cynthia rowley’s spring presentation was a festive one. “i wanted it to look like my girls came decorated (the set) themselves.” it was a cheerful collection, more elegantly festive than the diy decorations; it was playful, yet not irreverently so.

manicurist casey herman, for essie, put together the nail look, which she said was based on the girls themselves. she used three different base colors and two different topcoats. of the look she created, she said, “the nails are a little bit rock … i want to say that maybe she’s a girl who hangs out with kesha?”

to get the look, use licorice, midnight cami, and for the twill of it in alternating colors, however you want. add the luxe effects topcoat in either set in stones or stroke of brilliance. the key to this manicure is its randomness. the nails shouldn’t match. play around with different patterns on each hand; the messier the better.

the set of the presentation:

the beauty look:

detail of one of the variations of the nails:

my favorites from the collection:

images via modelnailfiles, style, elle, stylebistro