When You Gaze Into the Eyeball Pedicure, the Eyeball Pedicure Gazes Back

My Instagram explore page is almost always full of intricate beauty looks: think manicures with 3D charms, bold avant-garde eye makeup, and intricate braided hairstyles. Often, I’ll stumble upon a look that’s equal parts imaginative, impressive, and flat-out weird — for example, folks using makeup to transform themselves into mythical television characters are as beautiful as they are terrifying. Most recently, though, my own eyes zeroed in on something so creepy it made me do a triple-take.

When I first saw these scary-ass eyes appear on my feed, I was shocked when I realized that they were actually just a pedicure — an original design that took California-based nail artist Tahvya Krok three hours to complete. The first photo in Krok’s Instagram carousel spotlights the big toes, adorned with one eye each: one with a hazel iris, and the other light blue. These eyes look incredibly lifelike — at a closer glance, you can see all the faint strokes in each iris surrounding the pitch-black pupils. The eyelids are also raised to jut out further than the rounded eyeballs themselves, making for a more realistic effect. 

After swiping, I realized all ten toes were decorated with their own little eyeballs, each even creepier than the last. Krok tells Allure that she drew inspiration from one of her previous sets to create this pedicure for client Benny Blanco. The duo usually tends to lean toward kooky nail art when they collaborate, which is something Krok loves.