How to create a Nail Wardrobe 101

Someone once told me that the key to looking polished was having clean, well groomed nails. If you are someone like me, and use their hands a lot during conversations, then your nails are probably the first thing that people will see. Hence it is important to keep them well groomed.

Over the years, I have figured out the colours I enjoy wearing and curated a collection of nail polishes in various shades of those colours. The key to creating a wearable nail wardrobe is having nail lacquers in shades that you really like and are versatile.

In this post, I’m sharing my top picks from my collection.

Top coat:

Nail purists will say that a base coat is as important as a top coat, however, I like to cheat a little. While I may not always wear a base coat, I always, wear a top coat. A good top coat should make your nail polish dry quickly, make the colour last longer and add a shiny lacquer texture to the nails.

This Seche Vite Top Coat does all of the above. I usually do my nails as the last thing before going to bed at the end of a weekend. Before this top coat, I would often end up with marks on my nail lacquer because it hadn’t dried correctly, even after waiting over an hour to go to bed. This top coat dries in about 5-10 minutes and I have never had an issues of waking up with marked nails since using it!

I love a good french manicure, however, I can honestly admit that I am not the best at either doing one myself or maintaining one that I get done professionally. However, the Dior Nail Glow is the one product that makes the pinks of my nails pinker and the white tips whiter. When you put the first coat on, it looks like a clear top coat, however on building the second and third coat, you can see a natural ‘glow’ to the nails. They still look like your nails, just cleaner and more put together.

Nudes:

I have a problem when it comes to nude nail polishes. Over time, I have collected a lot of them! It is that instant chic mannequin nail look that I find, I’m after. I love the Estee Lauder collection of nudes, as they have one for each skin tone. My perfect shade is So Vain. This is my third bottle of this shade.

My second favourite is Essie Demure Vixen. This colour is almost dual toned. The base is nude, however, it has subtle mauve flecks of shimmer, the end result is a beautiful nude-mauve colour.

Pinks:

The variety of shades in pink is so vast, that depending on what you like, your nails can look like they are prepped for a wedding or all ready for a summer holiday.

In my case, funnily enough, I wore the stereo typical holiday pink- Essie Secrect Stash on my wedding day and often wear the light baby pink- H&M Nail Lacquer in Chalky Pink, on holidays. Why you may ask; the truth is, my wedding being a traditional Indian wedding, needed the bright fuchsia pink so that my nails wouldn’t look too pale compared to my outfits.

As for wearing a light pink on holiday, I find it relatively hassle free to wear a light colour rather than bright colour, in case it chips off.

Reds:

When it comes to red, I have two favourite shades, a deeper, blood red- Tom Ford Bordeaux Lust, that I often wear in the winter and a lighter, apple red- Essie Aperitif, that I wear all year around when I crave red nails. The Essie red also makes for an excellent colour for toes nails, all year around.

Purples:

I like a variety of purples, mauves, violets, lilacs when it comes to nail colours. My favourites are a very violet-Tom Ford African Violet and the deep raisin coloured Tom Ford Black Cherry. Both shades are very different from each other and yet both make a perfect statement nail colour.

Blues:

As a child, my mum dint allow me to paint my nails until I was 12, and when I could finally paint my nails, the two colours I wasn’t allowed to wear were black and blue. ‘It’s very un-ladylike!’ she would say in her most proper tone. To this date, I can’t wear black on my nail, blue however, is a very different story. If the colours are chosen well, blue can actually look very chic.

Chanel Blue Boy is my favourite blue to wear in the summers. It looks fabulous when paired with denim and white, making it a great holiday colour as well.

I have owned this H&M blue in Midnight Mystery for a few years now. I must say, it is a really good quality polish as compared to the negligible price I paid for it. I have often found myself wearing it all year around.

Tom Ford Indigo Night is, as the name suggests a deep Indigo with flecks of subtle blue shimmer. This this the closest shade to black I have ever worn, and I love that it looks really sophisticated when put on. I often find myself wearing this during the colder months.