Princess Charlotte is already starting style trends at age 11, with her adorable Ted Baker charm bracelet selling out soon after her appearance at the Wimbledon men’s finals on July 12. The tween princess took after her mom at the tennis championships, wearing a custom Jenny Packham dress that channeled the outfit Princess Kate wore to last year’s men’s finals. She matched with her mom in another way too, as both royals sported this summer’s biggest nail trend.
Princess Charlotte wore bright pink nail polish to Wimbledon last year, but she traded her bubblegum style for a bare manicure at the 2026 men’s finals, coordinating with Kate in clear polish.
The Princess of Wales has always favored short, bare nails or the softest hint of polish, and it seems she has started a bit of a movement in the beauty world.
What the “rich bare nail” trend looks like
This year, more people, including Princess Charlotte, are moving away from bright colors and elaborate designs toward what some are calling the “rich bare nail” trend. Think sheer, clear or no polish at all, paired with neat, shorter nails.
Marie Claire’s beauty director, Hannah Baxter, explained the thinking behind it. From a cultural perspective, she noted, the sheer prevalence of standing nail appointments has shifted the scarcity mindset around luxury, tipping heavily manicured nails into the passé category while bare or barely there nails are crowned the ultimate luxury.
A bare manicure still takes work
Even if it might seem like the royals do nothing to their nails, pulling off a bare manicure still takes effort, as nail artist Jessica White previously told Marie Claire. The reality, she said, is that a clean manicure is still a manicure. Keeping up with filing, trimming, buffing and the like, whether at home or at the salon, is essential to achieving Kate and Charlotte’s polished-but-bare look.
A long-standing royal preference
For the royals, though, this is hardly a passing trend. Princess Kate was showing off the clean look long before it became fashionable, and Queen Elizabeth’s hatmaker, Stella McLaren, recently shared that the late Queen never polished her nails. The Princess of Wales has made the occasional exception, such as Easter Sunday 2023, when she arrived at church with a vivid red manicure.
As for Charlotte’s nails, fans likely will not see her again in public until Christmas, but perhaps she will buck tradition and go with a festive red, or even reindeer nails like Princess Eugenie.
