The French manicure is a sedative. We’re pacified by the y2k nostalgia, its aesthetic simplicity, feelings of camaraderie—of being one of the girls. For an overstimulated person who’s looking at their fingers a lot, this can be a powerful psychic release. I started exclusively getting red pedicures to force myself into neutral manicures, like the French, for exactly this reason. Beauty Xanax.