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Once you’ve had a Russian manicure, there’s no going back. Your edges are impossibly neat, the finish is close to perfect, and the safety and comfort truly outperform your trusty gel. At MEGA BeautyCon 2025, Russian manicurist Ashley Colet—pioneer of the craft in the country and the hand behind Ash Luxe Nails—made the case for why this technique deserves to be more than a trend but a standard, and why it might be time to make the switch.
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From Salon Frustrations to a Self-Made Business
The nailcare segment at BeautyCon reminded us that beauty lives as much in the details as in makeup or skin. “Sometimes, it’s our nails that people look at first, right?” Colet posed. “It’s what people see and use to determine if someone is neat. So usually, I would go to salons and get my nails done for around 3,000 to 4,000 pesos, which is not cheap, and I wouldn’t even get what I wanted.”
This was her turning point. As a “competitive Leo,” Colet bought her own supplies, started doing her nails, her friends’, until she finally discovered the technique of a Russian manicure.
“I got so intrigued by it and then I started doing it on my own nails, on my friends, until eventually, I just got so passionate about it that I really studied it.”
Why Russian Manicure Isn’t Your Average Mani
“One thing about Russian manicure is that we specialize in taking care of your nail health more than anything,” the manicurist makes clear. This means prioritizing disinfecting, using sterile materials, and performing the process dry—without soaking your hands in any solvents or solutions. “There really is a lot of long-term benefits of a Russian manicure,” she adds. “You’ll have less dry skin and since it’s professionals who do your manicure, you won’t experience the pain you feel during traditional manicures.”
She points out that the process can look intimidating—high-speed electric drills, nail buffing, delicate machinery hovering close to the skin—but in reality, it’s ultra-comfortable and safe. “It’s actually more comfortable than what we feel when we get our nails done in our traditional salons. We use medical implements, sterile implements, and one thing about us is that one nail file is only equivalent to one client,” Colet shares.
Safe, comfortable, and finally, healthy. “Compared to the traditional way where they soak your nails in acetone every single month just to get rid of the product, we only ever remove 80 percent of your gel because we use hard gel, and we don’t soak them in acetone,” she explains. The result: less filing, stronger nails, and a perfect option for the girls looking to grow their natural nails.
Less is Luxe
When the conversation steers towards trends, trust that the likes of Ashley Colet know what’s trendy and what actually looks good on nails. The intersection of both? Plain nails.
“When I started my business, I wanted to be different. And at that time was when 3D nails, nail art, and all those trends started to arise,” she prefaced. But she wanted to be different, so she focused on the art of plain nails.
“With the trends I’ve seen so far, polished, simple nail looks have been on top nowadays. Soap nails, princess nails, glazed nails. So everything that we have been seeing online nowadays has actually been leading towards Russian manicure!”
And we see it. Colet’s clientele—Sarah Lahbati, Celeste Cortesi, even MEGA BeautyCon 2025 host Belle Rodolfo, and more—swear by nails that are neat, pretty, and all powered by Russian manicure. If you’re still on the fence, let the expert herself at MEGA BeautyCon convince you.
Photographed by EXCEL PANLAQUE and KIM ANGELA SANTOS of KLIQ INC., and ASHLUXENAILS (via Instagram)
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