Adele Traded In Her Usual French Tips For The Viral Velvet Nails Craze

She likes to shake things up for award shows and nights out with her husband, but on-stage, Adele generally prefers to stick to her aesthetic favorites. Maybe it’s so she can concentrate on delivering those powerhouse vocals and riffing with the crowd, but you can almost always find the superstar dressed in a black gown, with sleek cat-eye liner, and her beloved French tips nails. In the weeks-long break between her latest run of Las Vegas residency shows and her block of concerts in Munich, Germany, though, she seems to have had a slight change of heart. Adele’s velvet nails, a trippy, textured manicure style that’s been quietly trending for awhile now, made their headlining debut, alongside a marbled, midnight-blue dress. The combination is only a few steps outside of the singer’s wheelhouse, but it’s a significant enough shake-up to really excite fans.

Even the brief summer hiatus between her Vegas residency series and her Munich shows left an Adele-shaped void for her dedicated followers, so she made sure to make her grand return as unforgettable as possible. Her swirling, patterned Dior dress featured a deep blue design on top, with a putty-pink underside that peeked out as she moved across the stage. To complement the — very fall-friendly — color palette, Adele opted for a neutral pink-nude manicure with a velvet-ized texture. It’s a trippy technique that looks complicated, but it’s actually a pretty easy one to recreate.

Celebrity nail artist Michelle Humphrey created the optical illusion design for Adele, starting first with the long, almond-shaped extensions the singer always wears. The velvet look is especially cool because while it looks truly fuzzy to the touch, it’s actually smooth and glossy. The textured effect is thanks to metal-infused nail polish, which is activated when a magnet is dragged across the top. Sometimes, this style is referred to as a “cat-eye nail.”

Of course, velvet is always a top texture for fall, found incorporated into bags, pants, and now, manicures. Summer might have a few more weeks left, but it’s been so hot that many people — celebrities included — are looking ahead to autumn. It’s been so hot, who can blame someone for jumping the aesthetic gun?