Would you consider a classic red polish suitable for work?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Just asking out of curiosity.

I am returning to work soon and got my nails done yesterday. Asked for a matte red rather than glitter as returning to work.

My usually tactful and lovely manicurist exclaimed "how is that suitable for work?! I thought you were going to ask for a barely there pink!"

Thoughts?

Short red nails
cupofjo.com/2013/11/oxblood-red-nails/

@dudsville I'd agree with you - I think OP's nails are quite short. However, the link posted afterwards are really short!

I prefer my nails with a bit more length but it depends what I'm doing eg work/ holiday etc.

I currently have quite long, red nails but I'm on holiday. I'd have the same colour for work but a little shorter (but still longer than OP's).

I think they look nice and I would say they are short too. I think red at that length would be fine too.
I think the nails in para’s link look too short and almost bitten.
Are people funny about blues & greens in a conservative environment then?

I agree - in the link her nails are too short. But that depends on your nail bed length I guess. In the last of the linked photos they look great. And I think that's the best length for dark colours. Especially in a professional environment. Anything longer than the end of your finger is too long imho

Better example
www.girlsaskguys.com/fashion-style/q2101609-do-you-like-short-red-nails-on-girls
God I'm overinvested

I used to regularly appear before a judge (in the days before everything was telephone hearings) at Maidstone County Court who always had lovely pillar box red nails.

If it was fine for a judge, then I can't see it being a problem in any other professional role.

I used to work in academia (although not as an academic) and I'd say any nail colour goes, going by some of the colours I and some of my colleagues wore.

Having said that, it was an art and design school.

I am an accountant, industry not practice and I am wearing these. Not an eyebrow has been raised.

In academia I'd say anything is fine, even at higher management level. Possibly not glitter or nail art but any colour.

I work for an academic publisher and most people below management dress like students.

I think that as people have said it depend on the industry.

The problem with red (in conjunction with alot of other features of female dress) is that it is strongly associated with sexual peacocking dress - dress that is not for the purposes of just looking smart or pulled together but aimed at attracting a mate. There are plenty of other dress features that are like this including low cut cleavage tops and very red lipstick. Like it or not, the purpose of this is to attract men. You can have all the moaning of "but I wear this because I like it" or "I feel good" that you want - it doesn't detract from the basic social message.

This in turn means that some people (men and women) may judge a woman in a professional environment adversely for that type of dress feature.

There is a great TED talk that begins with a woman saying that her very young daughter asked her one day why she wears make up to go to work but her father didn't. That question really sums up the whole issue.

“Anything longer than the end of your finger is too long imho”

Agree. A short nail is a chic nail. Slightly longer than the ones in the first link, but OP’s nails are as long as I would ever want.

I'd also steer clear of bright red as it has bad connotations.
But I go wear green and blue (not usually at same time) in my office.

That first link to the short nails looks "painfully short". The second link to short nails I'd call "v short". I think a tiny strip of white beyond the nail bed is "just short". I think the trend for rounded or almond shaped nails requires something longer that isn't a "talon", but I'm not sure what to call it!

Dextro for real? The look is quite pre-teen imo but maybe I am just showing my age!

Reading some of the posts on this thread, I feel like I’ve stepped back to the 1950s

I don't agree that red nails are (solely, anyway) about 'sexual peacocking'. They're so common and mainstream as to have become a classic. Yes, for some people and in some contexts they might have sexual connotations, but that's only one of many ways to read them; and frankly I'd look askance at a colleague who immediately chose to read red nails as sexual peacocking over and above seeing them as classic, bright etc.

I avoid red nails for work, not because I don’t like them but whatever make of red nail polish I wear seems to turn my fingers into crayons! I deal with a huge amount of paperwork and for some reason I often end up with little crayon like marks over my work so for me it makes my work look unprofessional iyswim.

Bad connotations for red nails/lips is surely an outdated thing of the past by now. We live in a world of HD brows, false eyelashes and lip fillers (no judgement by me on any of those) however someone is going to think I'm a whore because I'm wearing red nail varnish?

Red is among the standard office nail colours IME.

Long nails fine too unless this somehow impedes your work.

Interesting!

The thing with shorty short nails like Para's first link is they only good if you have lovely long fingers like the model. My short stubby digits are infinitely improved by having the nail extend beyond the fingertip.

Red nail varnish is a neutral colour as far as I'm concerned.

It is a neutral. But darker colours only look good in shorter nails, not talons.
Whereas lighter colours you can get away with longer nails, like the OP's lovely manicure.

*on FFS

Dark colours look lovely on medium nails. Not talons, but reasonably long looks great.

I like short mauve nails for work. Neutral but still noticeable.