At Byrdie, we are always on mani watch—especially during awards season. After all, the red carpets and cameras bring out the best of the best when it comes to nail art—just take Florence Pugh’s dewdrop manicure at the 2024 Oscars, the cherry mocha nail trend dominating every major award show, and Selena Gomez’s Old Hollywood manicure at the SAGs for proof. However, of all of those, our favorite was a rather surprising all-neutrals couple’s look from none other than Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwayne Wade.
On March 10, the Wades walked the red carpet at the 2024 Oscars alongside Hollywood’s biggest superstars like Zendaya, Billie Eilish, Margot Robbie, and America Ferrera. Though Gabrielle is the actor of the duo, they were actually there for Dwayne, who served as the executive producer for The Barber of Little Rock, which was up for Best Documentary Short. To celebrate, the power couple showed up in some powerhouse outfits, down to their coordinating—but not matching—manicures.
Although we expected nothing less than a picture-perfect manicure from Gabrielle, seeing Dwyane in a nail look that matched both his outfit and his wife's was more iconic than we could handle—after all, what basketball megastar do you know paints his nails for one of the biggest nights in entertainment?
With that said, we have to talk about his look first. Just like his Atelier Versace suit, his manicure was black and white, done by Gabrielle’s go-to nail artist, Thuy Nguyen, using all CND products.
To go with Dwayne’s crisp white blazer, Nguyen painted his right index finger, left thumb, and left ring finger all bright white using the shade Studio White. Then, to match the black accents on the blazer and the dark black trousers, Nguyen added CND’s Black Pool to his right thumb and left pinky finger—notably leaving polish off of his middle fingers and a few others.
However, where the basketball star lacked color on a few nails, Gabrielle made up for both of them. To go with her disco ball-coded, gorgeous, gem-encrusted Carolina Herrera ensemble—styled by Thomas Christos Kikis—Nguyen kept it rather simple on the nails to elevate the dress without drawing any attention away from it.
Using CND’s Field Fox, Nguyen created a classy “your nails but better” manicure on top of medium-length almond tips. The ultra-glossy shade paired nicely with the black and white colors of the couple’s coordinating outfits—not overly matchy, but just enough to serve a cohesive, high-fashion look as a duo. We just can’t get enough.