For the sake of full disclosure, let me start off by confessing that I am without question, a nail polish addict. My friends constantly poke fun at me when I paint my nails for the third time a week, or complain that all my lacquers will no longer fit in my (fairly large) Tupperware container that I use for polish storage. I have never actually counted how many colors I have in my collection, but let’s just say that it’s more than a few dozen (at least).
Recently, however, I have developed a problem -- well, sort of. What is my problem, you ask? Lately, I’ve had an aversion to color on my finger tips; basically, I find myself removing any colorful shade within minutes of painting my nails, and replacing the polish instead with a sheer pink or beige color (FYI, my go-to is cult favorite, Essie in “Mademoiselle”). Now, for the normal, non-nail-polish-obsessed folk, this probably doesn’t seem like a problem at all. However, for me, this is completely out of character. Furthermore, my endless collection of pigmented shades is totally going to waste. I don’t even want to think about the cash I dished out for all those shades that I “had to have” that are now collecting dust.
Given that my sudden gravitation to plain, nude nails is so out of character, I decided to do a little investigating. From where exactly is my current aversion to color truly stemming? My first thought was my job search. Just like many of my fellow college seniors nationwide, I am currently on the hunt for employment. Of course, interviews and networking sessions demand professional attire and grooming, which pretty much rules out any sort of color on the nails. But I don’t actually enjoy donning my business casual, and job hunting isn’t exactly my first choice of activity. So this could not possibly be the reason I actually found myself wanting to keep my nails bare, right?
After a while, I gave up on wondering what happened to my colorful polish obsession. Of course, as we all well know, once you stop searching for something, it usually turns up right away. I was surfing the Web, looking at my go-to beauty and fashion blogs, when BAM, I stumbled across this article that I read back in October. And viola, I had my answer. To sum it up, Chanel told us way back during Paris S/S ’13 that French manicures were the new thing, and given that the geniuses at Chanel are basically the gods of nail polish, I must have listened (even without realizing it). Now, to be sure, I am not sitting in my room giving myself French manis, but I think my gravitation to sheer pinks and nudes may stem from Chanel’s prophecy.
So for now, as much as I’m hesitant to admit it, I’m all about the sheer, barely-there nail polish kind of look. Given my history of polish-obsession and my fairly impressive lacquer collection, my new preference may diminish quickly. But for now, bring on the nude.
Chanel S/S '13
(Courtesy: Beauty Editor)
Essie "Mademoiselle", essie.com, $8
