With icy weather slowly giving way to hazy spring sunshine, you might be considering your March manicure. But what to choose: pastels, neutrals or trendy hues? Luckily, our beauty team have theirs sorted – and these looks are as varied as they are luxe.
While the 2025 nail trends offer plenty of inspiration for your next salon trip, these transitional months can feel difficult to capture in gel or polish form. Picking our February nails was hard enough, and now that March is offering a glimpse of brighter days, you may find yourself caught between really embracing the spring season or keeping things simple and neutral. Our team faced a similar dilemma but were able to land on four very fitting and chic-looking colours.
So, if you’re stuck for inspiration, allow our talons to guide you – with options for both long and short nails.
Our beauty team’s bright and perfectly spring-ready March nails
While still a tad chilly, it’s starting to look and feel like spring, which opens many doors, manicure-wise. Pastels, from lavender shades to fresh greens, are back on the table, but then again, perhaps you’ll want to save them until April – lest you risk jinxing the weather. Neutral nails are a safe choice, as beige nails and nude shades never go out of style. A muted or milky pink is also a great choice, as it spans both a neutral and spring-ready look.
March 2025 is also ushering in a rather unexpected but very sophisticated trend – cranberry nails, which are bright, cheerful and proving very popular right now.
There are many avenues to go down, but our team picked these four – well, actually three. You’ll soon see that one colour, in particular, appealed to a few of our colleagues this month – though we all opted for slightly different iterations, adapted to suit our aesthetics and preferred nail lengths.
Our march manicure essentials
Before we dive into our team’s March manicures, let’s discuss our polish and nailcare picks. While the weather has seemingly turned, having one of the best hand creams and scrubs nearby is a must – to ward off dry skin and elevate your manicure. Equally, having an on-trend colour is also key, and we’ve found just the essie nail polish for the job.
essie Gel Couture Gel-Like Nail Polish-Matter Of Fiction
RRP: £10.99
For a subtle but spring-ready manicure, essie’s Gel Couture polish, with its glossy shine and milky pink tint, is perfect.
Aesop Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm
RRP: £27
Don’t let the sun fool you; there’s still a bite to the air (especially in the evenings), so to ward off dry hands and fingers, a hand cream is a must-have in your handbag. Aesop’s Resurrection hand balm boasts a blend of natural oils to hydrate and condition, imparting a comforting, herbaceous scent without leaving a greasy residue.
L’OCCITANE Shea One Minute Hand Scrub
RRP: £10
To achieve smooth and polished-looking hands, L’Occitane’s scrub features shea nut husks to help exfoliate and buff away dry skin, while its blend of shea butter, apricot oil and allantoin soften your hands.
1. Sennen’s cranberry-red nails
(Image credit: Future)
Offering a bright and chic alternative to traditional spring pastels, Digital Beauty Writer Sennen Prickett opted for a juicy cranberry hue. She also decided to trim down her signature long, almond talons for a fresh start this March.
“After aptly deciding on deeper, moody hues for the first few months of the year, the spring sunshine emerging convinced me to opt for a brighter, vibrant shade,” says Sennen, adding, “While it still felt too early for soft pastels, I landed upon the popular Cranberry Nails trend. This juicy blue-toned red is a classic manicure choice, making it perfect for the transitional season.”
“As someone who used to struggle to grow their nails, I typically pair my biab with a lengthy almond nail shape; however, this month, I chose a slightly shorter length to give my talons a chic and sophisticated appearance.”
2. Aleesha’s sheer pink nails
(Image credit: Future)
Before you fret that icy weather has returned (though it is always a possibility in the UK) Digital Beauty Editor, Aleesha Badkar, has just returned from a holiday in Austria, where this snap was taken. As her nails prove, though, sheer pink suits both sunshine and snow.
“I love a neutral nail so for March I decided to strip it back with one of my favourite neutral looks – a milky, sheer, very light pink. Perfect for any transitional season or even a month where you have too many plans to match your nails to, this subtle shade gives a chic and stylish impression – and it looks great on pretty much every skin tone. It’s also a great one for spring 2025 if you want to try and look on-trend without going too jazzy, as it’s a similar shade to the lavender milk 2025 nail trend,” Aleesha explains.
3. Fiona’s sage-green square nails
(Image credit: Future)
Digital Beauty Editor, Fiona McKim, like Sennen, decided to embrace all things bright with her March mani: “Well, someone got excited about spring at their March nail appointment, didn’t they? I chose this chalky green impulsively, after planning a nice-but-bland milky white. Then, walking to my appointment through Edinburgh’s Meadows on one of the first clear and bright days of the year, I was struck by a rush of seasonal optimism – probably brought on by the ridiculously idyllic snowdrop-hewn lawn.
“So when faced with the clacky plastic wheel of shades, I thought, stuff safe neutrals, let’s live a little! The brilliant trick, as it turns out, is that this green is basically a neutral. It’s pastel-ish but with cool sagey undertone that goes with pretty much anything (there’s a reason so many people paint their walls sage green). Plus, if like me you have pale hands that tend to go a bit red when you’re cold, hot or three wines deep, the green really offsets that too.”
4. Naomi’s short milky pink nails
(Image credit: Future)
Digital Beauty Writer, Naomi Jamieson also went down the milky-pink route but with more of an opaque, pastel shade.
“For my team February nails, I swapped out my favourite dark reds for 2025’s trendy Lavender Milk manicure and was so taken by the soft and delicate colour that I decided to follow suit with my March nails too – especially with spring (finally!) emerging. So, I chose one of BioSculpture’s cool, milky pink shades. I decided to go with more of an opaque finish rather than sheer to change things up from last month, and I just love how clean and luxe it looks. This recent sunny spell has also validated my decision, as this pastel pink feels so fitting for early spring.
“Speaking of which, I also opted to trim my almond nails to a short, oval shape for something of a fresh start, and I’m glad I did – this colour looks so chic with short nails.”
