If you drank sparkling cider from your grandmother’s fluted glasses when you were a kid, you know why we’re so obsessed with our latest manicure. Ribbed-glass nails have thin raised lines painted close together in a vertical pattern The straight lines and light-catching dimension give the nails a vintage look that whispers old money. Elle Gerstein, a nail artist in New York City, says, “It’s heirloom energy reimagined.”
March 2026 Allure Beauty Box
Experts said that touchable texture and stripes would be two of the biggest trends in 2026. This look combines the two in a neat way When we asked nail experts what would shape the next year, almost all of them said that raised dimensional finishes would be the next big thing in nail art. Ribbed glass may be one of the most elegant examples of that prediction.
Ribbed-glass nails are already all over our feeds, and they were also on the runway at New York Fashion Week. For the Sergio Hudson show, nail artist Christina Duong made a black-and-gold metallic ribbed manicure that looked like the collection’s sharp pinstripes.
Nails with metallic ribs
This style is just starting to catch on in the US, but textured-gel designs have been very popular in South Korea Textured gel is all the rage right now. Minseo Kang, a nail artist in Seoul, told Allure before that it works great as an accent and has a polished expressive finish.
Getting the ribbed-glass look is surprisingly easy. Leslie Morel, a nail artist in Bergen County, New Jersey, says, “Use a cat-eye polish as your base and then cure.” “Put a matte topcoat on your base and let it dry for 60 seconds.” Morel likes to paint the lines with a clear, glossy topcoat and a thin nail brush. “The trick is to draw the lines as close together as possible without overlapping or connecting them.”
Artists in Seoul often use special tools to get the texture just right. To make very precise ridges that feel both architectural and delicate, many people use a small flat brush with bristles that are thicker at the base and finer at the tips, almost like a wide-tooth comb.
Gianni Garcia, a nail artist and creative director at Art Nail NYC, likes to use spider gel to make clear, raised lines. After dipping a dotting tool into the thick, stretchy formula, she lifts and stretches the gel, like a very thin cheese pull, to make perfectly straight strands across the nail. After putting the ribbed pattern on a solid base, cure it and seal it with a topcoat This makes the process faster and easier,” Garcia says.
The internet’s favorite version of the ribbed-glass nail look is glossy stripes over a cat-eye base. The design is very easy to change. You can choose between glossy ribs over matte polish, matte stripes over a high-shine base, or cat-eye lines on top of velvet shimmer. The way the texture and finish work together gives the look its depth.
Are you ready to give this manicure that looks expensive a try? The ribbed-glass designs that made us double-tap are coming up.
