Imagine: You just left the nail salon, J.Lo’s first single is playing on every radio, pastel blue shadows adorn every eye, ultra-thin eyebrows are the norm, and either your mini-skirt is mini-ing or your jeans are riding low. It is, of course, the ’90s baby!
Fashion and beauty have long been obsessed with the decade on the other side of the millennium. And it feels like now—with nostalgia at its peak—is the perfect time to reflect on nail trends that really defined the ’90s. In the realms of ’90s Hollywood, the likes of Jennifer Aniston wore fiery reds or dark purples that matched her mini-dresses, while supermodels like Naomi Campbell bet on nails in chocolate brown shades, and Claudia Schiffer had a penchant for pastel. If you’re looking for lighter and even more minimalist designs, you’ll find inspiration in vintage pics of Alicia Silverstone, a very small Lindsay Lohan, and Courteney Cox. All of them opted for white nail polishes and the classic, now very viral French.
Below, find the best of the trending, minimalist ’90s nails to see you through summer into fall, and the pictures to show your nail artist.
Pastel blue nails
Photo: Getty Images
Before “blueberry milk nails” there was a particular shade of sky blue nails dominated the ’90s (ah, Hard Candy Sky, I miss you). This type of malty, shaded polish came back into style thanks to TikTok recently, but Alicia Silverstone was a total devotee all the way through the 1990s. The light blue polish is cute and matchy-matchy when worn by the Clueless star way back when.
