NEW YORK, June 17 — TikTok is full of beauty tips designed to make users’ daily lives easier while reducing their beauty budget. And while some of them are surprising, others are verging on crazy. Take, for example, the ‘peanut butter nail,’ a new and totally unexpected trick that involves finishing false nails with peanut butter. It’s the beauty hack you never knew you needed...

Beauty and food often go hand in hand when it comes to drawing on nature’s bounty to meet the needs of our skin. But TikTokers are taking the idea further, to a point where anything goes. The social network’s users are now using a surprising foodstuff, peanut butter, to achieve the most original of manicures. Here, nail extensions are finished not with polish, but with this popular processed spread — and to surprising effect.

The nail artist @ilysmnails, followed by nine million people on the Chinese social network, was among the first adopters of peanut butter nails. Accustomed to creative manicures, often resorting to food for the finishing touch, the nail artist surprised her followers by using peanut butter to bring a surprising new finish to acrylic nail extensions. Unconventional and tasty, perhaps, but far from practical.

In a video viewed nearly 20 million times, the user starts by spreading a thick layer of peanut butter on one of her nails, then covers it with a clear acrylic nail, before removing the excess with a spoon. The final step is to fill in the gaps by dipping the nail in the jar of peanut spread, then smooth and finish it with a makeup brush. Some rhinestones are then added by the nail artist for an (even) more glamorous look.

The process may seem surprising, and it probably isn’t great in terms of food waste, but it has nevertheless managed to attract the interest of tens of thousands of TikTok users. However, most of them remain sceptical about this beauty trick — if not to say outraged. "This goes too far,” "I’m calling the police,” "I’m screaming, crying, throwing up, why would you do this?,” "You cannot be serious” are among the many comments posted under the video.

And when they’re not appalled, users seem to see the funny side with comments like "I’m allergic to peanut butter,” "And my parents telling me not to play with food” or "Lil snack for when you get hungry.” Still, on the whole, it’s better not to play with food — of any kind — and to make do with a good old coat of nail varnish, or even a professional manicure or nail extensions at your local salon. — ETX Studio