Perhaps it’s a reflection of the worldly unrest in 2025 or the burgeoning takeover of AI, but one thing is certain: Intentionally imperfect glamour is everything in 2026. At least, it is according to Pinterest Predicts’s 2026 trend report, which declared that glitchy glam is one of the top beauty predictions for this year by a long shot. The brand cites an increase as high as 270% in searches for avant-garde makeup, mismatched nails, and asymmetrical lobs as the driving force behind this trend. Users are no longer interested in being pared-back clean girls and have a sense of creative direction when it comes to aesthetics.
Though there is a large sector of the industry that claims that editorial beauty never went away, there was a palpable shift toward minimalism during the past few post–COVID-19 pandemic years—from milk nails to countless bob trends and glass skin recipes. Now, the modern Gen Z and millennial tastemaker is setting their sights on bold beauty: a manicure with different colors on each hand (maybe even each finger), messy-chic eyeliner, and two-toned lip combos that prioritize contrast over blend. There are so many ways to interpret this trend, but we’ve noticed the following ideas in practice, courtesy of cool people in the wild. As the trend report states, “so long, symmetry.”
Mismatched Nails
The search term “nails with different colors on each hand” saw a 125% increase on Pinterest in 2025, further dividing the minimalist and maximalist nail trends that soared on both sides of the style spectrum this past year. We beauty editors saw just as much action in the “sheer, barely there polish” realm as we did in the “loud, bold, heavily designed manicure” space (as seen in this mixed-polka-dot set by celebrity manicurist Queenie Nguyen), but the data shows that the latter will be more pronounced this year.
Dua Lipa’s manicurist Michelle Humphrey was one of the first to pinpoint this trend way back in October 2025 thanks to model Iris Law’s multicolored manicure. “It’s just a bit off,” she previously told Who What Wear. “Very cool, in my opinion.” If you want to take this trend up a notch, try going for a different design on each nail, like this cyberpunk set from manicurist Oksana Zavora.
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