Killer Manicure

Women in Mexico have started a killer beauty trend— scorpion manicures. They’re applying dead Durango bark scorpions to their nails as decorations. Salon workers use tweezers to position the poisonous arachnids, a class of animals that also includes spiders, on clients’ nails. Workers then glue the scorpions in place by covering them with clear nail polish.

The strange style began in Durango, Mexico—known as the scorpion capital of the country. The city has a thriving business that involves catching scorpions to mount on key rings, clocks, and other items. Lupita García, an artist and a scorpion enthusiast in Durango, suggested mounting the arachnids on fingernails to a friend who owns a beauty parlor.

The scorpions that get applied to clients’ nails still have their stingers intact. In the wild, scorpions use these tail-like body parts to deliver a painful dose of venom to predators or to immobilize prey. As soon as the arachnids die, though, the toxins in their venom start to break down. That makes the risk of getting poisoned by the scorpions used in nail art fairly low, says Lauren Esposito, a scorpion expert at the California Academy of Sciences.

The sting from a live Durango bark scorpion isn’t just uncomfortable—it’s life-threatening. The scorpion’s sting can kill an adult human in 15 minutes. García has survived being stung three separate times. Luckily, if a person gets stung, there’s an antivenom—a medicine that counteracts a specific venom. “As long as you get to a hospital quickly, you should be OK,” says Esposito.