The Cheap Secret To ‘Rich Girl’ Nails
My nails have been in the wars. For starters, I’ve been a nail-biter and picker since day dot, ripping my scraggles to shreds. Secondly, I’ve dabbled in almost every nail trend – acrylic, SNS, shellac, BIAB, at home – and have peeled off almost every single one of them rather than having them properly removed by a professional.
For this reason, I’ve had ridged, brittle, broken and rather fugly nails for far too long and I’m seeking a healthy alternative for my poor pongas.
Enter Nail Glow. AKA nail tints that promise to be the ‘healthiest’ manicure you can get.
What is a nail glow?
Great question. It’s a low-chemical nail tint that works as a barely-there sheer wash of colour to sit on top of and protect your natural nails while giving a little flash of a pinky hue.
If that read like pure beauty jargon, the simplest translation is that a nail glow is essentially a lip oil for your fingers. Cute, right?!
Is a nail glow healthy for your nails?
Look, I’d be lying if I said that adding anything to your nails is better than leaving them bare and drinking more milk, but as nail polishes go, this is about as healthy as it gets.
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They are a less-heavy formula that you don’t need to use full-on stripping chemicals to yionk off your fingers, plus most nail tints also offer a slew of good-for-your-nail-bed ingredients (like almond oil or AHAs) to help drag up the health of your nails.
What does nail glow actually look like?
Don’t be expecting anything dramatic, cos a nail tint / nail glow goes for more of that ‘your nails, but better’ market. It’s just a semi-sheer colour wash over your natural nails, and most only come in a pinky hue, so they’re a far cry away from chrome nail art.
Instead, it’ll be a dewy-looking light pink wash over whatever colour your nails are. It definitely lives in the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ space and is a great basic everyday nail to choose in between your dramatic nail art times.
What happens during a nail tint manicure?
While you can get a ‘nail tint’ manicure in the salon, it involves no metal tools. No drilling. No shaving. Just one coat of ‘nail tint’ to give your nails a subtle, glossy, glowy effect.
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For that reason, you might want to skip the nail technician fees and do it yourself at home – especially as the pigment is near-sheer so it looks way less obvious when you mess up your bad hand.
What’s the best nail glow polish?
The bottle that kicked off the nail tint hype was definitely the Dior Vernis Nail Glow Polish which literally looks like a lip oil in a nail polish bottle. This comes in one shade only (a sheer baby pink) and will set you back $42 from Myer.
But since Dior dropped this nail tint, a fair few other brands have hopped on the nail glow bandwagon, bringing out their own imitations.
The current faves appear to be the OPI Nail Envy Pink To Envy Nail Polish Strengthener ($39.95 from Myer), the Essie Hard To Resist Nail Strengthener Pink Tint ($8.97 from Chemist Warehouse) and the MANUCURIST Active Glow Nail Polish ($30.50 from Selfridges).
I’m definitely sold on nail tints and will report back if they can bring my scabby fingers back from the brink.
Image credit: @samantharudge.beauty + @glossifyofficial + @glossifyofficial