Dua Lipa’s Black Aura Nails Are the Coolest Spring Mani

What color is your aura? Last I checked (like literally sat down with an aura camera, shoutout my psychic Bobby) mine is blue—just like Dua Lipa’s. And yes, that’s a brag.

On Tuesday, April 23, the “Training Season” singer was spotted leaving Electric Lady Studios in New York City. While her location is intriguing (is she putting finishing touches on her Radical Optimism album? Or maybe working on something else?) I’m more concerned with her new manicure. On each and every nail, Lipa is rocking a trendy blue and black aura manicure design.

Inspired by the hazy look of energy-capturing photography, an aura manicure typically features orbs of color in the center of the nail. These orbs blend ever so softly with the base color, so it looks like they’re coming out of nowhere, just pure balls of energy that happened to find themselves on your thumb.

Less innovative than it is calming, Lipa’s look was crafted on short, oval-shaped nails. A huge trend in 2022, aura nails have stuck around—they were even predicted to be one of Spring 2024’s biggest nail art trends earlier this year. If you’re sitting down with a professional nail tech, the style is typically created with an airbrush—which isn’t to say it’s not possible at home.

Nail artist Angie Bonilla previously told Byrdie that you can also use a few drops of gel polish and mix it with acetone to get the look. “My usual ratio is three drops of gel and four of acetone,” she shared. As for color schemes, a neutral background and stand-out center shade works best.

When considering colors, bold is almost always better, according to the artist. “Personally, I think the best pairings are the colors you really wouldn’t expect to go together,” Bonilla said. “I’ve done blue and orange, and also brown and pink and they look so good!”

Lipa finished out her look with a gray denim jacket, silver Gucci Horsebit Chain bag, and blue-lensed glasses that played into the shades of her mani. Ad-aura-ble.