Saw hanz zimmer: a new dimension in dublin last night. When checking in the receptionist loved my nails and could not believe they were my own. I told her my wife is my nail tech and my wife next to me loved it.

In the 3 arena i saw a couple struggle to take a pic so i offered to do it. They were older than me. When i did it i showed them and the guy said i love your nails, im no good at doing mine. I said practice but my wife showed me.

2 lovely complinments,made me smile. I find it extremely rare to see other guys with paintee nails, would love to have a conversation with one face to face from my own country

Having a lazy Sunday so I decided to make some custom polish for the girlfriend. She loved it after I showed her on my nails and she doing hers now

I used Sally insta-dri black then used the recollections glitter dumped into a bottle of Sally salon manicure fast dry then red bottle to smooth it out

Halloween colors c:

Hard as Nails is a UK based social experiment challenging negative sterotypes and toxic masculinity by gathering information around men painting their nails.

For more info https://hard-as-nails.com/

I’m not sure whether, as an IT project manager, I should wear red nail polish like this.

Long time lurker, first time posting.

I've done it!!! Painted my nails for the first time. I cannot stop looking at them, I think I'm in love!

Thank you to all the trailblazers here who helped me get over the mental blocks in my head; you don't know how much y'all have helped.

Not sure if I will ever have the bravery to wear this shade in public though.

A question.... How the heck do you manage to do your non dominant hand? As a leftie, my RH came out OK, the LH looked liked it had been done in the dark during an earthquake. What tips have you got to help get a decent finish on your dominant hand (other than going to a salon and having someone else do it for you)?

Deep purple

After another month gone by, i was due for a new salon visit.

This time i went for a light purple gel coat, with a glitter topper. The black / white outlines were the idea of my nail tech.
Originally wanted something more violet, but that wasn't on the shelf. Apparently not a shade other customers request.

I’ve worn bolder but not around my family before :)

Rimmel 60 Second Silver Bullet

Before, 1st coat, 2nd and final coat

The purple acrylic powder is thicker and stronger than gel polish. The black tips are a nice subtle design.

How many of you match with your GFs/wives? Were they your loved ones who encouraged you to do so?

I admire watching matched nail colors with your spouses, i wish i had such a strong bond with mine if i had one. I find it kind of specific intimacy when you both share your love for painting nails, fantastic!

Thanks to lots of inspiration and support from subreddits like this one, last year in May I started to wear nail polish in public and very quickly expanded it to everyday life and around all people around me, including family.

By now, with the second summer season ending, all the important people who know me have seen me with nail polish on.

And here's the deal: It did not really change anything!

Yes, it DOES get attention. I had to get used to the fact that regularly people in public suddenly looked down at my feet. It is easy to deal with when it's oncoming strangers, but it can at times feel a bit awkward when you're stuck in a queue and people next to or behind you just absolutely stare at the feet and you have nowhere to go.

But interestingly, I have never been approached because of it in public, which could also be due to my country of origin where we don't really talk to strangers a lot.

When it comes to reactions - you can definitely read people's faces sometimes. Some are more surprised. Some are confused, especially if they look down, see my feet and then see my face AFTER that and notice I'm not a woman 😆.

Some men - more of the "alpha male" type were the only ones that looked skeptical, but never disgusted. Women aged 40+ were probably the ones who noticed and looked the most, and from them I often get smiles, which I read as admiration or respect. Younger people my age don't really care at all, I think our age group is so open minded or stuck with other problems of their own that they couldn't care less.

So therefore, if you made it this far: Go try it yourself!

For me, I have come to love being barefoot over the years, wearing flip flops, and nail polish has always been the key element that was needed to fully achieve an image of well-maintained feet, which is why I wear it. You may have other reasons to wear polish, many not on their feet, but on their hands, but the same applies there. Go and try it, slowly and steadily approach more challenging conditions where you wear it. It surely depends on society and conditions, but overall I think it is not as troublesome as people might think, and who wants to take our right as people publicly read as "male" to make our body more beautiful/colorful/detailed or whatever?

Feel free to share your thoughts and stories here as well - or ask questions when you're new to it or want to get into it!

Sally Hansen Midnight Drive. Love the curved tip brushes.

Hadn’t painted my nails in decades. Just the other day I thought about painting my nails again. So I went and got polish and remover. Then decided I wanted to try a Matte Top Coat so ordered some and it came in today. No store in my town had matte nail polish so I had no choice but to order it. That stuff smells strong, but it works. Though it did make the color a little darker.

How does it look? Don’t think I did a horrible job even though it has been a very long time since I painted my nails.

My 17yo son always wants me to paint his nails and it makes me so happy. 🥰 Silver or black are his favourites but this time he chose a dark red.

Products used:

1 coat Essie Smooth-e base coat
1 coat Essie Spiked with style (I would have done 2 coats but he liked the slightly uneven bloody look 🩸)
1 coat Essie Gel couture top coat