Sorbet Nails Are Summer’s Fresh Spin On The Ice Cream Manicure

Is it even summer if you’re not spending more time in the freezer aisle? Our favorite treat has inspired the ice cream manicure, but now sorbet nails are making a splash with their colorful, yet minimalist look.

Sorbet nails are exactly as they sound: a manicure that evokes the look and feel of sorbet ice cream. Texture-wise, they also mimic the same look as the dessert they’re named after. While ice cream is made of churned milk, sorbet is water-based and has a lighter, icier feel.

Similarly, the traditional ice cream manicure seamlessly blends a creamy pastel base with a soft white tip (imagine a cloud of whipped cream). Sorbet nails, meanwhile, also feature pastel and fruity polishes but these read slightly translucent—and, if there’s a tip, it’s a sorbet hue topping a glassy nude nail.

Some sorbet nails lean into the ombre nail trend with a burst of juicy color on the tips, blurring into a sheer nude base, like this peach sorbet nail by celebrity manicurist Queenie Nguyen, who counts Florence Pugh and Jessica Alba as clients.

Others are inspired by jelly nails and milk nails trends, keeping things fun and fresh for those who like a hint of color without straying into block brights or neon territory in the warmer months. “It’s not about neons this summer,” says celebrity manicurist Harriet Westmoreland, who tells me she is firmly on team pastel this season.

But perhaps the most wearable iteration of sorbet nails is a glassy, barely-there base paired with a soft, fruity shade of polish at the tip.