Milk nails in all their completely different guises dominated our feeds in 2025, whether or not you opted for straight-up milk tub nails or the BB cream iteration. Now ‘cloudy French’ nails, additionally typically referred to as ‘foggy French nails’, are getting into the highlight as the brand new successor to the nude nail crown – they usually’ve already been given the cool-girl stamp of approval.
Superstar manicurist Betina Goldstein debuted the look on Zoë Kravitz on the Golden Globes final week, describing her enviously shiny manicure as “smooth pure nails with a contact of cloudy French” in an Instagram publish.
Now I am recognizing the look in every single place, particularly on associates and fellow magnificence editors who’re giving their nails a break from gels however nonetheless need “just a little one thing” to make their ideas look neat and polished.
So what precisely are ‘cloudy French’ nails?
Because the title implies, it is a twist on the standard French manicure and faucets into Pantone’s color of the yr: Cloud Dancer. However – because the close-up of Zoë’s manicure reveals – relatively than a pastel pink base paired with a stark white tip, the ‘cloudy French’ manicure has given this iconic impartial nail a sheer, hazy high quality.
Consider it as a smooth French: an almost naked nail and an off-white, virtually bare tip the distinct color of clouds on a misty January day. ‘Cloudy French nails’ are just like the 2026 tackle the Vanilla French mani that Hailey Bieber popularised three years in the past, and, like milk nails, the impact is simply as elegant with an elongated nail mattress.
The truth that the color on the tip is, properly, off, might seem to be a small element however it’s really the important thing to creating the ‘cloudy French’ manicure look likethe conventional French mani’s cool, surprising, barely rebellious cousin.
@betina_goldstein/Instagram
get the ‘cloudy French’ nail look
In her publish, Betina broke down precisely how she created her ‘cloudy French’ nail look, utilizing all The Gel Bottle merchandise. After making use of the 2-in-1 base coat, she added a “skinny coat” of Chiffon BIAB and an equally skinny coat of Milky BIAB “Simply on the guidelines of the nails to paint right”. A single coat of the Excessive Shine Prime Coat completed the look.
