It started on the Oscars red carpet earlier this year. Model after model, actress after actress, arriving with the same quietly dazzling manicure. Iridescent, light-shifting, unmistakably ‘pearl’. By June, nail artists near and far were reporting clients asking specifically for the glazed pearl chrome finish by name.
The beauty world, it turns out, has been taken by storm by a pearl manicure.
Why the pearl finish works
The appeal isn't arbitrary. The glazed pearl chrome finish does what it does because it is, in effect, replicating something that pearls have always done naturally.
"The pearl finish emulates the beauty of pearls," says Chrissie Douglas of Coleman Douglas Pearls. "The glow on a pearl will look the same as the glow on your own skin. So, when people say 'gosh, you're glowing today', it's not a misnomer at all. It is the fact that your eye is picking up the refraction of light."
The science behind it is more interesting than most beauty trends. Human skin and pearl nacre share a structural quality: both refract light rather than simply reflecting it. "When light goes through all the various layers in our skin, it is refracted, and then as it is reflected back onto the beholder, it is refracted a second time. That's exactly what happens with the many, many layers of nacre on a real pearl."
Nacre (the material that gives a pearl its lustre) is made of microscopic calcium carbonate blocks held together by a protein called conchilin. It’s this layered structure that produces the soft, diffused glow that the beauty world is now spending considerable effort trying to replicate on fingernails.
Related: The Rise of Pearl Lips and the Enduring Power of Pearl Jewellery
From the nail to the neckline
The logical next step, as Chrissie sees it, is straightforward.
"Go from mother-of-pearl nails to neckline this season." If the finish you're drawn to on your fingertips is the glow of pearl, the most direct way to wear that glow is with the real thing.
"If you're feeling tired, the best thing to do is grab your cultured or natural pearls. Put them on as earrings and a necklace if possible and they will help you to glow better. At worst case, just go for the earrings, because they'll be nearest your skin and your eyes,"
The pearl earring closest to the face does exactly what the glazed manicure is trying to do from the fingertips. It catches light, diffuses it softly, and sends it back in a way that makes the skin beside it look better. The difference is that no nail appointment is required.
Finding your pearl glow
The pearl that produces this effect most powerfully is the one matched correctly to your complexion – the right colour, the right lustre, the right size for your face. That is the matching Chrissie has been doing for over thirty years at Coleman Douglas Pearls.
To find the pearl that makes you glow, book a personal consultation with Chrissie at Coleman Douglas Pearls.
