Should Your Manicure and Pedicure Match?

"When I was young," editor Colleen Loggins recalled, "my aunt, after seeing my red toenails and pink fingernails, declared that I was making a huge fashion faux pas. She said your finger- and toenails simply cannot be different colors."

Colleen's aunt's reaction might seem odd, especially to younger generations, but it turns out the question of whether your manicure and pedicure should match is a hotly debated issue—at least on our social media page. We polled editorial employees and our Facebook followers, and here's how the just-shy-of-100 responses broke down:

The most popular opinion: no

As Facebook user Christine N. put it, "No! I like to keep people guessing when they go to look at my feet! Ha!"

Facebook user Vivian E-L put a more nostalgic spin on the same response: "Back in the day, everything was coordinated, but in this day and age nothing has to match anymore."

Mostly, though, the people in this camp seemed happy and relaxed, with a penchant for employing the sunglasses emoji.

The second-most popular opinion: no, but they should go together

These people used words like "mesh," "coexist," and "complement." Overall, they were of the opinion that your mani pedi color combos shouldn't clash, but some finer distinctions developed among the commenters.

Many people noted that in the winter (especially, as Terrie S. pointed out, Wisconsin winter), coordination matters less—your toes aren't on display unless you've invented thermal sandals. Complementary colors may work best, however, at more formal summer events like weddings. In other words, the importance of matching is situational.

The contrarians: yes

Even with their emphatic "yes!" responses, the people advocating for matching mani-pedis have the minority opinion. But we can at least learn from their style. It's direct, upbeat—and may we all one day use such confident exclamation points!

Our verdict: nope, no need to match!

Just like our editor Colleen, who decided that her aunt's advice was an "old-fashioned rule", we're siding with the majority of our survey respondents on this one. Plus, with so many great manicure and pedicure ideas out there these days, we're happy we get to try out different looks on our fingers and toes. Check out the links below to see the mani-pedi looks we're currently obsessed with.

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