I can’t think of another brand that has got me as excited as Smith & Cult has in recent months. If I’m honest I’ve become a bit obsessed. It all started when I spotted a small display in my local Space NK featuring the lacquers. I hadn’t really heard anyone talking about them and it was love at first sight. The bottles are all big and chunky and the colours inside are right up my street. There are a few glitters in there, but for the most part it’s all opaque creams in a rainbow of wearable shades from blues to berries and greys to greens. They’re pricey though at an eye-watering £19 a bottle, so I picked up just the one, Doe My Dear – which I managed to snag for a £9 with my N.Dulge points, SCORE! – to test the water. Of course it was bloody lovely; long-wearing, beautiful to paint on and in a colour that was surprisingly unique amongst my collection. My obsession began.
A couple of weeks later, again in a Space NK, I picked up another two colours that I posted about here. Both just as beautiful as the first one I’d tried, so I started my online research: googling who the founder was (Dineh Mohajer, the creator of Hard Candy), where it was sold in the UK (currently online and in-store at Space NK and Selfridges), what colours were available in the U.S and we can’t get here (it looks like Space NK online has the biggest range and most of the colours). After a bit of searching I realised that another two colours had to be mine as they were just calling to me from the online swatches that I’d found – Bitter Buddhist and Kings & Thieves. Unfortunately both of them were online-only jobbies at Space NK, but it was well worth the wait…
Bitter Buddhist is what I’d describe as a muted mint, almost like a dirty seafoam. A bit Essie Maximilian-Strasse Her, but less blue and more green. The wide-brush paints on the colour easily and actually I find the paint to dry quickly which makes the whole mani process speedy. Base coat, two coats, top coat – done. It’s one of those colours that’s just interesting – a real ‘can’t stop staring at it‘ shade. Kings & Thieves is a deep, royal blue. A navy, but still bold – it’s a more grown-up version of Nails Inc Baker Street. Again two coats does the job and again I can’t stop staring at it whenever I wear it.
Phew. Can you tell I’m pretty in love with this brand? I would ask for more colour recommendations and though I don’t really wish to calculate how much I’ve already spent on Smith & Cult over the past few months, I’m guessing that it’s probably enough for now. However – I’m intrigued by the quality of the base and top coat they do, given that the colours are so good. Anyone tried them?
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