The French manicure isn’t French. The now ubiquitous pink and white-tipped look was created in Los Angeles by Israeli-born Orly founder Jeff Pink—and this year marks its 50th anniversary.
Its origins were distinctly practical. In 1976, before quick-drying formulas existed, actresses often spent up to an hour on set changing their nail color to match each new costume.
A director asked Pink—whose company supplied Hollywood studios with a full range of beauty products, from hair care and makeup to nail products—to create a versatile manicure that could complement every wardrobe change and maintain continuity when scenes were filmed out of sequence.
“Every time they changed the dresses, they were going to waste another hour. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was doing nothing.” Pink told BeautyMatter.
At his beauty supply store, Pink had noticed customers using white pencils beneath their nails to create a cleaner, more defined look. Because the pencils provided only a temporary fix, he set out to replicate the effect with a longer-lasting combination of nail polishes. White polish was unusual and difficult to source at the time, but Pink persuaded a skeptical supplier to produce it. He then experimented with applying a flesh-toned polish across the nail and painting the tips white, creating a natural-looking style that complemented any costume. The director was pleased: The solution could save the production both time and money.
Initially, Pink dubbed his creation the “Natural Nail Look.” The name held until he brought the new manicure to a runway show in Paris. “On the flight back, I said to myself, ‘Natural Nail Look’ means nothing. Let’s call it the French manicure. It was made in America, but they [the French] accepted it,” Pink recalled.
But the French manicure was not an instant hit. Unlike today, when a beauty trend can take off in mere hours thanks to social media, the look took years to gain traction. “Today, you can easily identify a viral moment,” Pink’s son Tal, who’s also Orly’s Chief Operating Officer, said. Jeff chimed in with an estimate: “It took more than five years.”
The tipping point, Jeff said, came when Cher and Barbra Streisand discussed the new nail look on late-night television—on one of the era’s most influential pop-culture stages, namely The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
According to Tal, the French manicure propelled Orly beyond its early nail products and into the color category. Those first products had largely been nail treatments, including an all-in-one strengthening product called Romeo, designed to compete with a popular-at-the-time product called Juliette. The French manicure introduced Orly to color, and its component shades ultimately became salon staples.
That commercial legacy persists a half-century later, a fact that both Pinks are somewhat surprised by. “Because I grew up in the business, and I've seen the phases of the French manicure in terms of status … I wouldn't have guessed.… I was there for the good times; I was there for the bad times, when people were more critical of the look. The longevity of this as a look, as a style that evolves and still gets called this one thing … it's surprising to me. It's still called the French manicure. It's not just called nail art. It’s amazing … I think it [has] surprised all of us,” the younger Pink told BeautyMatter.
Even today, White Tips remains Orly’s top-selling individual SKU, while the sheer pink Rose-Colored Glasses is its best-selling French manicure base shade. “For White Tips to still be where it is today [as the best-selling SKU] is evidence of the lore,” Tal said. White Tips still outsells every other shade in the line and every treatment in the catalog; last year was its strongest on record.
Originally, when it was commercialized, Orly’s French Manicure launched as a nail kit that included two nail form tips (chevron or crescent), a base coat, top coat, white polish, and beige, pink, or rose polish. It sold more than a million kits in its first five years.
Orly has grown roughly 100 times over since 1975, from a single beauty supply shop in the San Fernando Valley to 57 countries.
Of course, the French manicure has become far bigger than Orly itself, a fact the company recognizes. By the time Orly attempted to trademark the French manicure, it had already become too widely recognized and adopted. The company registered “The Original French Manicure” in 1995.
Jeff does not appear to regret the missed opportunity. “I'm glad I didn't do it, and I tell you what: Even if I’d had the trademark, I wouldn't be able to sue anybody to protect it, so it doesn't make a difference,” he told BeautyMatter.
In fact, the Pinks credit the broader nail industry with turning Jeff’s original design into an enduring creative framework. After all, in the past 50 years, nail artists have traded its traditional white tips and sheer pink bases for neons, micro tips, reverse designs, and countless other variations.
“We don’t own [the style] because my dad and Orly serviced nail artists and nail techs—they are the ones who took the look and made it their own. That’s what we wanted. We were giving them the tools,” Tal said. As artists moved beyond the traditional pink-and-white combination, it became impossible for Orly to package every variation into a kit. “At some point, the ship had sailed, and the French manicure became its own thing. We serviced it through some of those base colors and tools, but owning the French manicure seems impossible to me today.”
Decades after its invention, the French manicure continues to attract interest: Treendly classifies searches for “French tip” as showing sustained growth, with approximately 33,100 Google searches in the US each month.
Interestingly, the look’s continued relevance is particularly pronounced among younger consumers.
In a survey of 1,037 US women conducted by Orly, 91% of respondents were familiar with the French manicure, while 80% had worn or received one. Seventy-five percent of women ages 18 to 29 described it as timeless, compared with 44% of respondents ages 60 and older. Among the younger group, 87% believed people would still wear French manicures 50 years from now.
The findings also exposed an unsurprising gap between the style’s cultural reach and Orly’s association with it. Sixty-eight percent of respondents did not know who created the French manicure, while another 5% were unsure. After learning that Pink invented it, 47% said they would be more likely to consider purchasing Orly products—suggesting that the history could still hold commercial value.
Orly is now working to strengthen that connection. To mark the anniversary, the brand declared September 9 French Manicure Day and placed an advertisement in The New York Times proclaiming, “Made in Hollywood. Named in Paris. Worn everywhere.” It also asked nail artists in its community to share French manicure content, carrying the celebration from print over to social media. Additionally, the company has submitted an original French manicure kit to the Smithsonian for consideration, where it is under review for potential inclusion in the museum’s collection.
Orly is willing to let its new holiday follow the same trajectory as the look itself: created by the brand but sustained by the wider nail community. “Eventually, French Manicure Day will just be something that nail aficionados participate in,” Tal said. For a style whose longevity has depended on others making it their own, that may be the most fitting legacy.
One honor, however, remains elusive. Fifty years ago, the director who served as the impetus for the look told Jeff, “This is going to save me a lot of money, and one day you deserve to get an Oscar because you saved the industry so much money.” He’s still waiting.
