in her dress.”
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“Many of my clients not only walk the red carpet but also perform during the presentation. In this case we had about a half hour to do a quick change from Pink’s red- carpet look (an opaque nude nail) to simple nail art using stripes on a few of her nails.”
"Usually it's the dress that solidifies the nail look, and that was the case with Taraji P. Henson! We did a long ballet slipper nail shape in an opaque creamy pink.”
[Images: Courtesy of Michelle Saunders for Essie; Getty Images]
