Following Victoria Beckham's example might just lead to the perfect proposal look, as her manicure style garnered significant attention following the release of Netflix’s Beckham documentary.
Social media analysis by beauty platform Fresha, revealed that the ideal engagement nails sport a nude polish and a square shape, echoing Victoria's iconic 1998 engagement manicure which she revealed when announcing her engagement to David Beckham in a series of photos almost two decades ago.
Victoria Beckham's engagement manicure, a natural-looking French tip on a squared shape, perfectly exemplified the preference for a neutral aesthetic. Google Trends indicated a staggering 2,750% increase in searches for 'Victoria Beckham engagement rings' after news surfaced about her 15-ring strong collection. Her demure manicure kept her ring as the focal point, as her first one was a three-carat marquise-cut diamond on a plain yellow gold band.
The founder of Fresha, believes a natural and neutral base can help make your proposal pictures pop, “The main benefit of selecting a nude or light nail colour when you suspect you’re getting engaged is that it means there are no brash colours or designs to distract from your ring - which should be the main event…. other autumnal colours like burgundy, red, and black will still look great - but they might steal some attention if your ring is silver.” Earlier this year Sofia Richie garnered praise for her ultra-demure quiet luxury wedding manicure which featured a soft square shape and natural polish.
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The analysis studied over 500 posts tagged #proposal and #engagement on platforms Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest and disclosed that a classic nude base and a square nail shape without any embellishments are the go-to choices for many. French tips were also popular, featuring in 25% of posts, while milky white made up 15% of the preferred engagement nail styles. There was also a huge discrepancy in nail shape across the social media uploads, with the majority of posts showing mid-length square nails (26%) and then pointed (15%), while the least popular shape was coffin (2%).
According to Fresha, the shape is equally important as the colour, “If you want your ring to be the focus in your proposal pics, you may want to swap out a more attention-grabbing style, like stiletto or pointed, for something softer, like a shorter square or rounded shape - which will look even better when paired with a nude polish.”
For those of you not on board with the ‘quiet luxury’ look, and prefer a fresher approach, analysis reveals that the best way to do so is to make your French manicure or nude nails chrome or 'glazed'. This modern hue appeared in 25% of uploads posted over the last year.
“The main benefit of making your manicure chrome is that it’s an easy way to add some personality and to bring it up to current fashion without completely changing the neutral and demure vibes you started with,” explains Fresha, “All adding chrome to a nude or white manicure does is add some sheen and reflection without making the base colour unrecognisable - meaning you get the best of both worlds.”