These Abstract Manicures Are Giving Me the Best Type of Chills

Macmillan has been a manicurist for only five years, but she learned how to make a big impact on a small scale as a model maker designing miniatures for museums and window displays, such as a tiny chair made to showcase a Tiffany & Co. diamond ring. “It helped me understand how different materials work and the science of things,” says Macmillan.

And a brief stint as a chef “really helped me with runway [shows] because you have to be good at quality control and things have to look shit hot as soon as they go out.”

Backstage, the London-based artist has glued BB pellets onto the underside of Bella Hadid’s nails at Mugler (above) and extended Dries Van Noten’s spring bead motif onto nails…and hands…and arms…and feet…in a kind of high- fashion camouflage. “You couldn’t tell where the skin started and the jewelry ended,” she says.

Her creativity may seem endless — but it’s not effortless. “You have to keep doing a lot of research. Ideas don’t just come out of thin air, generally,” says Macmillan, who is inspired by
art (like Chinese brush painting) and everyday interactions (a stranger’s acrylics clicking against a vase at a flea market). “I look at what people do with their hands, how they interact with something. Hands are the telltale version of ourselves, showing how we actually feel.”

This story originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Allure. Learn how to subscribe here.

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