I must admit that I’ve always had a bit of a thing for white nail polish. When I was younger and forbidden from buying nail polish I turned to extreme alternatives to get my lacquer fix and so Tippex it was. I’d paint it on during registration and then slowly pick it off throughout the day so it was undetectable by the time I got home. Gross and pretty lame, but true. Then French manicure fever kicked in and thankfully by that time I was allowed to buy nail polish with my pocket money. Sidenote: my Mum’s wariness of me and nail polish due to my clumsy tendencies were later confirmed while I was having an indie phase and accidentally spilt nail polish down my white walls whilst painting my then-boyfriend’s and my own nails in a fetching shade of black. Lovely – but back to the other side of the colour spectrum for now… I went through countless bottles of white nail polish during that French mani phase and became quite a pro at striping the tips on sans those little sticky half moon guides. Painting French manicures while listening to Usher and gossiping about boys in our bedrooms was our favourite past time.
In more recent years white has crept into my nail polish collection under the guise of muted pastels; be it a cream-laced lilac or a very pale mint and during the summer especially I loved the contrast of these takes on white when paired with a sun-kissed complexion and a load of rings. It’s a look I’ve loved for years. So when I spotted The New White Collection from Nails Inc in Colette when I was in Paris a few weeks ago, I knew what I needed to do on my return. I stalked out my local Boots with no avail and eventually found half the collection in stock in John Lewis. There are four colours in total and I managed to get my hands on Swan Street and Lilly Road.
Swan Street was the one of the four that instantly screamed out as a must-buy. A very, very pale minty blue, I could tell it was the one I was going to get on with the most. Sure I have mints, but I don’t have anything like this in my nail polish drawer and I was pleasantly surprised by the application. As with any white-toned polish it required a steady hand and a patience to wait for drying between coats, but if I’d been a bit heavier with my layers I reckon it could have been done in two coats. I kept it safe and went for thin layers and instead it took three lots but the finish was 100% opaque and brush streak free (see picture above). The other one I picked up was Lilly Road a straight-up baby pink that has a touch of Essie Fiji about it (another shade that I love). It’s the same story as Swan Street; three coats does the trick and it requires a lot of love and patience but the end result is a nicely polished pink nail.
Being so chuffed with my purchases, I recently threw in a third shade from the collection when I was placing a House of Fraser order and so White Horse Street is currently winging its way to me. It’s taking all my will power not to complete the quad. ‘I do not need another off-white nail polish’, ‘I do not need another off-white nail polish’, ‘I do need another off-white nail polish’…
Comments