The best press on nails now copy the shape and thickness of a salon acrylic and come off cleanly when you soak and lift them gently. Here are artist-licensed sets, salon-shaped kits and the glue, tabs, remover and oil that make them last.
Best Press On Nails, From a Dentist's 1954 Fix to Salon-Shaped Sets
Press-ons started with a broken thumbnail. In 1954, a Philadelphia dentist named Fred Slack snapped his at work, made a replacement from dental acrylic, and he and his brother Tom patented it and started Patti Nails. By the 1970s, pre-made tips were sold as a do-it-yourself product, and artificial nails moved from the salon to the bathroom counter. Some of the best press on nails today come from Never Have I Ever, which Susana Chen and Jess Wu launched in New York in November 2023 and describe as the first artist-licensed press-on brand, with artists typically paid royalties on their designs. Chen studied at Parsons, and the founders bootstrapped the business and started at craft fairs. The Katseye set is their collaboration with the girl group, and magnetic dots, French leopard and barely pink round out the row. Barely pink is the one I would wear to work. Size each nail before you glue, and choose the smaller size if you are between two, because a nail that overhangs the sidewall lifts first.
Salon-shaped kits
Ann McFerran started Glamnetic in July 2019 from her apartment in Koreatown, Los Angeles, selling magnetic lashes, and the company moved into nails in August 2021. It became the first press-on nail brand Sephora carried, and it has never raised outside money. The nails are custom-molded to copy the shape and thickness of a salon acrylic, which is why they look less like stickers than most. The basic, premium and signature kits come in different designs and finishes, and the toenails are a set most brands do not bother making. Each set is reusable if you take it off gently.
Making them last, and the skip
The last row is the part most people skip. Glamnetic's brush-on nail glue is easier to control than a tube, and Nail Reformation's adhesive tabs are the gentler option for a day of wear or a single event. Nail Reformation calls itself a fashion brand first, with a team that studies runway and street style to design its sets, and its remover lifts press-ons without prying. Gitti, founded in Berlin by Jennifer Baum-Minkus and named after her mother, makes a nourishing oil for the nail plate afterward. What I would skip is ripping press-ons off. It takes layers of your natural nail with it, so soak them loose instead.
Application, step by step
Push back cuticles, buff the shine off your nails and wipe them with alcohol. Match sizes, glue, then press each nail for 30 seconds. Avoid hot water for the first hour. When you are done, soak, lift gently and oil your nails for a few days before the next set. A short break between sets keeps your own nails strong. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together KISS Press On Nails and Best Fake Nails, From a Dentist's Broken Thumbnail to Your Kit.
