'Nail Corsets' Are Just One Of The Euphoria Manicure Outtakes You Need To See

If you don’t quite know what to do with your Sunday nights now that Euphoria wrapped up its record-breaking second season, you’re not alone. The abrupt end of absurd-yet-hilarious Alexa Demie memes or a glitter-covered Hunter-Schafer-as-Jules outfits ‘til 2024 is bleak — not to mention all the seemingly-important storylines left unfinished or untouched. In the wild world of Euphoria, aesthetics are a gifts that keep on giving. Long after an episode airs, fans speculate over a hidden eyeliner meaning, the significance of a particular Euphoria character’s nails, the rational behind a dress in a pivotal scene. It keeps us going week to week, but to survive until the next season, it’s time to dig deeper into Euphoria’s aesthetic lore — fortunately, the creatives who actually work on the show couldn't agree more.

On TikTok, the Euphoria nail artist is taking viewers behind the scenes for an up-close-and-personal look not just at the elaborate acrylic sets actually worn on-screen, but also at the intricate designs that never made the cut — and, unsurprisingly, even those nail outtakes are impossibly cool, meticulously crafted, and infused with an entire movie’s worth of meaning, backstory, and intention. The nails you saw in the show are undeniably incredible, but the ones you didn’t see might be even better.

The first thing these behind-the-scenes glimpses do is drive home just how much forethought and detail every creative on the show puts into their particular speciality — even more minor characters have complete biographies (even if unknown to the audience) and exhibit subtle quirks or characteristics that hint at their overall personality. For example, in one TikTok all about Chloe Cherry’s fan-favorite character Faye, Natalie Minerva, the show’s nail artist, takes viewers on a tour through Faye’s unused nail sets. “These Christmas ones,” Minerva explains to trend expert Cat Quinn, pointing at a candy cane-striped set, “we thought that she would wear them on New Year’s because obviously she would’t get her nails done in time for New Year’s because she’s...consumed with other things. We were going to mess them up and burn them because she’s a little chaotic,” she laughs.

Meanwhile, the unused nail sets for Alexa Demie’s Maddy and Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie are perfect reflections of their feminine, trendy predilictions — while Maddy’s skew bold and confident, Cassie’s are overtly cutesy. Many of Cassie’s sets feature a baby blue color with some sort of cheerful detail, like a heart or a sunflower. It’s also worth noting that Cassie’s styles are almost exclusively almond-shaped as opposed to a squared-off or coffin-shaped tip which really tracks when you think about it. Minerva shares that many of the designs she’s showcasing were first go-round ideas dreamed up before makeup or costumes were even chosen, meant to be pure reflections of the characters’ personalities and tastes.

Maddy’s nail sets are, unsurprisingly, the most versatile of the bunch. As her friend group’s fiery, unwaveringly loyal leader, her nails reflect her experimental fashion and beauty sense with a combination of shapes, lengths, colors, and designs. One gold-tipped French manicure set spells out M-A-D-D-Y in a gold foil Old English font, while another feature what Minerva has coined as “nail corsets” or stripes of color anchored by a single, gleaming jewel.

Though Barbie Ferreira’s Kat didn’t rank quite as much screentime this season as last, her potential nail wardrobes are just as stuffed with wildly cool and detailed designs similarly in-tune with their distinct personalities and tastes. Kat’s are filled with bright, swirling colors and prints, including a neon tie-dye look and some green-and-black zebra prints.

It’s not quite the same as a fresh episode, but Minerva’s work might just be the next best thing. Consideirng just how much is set to change trendwise between now and the next season’s debut, it’s anyone’s guess what she and the other brilliant on-set designers come up with next.