Enter Your Taylor Swift Era With Tortured Poets-Inspired Manicures
It's no secret that we're down bad for Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" era. From the black and white/sepia aesthetic, to the downright moody lyrics, to its inclusion in the Eras Tour, it's giving us cosmic love (if you know, you know). And one of the most creative ways we've been letting our passion Miss Americana's latest era shine is on our nails, where we've discovered there are actually quite a few ways to pay homage to our chairman's masterpiece.
While the most obvious way to go for a "TTPD"-inspired nail look it so mute the colors to match the dark, color-less aesthetic of the album, there's also plenty of opportunity to add some color. For those who like something a little more vibrant on their nails, focusing on the individual songs is a great way to rock something a little more fun. With all that in mind, we're bringing you some of our very favorite nail designs inspired by "The Tortured Poets Department" that'll have you saying, "I love it here." Perfect for if you're lucky enough to be attending the Eras tour this year!
Newspaper text on your nails is The Manuscript coded
Taylor Swift made quite the point on Instagram that "all's fair in love and poetry," so get your "The Tortured Poets Department" nails on by putting that poetry into your manicure. Inspired by the overall aesthetic but particularly the track "The Manuscript," a neutral base with text written in a type-writer font is a sophisticated and elegant way to get the "TTPD" look. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use real newspaper print and transfer it directly onto to the nail using rubbing alcohol.
Add broken hearts to your manicure
You can do it with a broken heart! Nail art, that is. One of the most fun ways to capture the essence of Taylor Swift's "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart" (which is one of the saddest upbeat song ever written, by the way) is to literally apply broken hearts to your nails. To capture the juxtaposition between the downcast lyrics and bubbly music, we recommend sticking to vibrant colors like pinks or reds – to match Swift's signature lip color! — and colors you'd associate more with Swift's "Lover" era.
Try typewriter-inspired nails
In "The Tortured Poets Department" song, Taylor Swift sings about an ex leaving their typewriter at her apartment (like, who uses typewriters anyway?) and that's a really fun lyric to incorporate into your manicure. You could go literal and add typewriter shaped nail art to your nails, though that could be a little time consuming and touch to get right. A simpler and easier way to get this look is to use the "TTPD" muted theme and paint a different punctuation symbol on each nail to get a similar literary inspired look.
Bring The Alchemy's football-inspired lyrics to life
There's much speculation about if "The Alchemy" is about Taylor Swift's winning romance with Travis Kelce. On the track, she references a touch down and sings, "Where's the trophy? He just comes runnin' over to me," which appears to reference when the Kansas City Chiefs won the Superbowl. But whether it's about Kelce or not, it conjures up football imagery, which is why sporty nail art is perfect. Go literal with a brown, stictched football, or go green to represent the field. You could even incorporate jersey numbers into your manicure.
Incorporate the cover design into your manicure
If you want something a little less on the nose or more understated for your "The Tortured Poets Department" nails, take inspiration from the cover art rather than focusing on a song. A good way to do that is to interpret the design elements into your manicure, such as taking part of the border that surrounds Taylor Swift on "The Anthology" cover and adding an abstract version to each nail. You could even take use the cushions Swift is lying on for the standard cover to create conceptual white square nail art.
Use a wolf manicure to represent The Prophecy
On "The Prophecy," Taylor Swift sings about calling out for someone who will love her properly. The heartbreaking track includes the lines, "A greater woman stays cool/But I howl like a wolf at the moon." Not only does that make for some edgy imagery, but it's a great line for manicure inspo. A dark polish with a wolf in front of a white moon on one or more nail brings to life the moodiness and darkness of the album, while also offering a literal representation of one of it's most heart-wrenching lyrics.