There’s a reason why nail polish hasn’t featured that heavily round these parts recently and that’s because I’ve been in a bit of a lacquer funk recently. I must admit that I’ve never been too fond of the act of painting my nails; sometimes I can find it relaxing, but often I find it a bit of a chore. Especially given the fact that I have the most chip-prone nail beds ever which means that approximately one hour after painting them there’s already a little knick in one of the tips. I’m heavy handed and have an aversion to washing up gloves mind you, so what can I expect? If it’s not a red then it’s a Nail Inc Porchester Square-y type shade that I tend to reach for and though that will forever be my all-time favourite polish shade, I fancied something a little different and after spotting this colour on Lily’s nails basically every time I’ve seen here in the past six months I knew that I had to give it a go. It’s time to talk, Essie Maximillian Strasse-Her…

I thought that this shade was part of the fancy, thin brush, non-diffusion line and therefore not available in Boots colours, but there it was staring right back at me in the aisles and boy am I glad because now I can see what Lily’s infatuation with this colour is all about. I got it about three weeks ago and have repainted it on about five times which is some kind of record for me as I usually leave a bit of breathing time for my beds between colours. It’s like a duck egg blue with a bit of muted mint thrown in. When Mark first saw it he said ‘Ooooh nice green colour on your nails’, which is like boy code for ‘Why they hell is my girlfriend wearing green nail polish?‘, though he insists that he actually does quite like the colour. I think the reason why I’m into it so much is that it’s a subtle nod to blue, with the grey tone in it bringing it back a tad.

The formula is wicked with two coats dishing out the perfect amount of opaqueness and despite my chippy nails, it doesn’t last too badly. I usually get about four days out of it before it starts to look way too raggedy to work with. Lily, thanks for the heads up on this one. I should have known because when it comes to nails, you’re the colour Queen.