Clare McCarthy, a school pupil and babysitter in Bay Village, Ohio, was at Target purchasing with certainly one of her 9 year-old fees, who begged her to purchase one thing particular for her first day of fifth grade: A set of Olive & June press-on nails, bubblegum pink and printed with magenta hearts.
Press-ons, the colloquial time period for short-term acrylic nails glued on at house (versus utilized at a salon), have been invented within the Nineteen Fifties and in mass manufacturing by the Eighties, after they grew to become equipment for girls who needed to challenge femme energy. More just lately, they’ve grow to be coveted amongst youthful and youthful cohorts, not simply school or highschool college students however these simply coming into grade faculty.
(“All my friends wear them,” the 9 year-old informed her babysitter.)
This obsession, rising among the many ungrown, helped encourage Olive & June’s newest assortment: Pressies, launched in November, are meant for teenagers and tweens who’re “passionate about nails,” in response to promotional copy. It’s not alone: drugstore mainstay Sally Hansen and Millennial-chic salon Chillhouse launched youth-focussed press-ons, and new challenger Glamnetic launched Digi Days, its press-on line for Gen Alpha.
Olive & June debuted their press-on enterprise in 2021. According to chief working officer Sarah Leech Aucutt, the label is the quantity two model at retail, yielding solely to incumbent Kiss, who has been within the enterprise since 1989.
The magnificence entrepreneur Tony Tjan, who based the nail salon chain Miniluxe, additionally believes that press-ons are the longer term — and that in 10 or 20 years, “wet” polish might go the way in which of the butter churn. “They will steal share from across categories of nail use, while also growing the market,” he defined. In 2026, the worldwide nail market might be valued at $6.7 billion {dollars}, in response to Euromonitor, with nail polish contributing $5 billion, adopted by remedies and removers ($1.2 billion) and instruments, together with press-ons ($200 million).
“Nail products have experienced a turbulent few years,” defined Emilie Hood, a advisor at Euromonitor. Tools for at-home manicures boomed throughout pandemic lockdowns however cooled as salons reopened; now, press- or stick-on nails are seeing “strong growth” thanks to higher know-how. Miniluxe has lengthy bought press-ons, however this yr launched a couture expertise the place clients can design their very own reusable set of nails with an expert artist in a salon and apply them at house in perpetuity.
New engineering could also be inspiring the press-on growth, however it’s Gen Alpha who’re driving demand. Searches for youths’ press-ons are up 17 p.c this yr on Google, TikTok and Instagram, in response to analytics agency Spate.
Kids and Their Claws
According to magnificence lore, the primary up to date press-ons have been made by an enterprising dentist in Philadelphia within the Nineteen Fifties, however entered drugstores within the Eighties, due to manufacturers like Lee, Kiss and Revlon.
Their reputation at the moment is basically on account of social media, which affords a nonstop torrent of nail artwork inspiration. In the post-Vietnam War period, when getting your nails finished was changing into standard as a service within the US due to an inflow of Vietnamese immigrants, “you didn’t really have a a range of platforms to provide inspo,” mentioned Tjan.
Originally a nail salon chain, Olive & June launched into moist polishes in 2019, however took time to engineer the proper press-on. “When we dug into the category, what we found was only 50 percent of people could find their perfect fit,” defined Anne Riegle, Olive & June vp of product improvement. Most press-ons have been, and nonetheless are, sized between 0 and 12, however Olive & June launched their very own in 2021 with 21 sizes. Its youthful Pressies line are available further 14 sizes, which is 40 p.c greater than different kid-focussed press-on manufacturers, Riegle famous.
Brands like Miniluxe and Olive & June counsel that consumers can amass a “wardrobe” of nails, designing them to be changeable: Pressies include a wheel of translucent adhesive tabs that may follow nails simply and be stacked for longer put on, Riegle defined. “We had parents who were like, ‘They can’t wear them to school.’”
Gen Alpha’s mounting love of magnificence merchandise has drawn criticism, even horror, from observers who surprise how younger is simply too younger to partake in vainness tradition. But in contrast to caked-on basis or exfoliating acids, pretend nails are innocent — even playful, in a princess dress-up sort of approach.
And not one of the hand-wringing will cease Gen Alpha from attempting to emulate the grown-ups of their lives. “She wanted those nails because I like to paint mine,” mentioned babysitter McCarthy of her ward. She wouldn’t give lipstick to a toddler, but additionally received’t overthink the press-ons. “They’re just a fun way to be a little girly.”
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