Modern manicures are all about unrestricted creativity.
Almonds, coffins, and stiletto points provide unique shapes, while glazes and jellies add shine.
Surrealist embellishments have helped raise nail artists to celebrity status.
However, while a longer nail provides more surface area on which to be creative (allowing you to test-drive trends in their greatest form),
the next stage of mani evolution is poised to be, well, a little shorter.
The short nail is likely to be the season of the fall, and the transition has as much to do with usefulness as it does with fashion.
"I know people who can do everything with long nails, and then there are people like myself who can't function,"
says Betina Goldstein, a nail artist who paints her colorful decorations on her own natural nails.
I feel more comfortable going about my daily business with shorter nails."