These Magical NYFW Manicures Took Over 300 Hours to Complete

Every season, we look forward to the nail art at The Blonds' show, not just because of the monumental artistry involved but also for the whimsical inspiration that spurred it all. For Fall 2017, the story behind the collection — and the manicures — was magical, mysterious, and completely mad.

According to CND cofounder and style director Jan Arnold, "The story takes place with a young, naive princess who got pushed around and told what to do . . . and became entombed." But brace yourself, it gets cooler. "In the modern day, she was finally released, and when she came out of her tomb, she realized she had to find her power," she said. "Her nails became her talisman."

Yes, that's right: the nails at The Blonds were basically healing and energy crystals. But instead of real gems, the nail techs spent over 300 hours making the sets of nails from scratch. Each talon was hand-sculpted from CND Liquid & Powder and hand-painted to resemble agate stone, geodes, and more.

Appropriately, the design team behind The Blonds (David and Phillipe Blond) decided that the manicures would function as the only jewelry worn the models on the runway. "For this show, we actually decided to forego jewelry on the wrists and hands altogether because we really wanted the nails to serve that key purpose," Phillipe noted in a press release.

While we can't vouch for the nails having any magical resources (after all, they're not on our fingertips!), the regal designs are absolutely extraordinary. Read on to see them for yourself.