Ninety-six percent (96%) of U.S. females say they regularly polish their nails either at a salon or at home, according to 4,000-plus U.S. beauty-buying females surveyed in The Benchmarking Company’s May 2025 online nail polish study.
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Ninety-six percent (96%) of U.S. females say they regularly polish their nails either at a salon or at home, according to 4,000-plus U.S. beauty-buying females surveyed in The Benchmarking Company’s May 2025 online nail polish study.
That percentage is consistent across age generations, with the exception of baby boomers (91%), making nail polish one of the most important categories of beauty product consumption for the U.S. consumer and the industry.
Ten percent of respondents say they only have their nails serviced in a salon, while 43% only do their nails themselves at home; the remaining 47% say they do a combination of nail services and DIY.
This study reveals the U.S. female consumer’s nail care practices, products, shades, finishes, and brands used at home and in-salon, and what’s trending on her brightly colored nail horizon.
Her Salon Basics
For salon-goers, her manicure schedule is slightly more frequent than her pedicure schedule, as toenail polish tends to last longer than fingernail polish.
Forty-three percent get a salon manicure twice-a-month to monthly, compared to 36% getting pedicures at the same rate. The price she pays tends to be the same for both services, with 53% paying between $25-50 each time for a pedicure, and 51% paying that same price each time for her manicure.
When choosing a salon (T-1), cleanliness is key, with 85% saying it’s a primary attribute she seeks when looking for the perfect salon experience. Precision and efficacy are also very important (75%), followed by a great reputation (70%), long-lasting results (65%), friendliness of technicians (65%), affordability (61%) and comfort (60%).
T-1. What consumers are looking for in a nail salonThe Benchmarking Company
To make her appointments, 44% call and schedule ahead of time, 23% just walk in and 33% do either on occasion.
Sixty-eight percent of salon-goers select the nail polish colors available at the salon, with 29% sometimes taking their own polish with them for use by the technicians and 4% always taking their own polish.
Gel manicures top her list of services she receives when getting her nails done at the salon (55%) (T-2), followed by basic pedicures with nail polish (53%), gel pedicures (43%), basic manicures with nail polish (39%), acrylic nails (30%) and a French manicure (28%).
Table 2The Benchmarking Company
At-Home Nail Habits
Whether or not she regularly gets her nails done at a salon or at home, 83% of respondents say they’ve purchased a nail polish in the past year to use for at-home polishing or for touch-ups in between salon appointments.
This includes 81% of Gen Z, millennials and Gen X purchasing, compared to 70% of baby boomers. In addition:
- According to respondents, 35% of at-home users polish their nails on a weekly basis, with 27% polishing twice a month and 15% monthly (others polish less frequently).
- For 35% or respondents, it typically takes the consumer 15-30 minutes to polish either fingers or toes at home, while 27% said it takes 30-45 minutes. For 10-15% of consumers, the process takes less than 15 minutes.
- The fingernail polish color families respondents wear most often are pink (36%), multi-color (14%), red (11%), beige (7%), purple (7%), blue (5%) and clear (5%).
- The toenail polish color families she wears most often are pink (29%), red (17%), multi-color (12%), purple (8%), blue (7%) and white (7%).
- Fifty-six percent sometimes match their fingernail and toenail colors; 32% always do; 12% never match them.
In addition to using nail polish at home, she’s also using top coat (82%), nail clippers/trimmers (76%), nail polish remover liquid (76%), nail file/emery boards (74%), base coat (71%), hand (68%) and foot creams (55%), cuticle clipper/trimmers (53%), and cuticle oils (51%), among other nail care accessories (T-3).
T-3. Nail products and treatments used at homeThe Benchmarking Co.
Her DIY Attitudes and Beliefs
When respondents think of an at-home manicure or pedicure, positive terms such as affordability (77%), convenience (54%), practicality (44%), fun (31%) and enjoyability (30%) come to mind most often (T-4).
While attributes like time-consuming (26%), tricky (15%) or sloppy (12%) are mentioned, these more problematic connotations aren’t enough to dissuade her from polishing her own nails.
T-4. At-home mani-pedi descriptors
Some of these frustrating traits become her biggest annoyances when she considers the drawbacks of doing her own nails.
Her biggest grievances when doing-it-herself are sloppy polish application/smudging (49%), chipping and peeling of polish (45%), having to polish with their non-dominant hand (40%), giving herself a manicure that doesn’t last as long as a salon service (38%), finding the time to polish (34%), and missing out on the relaxing salon experience (34%) (T-5).
T-5. At-home mani-pedi pet peevesThe Benchmarking Co.
Toxicity Concerns
Her nail care product ingredient profile is also a concern for some respondents. Eighteen percent say they always worry about harmful chemicals or toxins in their nail polish and 52% said they sometimes worry about these factors.
Fifty percent of respondents say they purposefully seek out or purchase nail polish without or with less harmful chemicals or toxins some of the time, while 13% say they always do.
Seventy-nine percent are interested in eco-friendly or sustainable nail polish products if they were available to them or knew where to find them.
Nail Care Buying Habits
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents say they currently own between four and 20 bottles of nail polish (of that, 20% said they owned between 7-10 bottles) (T-6).
Women of the millennial generation are most prolific in their nail polish ownership, with 41% saying they own more than 16 bottles of nail polish.
T-6. Stats on nail polish bottle ownershipThe Benchmarking Co.
Seventy-two percent of respondents typically pay $6 to $15 for a bottle of nail polish, with 11% saying they typically spend $16-$20.
More than half (54%) most typically buy salon nail polish brands, 27% buy masstige-priced brands, 12% seek out value brands, 4% buy “clean/natural/organic” brands of polish and 3% splurge on prestige brands when buying.
Where she buys nail polish is similar to where she buys other categories of beauty, with superstores being her go-to retail outlet for polishes (68%), followed by Amazon.com (50%), drug stores/pharmacies (47%), Ulta (42%), Sephora (27%) and discount department stores (with as TJ Maxx, Marshalls) at 24%.
Eight percent say they buy their nail polish at the salon itself.
What She Wants in a Polish
When consumers are looking to buy a nail polish, they’re seeking benefits like long-lasting color (77%), quick-drying (74%), ease of application (67%), resistance to chipping in a week’s time (65%), shiny finish (49%), and unique or trendy colors or formulations (38%) (T-7).
While attributes like non-toxic, cruelty-free and vegan still make her wish list, they rate lower on her hierarchy of nail polish needs after efficacy and aesthetics.
T-7. What women want in a nail polishThe Benchmarking Co.
Brands She Buys and Finishes Are the Ones She Loves
OPI (76%), Essie (62%), Sally Hansen (54%) and Revlon (34%) continue to be the top nail polish brands that U.S. females buy.
The chart below (T-8) shows 2025 brands purchased compared to those purchased during the fielding of The Benchmarking Company’s 2013-2014 PinkReport Nailed: The Allure of Nail Color special report.
The staying power of these brands is testament to their innovation strategies, as well as their steadfast commitment to pleasing the consumer with traditional polish product performance.
T-8. Top nail polishes purchased: 2013 vs. 2025
Nail polish finish is also a purchase preference. A traditional gloss finish is a favorite of 79% of respondents, with a shimmer finish (57%), glitter (42%), pearlized (42%), sparkle (41%), matte (41%) metallic (34%), glass top (32%), sheer (31%), cream (30%) and confetti finishes (14%) following.
Nail Trends and Inspiration
Nail polish innovation, both at-home and in-salon, continues to mount.
In the past 12 months, respondents say they’ve tried gel nails (47%), fast-dry nail polish (46%), French manicures (43%), press-on nails (42%), glitter polishes (40%), nude nails (35%), matte polish (33%), ombre nails (28%), and many more trends and finishes (T-9).
T-9. Nail trends consumers have triedThe Benchmarking Co.
If the U.S. female consumer hasn’t tried these trends yet, she may consider doing so if they’re trending on social media or recommended by friends and family.
T-10 features the top places where respondents get their inspiration most often to try new nail looks. Is your brand present where she’s looking for inspiration?
About the Author
Based in sun-seared San Diego, Denise Herich is co-founder and managing partner at The Benchmarking Company. The Benchmarking Company provides marketing and strategy professionals in the beauty and personal care industries with need-to-know information about its customers and prospects through custom consumer research studies through its 250,000+ female PinkPanel database, focus group, and consumer in-home use testing (IHUTs) for claims substantiation and risk mitigation.
