This Week in Nails: Matte Finishes, New Shades & Petrol Blue
What’s Hot & What’s Next · 9 October 2026
Covering 2–8 October 2026
Soft matte finishes, six new shades and a deep blue worth watching. Four stories from the world of nails.
What makes a manicure feel new: its colour, its finish, or the idea behind it? This week’s stories offer a little of each, from the Paris catwalks to an international nail competition in London.
On the runway · 2 October
The quiet appeal of a matte manicure
At Victoria Beckham’s Spring/Summer 2027 show in Paris, OPI’s nail team paired sheer neutral colours with a soft matte finish. The palette included Passion, Put It In Neutral and Baby, Take a Vow, with shades selected to complement each model’s skin tone.
The detail that caught our attention is the finish. A muted surface gives familiar pinks and neutrals a different character, with the colour appearing softer and less reflective. It is an understated direction from the spring collections, and an example of how a small styling decision can change the whole impression of a manicure.
Reported by Retail Times: OPI at Victoria Beckham’s show, 6 October. Also covered in Scratch’s Paris runway report, 7 October.
New this week · 5 October launch
Six sweet additions to Halo’s colour palette
Halo has added six shades to its professional EasiBuild builder-gel range: Biscotti, Peach Sorbet, Bonbon, Tarte, Nougat and Whipped Cream. The launch was announced for 5 October, and the new shades are listed on the brand’s UK website.
The selection spans creamy neutrals, peach and pink. For readers following product design, it is a useful glimpse of how brands are expanding the colour choices within builder-gel systems. These are products intended for nail professionals; the coverage here concerns the launch and colour range, rather than a hands-on product review.
Launch date: Beauty & Hairdressing announcement (sponsored brand article, published 1 October). Range details: Pure Nails’ official product listing.
Industry news · Results announced 6 October
London puts nail artistry in the spotlight
Nailympia London welcomed 185 competitors from 40 countries, with 22 online and arena categories. Italy’s Francesca Paliotto was named the eighth Global Cup champion, recognising results across the competition’s international circuit.
The event offers a view of nails as a creative discipline: precision, sculpting and miniature artwork all have a place. For anyone curious about what nail artists can achieve beyond an everyday manicure, the organiser’s event gallery is an absorbing place to explore.
Source: Nailympia’s official London results and gallery link, 6 October.
Colour watch · An emerging forecast
Could petrol blue be next?
Who What Wear’s deputy beauty editor Grace Lindsay highlighted petrol blue on 3 October as a shade she expects to gain attention. Sitting between deep blue, teal and grey, it brings a cooler note to an autumn palette.
This is a prediction to follow. Lindsay also noted that the manicure had yet to take over her social feed, so it would be premature to call it the season’s dominant colour. Its appeal, to our eye, is the balance of depth and softness: a dark shade with more nuance than it first suggests.
Source: Who What Wear’s petrol blue forecast, 3 October.
On the horizon
Nailympia has announced Sicily for 28–30 November, opening its next competition season. Another date for followers of nail artistry to keep on their radar. Organiser’s announcement.
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