Summer brings back the same questions about nails and, as every year, the answer coming from Spain's well-known faces is not the one you would expect: less colour, not more.

The dominant trend is natural shades with a glossy or translucent finish. The logic is simple - on tanned skin, nothing works better than a contrast with something light and clean.

Clean nails are exactly what the name says: a healthy, clean, cared-for nail and nothing else. Isabelle Junot wears them that way. Soap nails are more translucent, like washed soap. Maribi Añedo of Bio Sculpture Spain and Berenice Ehespejo, official manicurist of Entity Spain, say they give a visual break from pastel tones. The recommended length is one centimetre at most.

Baby pink, as worn by Georgina Rodríguez, goes pale pink or ballet pink with a medium length and an almond shape. White, on María Pombo, is the classic that returns every summer for its contrast with a tan. The translucent nude nails on Carmen Santacruz are what the industry calls quiet luxury - a colour that merges with the skin and finishes in a shine.

Baby boomer, or the faded French, on Paula Echevarría runs from a nude base to a white tip, in a gradient. Milky nails on Inés García are a creamy white shade, minimalist and durable.

Now the concrete part, the one worth more than all nine trends put together: experts recommend not wearing the same polish for longer than 21 days in summer. That is the tip nobody advertises, because it sells nothing.

And there is the point the whole list makes all at once. Nine trends, and eight of them are actually the same trend - a nail that looks like a nail. When the beauty industry sells you „natural”, it is selling you something you already have, packaged as a decision. The difference is that now it has a name, and the name is what you pay for.

The cheapest version of the trend is a short, clean, well-kept nail. That is not a compromise - it is literally what the women on the list are wearing.