Hailey Bieber’s Nail Artist Spills Her Top 5 Manicure Tips

If you want to want to know what's trendy in nail art, you should follow Zola Ganzorigt (@nailsbyzola). I was first introduced to Ganzorigt via her most famous client, Hailey Bieber.

When I asked Bieber about her nails during an interview last year, she mentioned Ganzorigt right away. "I do one thin layer of a colour and then I rub chrome dust over it — well, my nail artist Zola does," Bieber explained in an interview over the summer. Since then, Ganzorigt and Bieber have been churning out viral nail trends left, right, and centre, from glazed doughnut nails (pearlescent chrome) to the iterative chocolate glazed nails (brown chrome), to candy cane nails (red French tips).

Here, Ganzorigt answers our most pressing questions about the big nail trends for 2023, her favourite nail polishes of all time, plus her newest creation: a press-on glazed doughnut manicure.

Bieber has a signature nail shape that she and Ganzorigt agree on: the almond tip. Ganzorigt says the elongated oval shape — which vaguely resembles the contours of an almond — continue to be popular in 2023, especially amongst people looking to keep their nails natural. "I think [the] almond shape will still be the most popular because it’s the most durable shape for natural nails," explains Ganzorigt.

Of course, almond nails are nothing new — they were actually super popular in the '50s — but one reason the shape is especially popular at the moment: it looks really good with high-shine polish, like chrome.

When building a nail polish collection, you might be wondering what exact nail polish someone like Ganzorigt is using on celebs like Bieber. Turns out, her kit is almost exclusively OPI brand polishes, specifically the most classic shades that are foolproof. What you need is a good neutral, black or brown, and red.

"My favourite neutral nail polishes are OPI Bubble Bath (sheer pink), OPI Put It In Neutral (cream pink), and OPI Bare My Soul (sheer brown-toned pink)," she says. "Then the other nail polish colours I reach for the most would probably be black, red, [and] brown: Black Onyx, Lincoln Park After Dark, Big Apple Red, Cliffside Karaoke, and Malaga Wine are my go-to colours for winter."

While Ganzorigt predicts that both chrome and velvet nails will continue to trend this year, she says that we may also see a move towards more minimalist designs. "In my opinion, chrome and velvet nails will still be popular, but minimalist nail designs will also continue to be a strong trend in 2023," says Ganzorigt.

An example of minimalist art is this manicure on Kylie Jenner that Ganzorigt coined as, 'Vanilla French' nails (not to be confused with the 'Vanilla Girl' aesthetic), people also call it this an 'American manicure.'

With a few good polishes, you can mix and layer, too. "It’s really fun to mix colours and create a new shade," says Ganzorigt. For example, the 'Vanilla French' manicure above was created by mixing OPI Put It In Neutral with Funny Bunny. "This technique is especially helpful when it comes to finding a neutral shade that compliments a skin tone. I tend to mix colours a lot when working with my clients because everyone is different and one shade doesn’t work for all."

This might require some experimentation, but once you find a combo you like, you have a custom manicure you can keep coming back to.

Whether you're looking to save money, Ganzorigt recommends doing your nails at home using her own creation, an alternative to press-ons that apply more like stickers and wear like a gel polish: Dashing Diva's Semi-Cured Nail Strips.

"Personally, I really like Dashing Diva Glaze Semi-Cured Gel Nail Strips as a more budget-friendly solution to getting gel nails in salon," says Ganzorigt. She recently collaborated with the brand to design 'Glazed Donut' press-on strips that cure under an LED light. "The nail strips are really easy to apply and don’t require the very manual 4-layer polish process or the chrome powder," Ganzorigt explains of the DIY application process. "The one-layer nail strip is basically a sticker that is made from real gel that hardens when you cure it under an LED light" (which you can buy with your gel strips).

The Glazed Donut collection is a full chrome colour spectrum, from classic white and pink to emerald green. Though Ganzorigt says her favourite is still the Chocolate Glazed. Not a moot point in this economy: they're $16 a pack.