Backstage at New York Fashion Week Spring 2016, we caught up with nail artists Madeline Poole, Deborah Lippmann, Jin Soon Choi and Miss Pop to talk accent nails. Are they still a thing? Here’s what they had to say.

Madeline Poole for Sally Hansen, at Prabal Gurung: “I’m so over ring finger accent nails. Who decided that was the accent nail? I like more unexpected [accents]. Two thumbs painted in a different colour with a design on it, I think that’s really cute, or just the pinkies, or the pointer fingers with mirror-opposite [designs] on the nails.”

READ MORE: The best nails from NYFW Spring 2016

Jin Soon Choi for Michael Kors, at Michael Kors: “I think accent nails are gone – but simple nail art is in, as are colours. I’ve seen S/S ’16 trends being blues, greens and nudes, of course, and one very good thing – dark oxblood red nails. There are three [main] colour palettes: nude, pastel and dark. [An accent nail could be] simple colour blocking nails, a V-shape or a classic moon shape. A lot of people are doing stripes, single lines. Simplicity is the best way.”

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Deborah Lippmann at Narciso Rodriguez: “I think it depends on what the accent nail is. We did do some nail art this season. I don’t think it’s gone, I think it’s minimal. An accent nail for the sake of doing an accent nail? No. But an accent nail if it has a meaning and a reason, and it goes back to the rest of the look [in terms of the shows], then it’s ok. I saw a girl yesterday, a friend of Brandon Maxwell’s [Lady Gaga’s stylist], and every single nail had different nail art and it was fantastic. It depends on the person, and how they are wearing it. It’s nice that it’s not everybody, all the time, trying to outdo each other.”

Miss Pop for OPI, at Jeremy Scott: “Not on the ring finger, anywhere but the ring finger! I like pinkies, I like pointers.”

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