Give Ayo Edebiri's Metallic Cat Eye Manicure All the Awards, Please

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OK, so the Emmy Awards may not have a category for Best Red Carpet Manicure, but if they did, this year's trophy would definitely go to Ayo Edebiri.

The The Bear actor, who was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, turned to manicurist Eri Ishizu to craft a metallic cat eye manicure for her big night. The pair looked to Edebiri's painterly custom Bottega Veneta gown for inspiration, mimicking the black tones of the dress on the actor's nails. “I drew inspiration from Ayo’s stunning Bottega sequined dress and knew that combining metallic with sheer black would achieve the exact effect we envisioned," explained Ishizu. "The nails turned out to be the perfect accessory, seamlessly blending fashion with a standout nail moment.”

The manicure itself was the result of a lot of clever layering and combining several product textures together for a bespoke design. After buffing and applying a base coat, Ishizu mixed OPI GelColor Chrome Clawz and Saturn Me On with the same base coat, applying a very thin coat to each nail. (Both shades are also available in a regular polish for at-home DIYs under the same names, Saturn Me On and Chrome Clawz.) After painting on that thin layer, Ishizu mixed GelColor Black Onyx with GelColor Super Base Base Coat to create a “jelly-like texture” for layering. “Mixing these products will make the polish opaque for the metallic to show through underneath," Ishizu explained, adding that she applied two coats of this mix to each nail. (Use the regular Black Onyx and a base coat at home.) The final step, of course, was a top coat to seal in the shine and make the shimmering, glimmering chrome detail glisten even more glamorously on the red carpet.

We love a trompe l'oeil nail that changes shape with the light, just like Edebiri's cat eye design. From a certain angle, it looked like a simple dark gray mani, but shape-shifted when she moved, with much of the chrome texture concentrated near the base of her nails. It was also a fun nod to her dress, which looked like a dotted design at first, but upon closer inspection, was covered in clear sequins. Coolest dress, coolest manicure!

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Now, see how manicure trends have evolved:

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Originally Appeared on Allure