By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 23, 2013
First things first. Nail polish can make a big statement, or a subtle one. And that depends on what colours you choose. With fall comes deep, rich, and dusky hues – but you can still capture the brightness that comes with the season. Here’s a guide to a few colours to try.
The bloods
This is my personal word for the smooth and very dark colours – espresso, oxblood, rich greens, royal purple, or maroon. I like to think of them as the lifeblood of colours. These colours can bring life to a textured but colourless winter outfit. Winter styles often have the interesting fabrics—knits, furs, and layers—but are generally grey, black, or a neutral tan. Apply an unforgettable shade of dark nail polish, and voilà! A wintry spark has been added to your look.
Dark polish is often intimidating, because either it’s flawless or it’s flawed. There really is no middle ground because the colour stands out so much – every imperfection is noticeable. Three things to keep in mind: the nail form, the coats, and the touch-ups. I’ll deal with the proper application of polish in next week’s column.
For the nail form, the key is to keep it understated. No vampy Rihanna nails. The colour is the dramatic eye-catcher; keep it clean-cut and regular length. If you have fairly short fingers, however, having the nail a bit longer and rounded at the top will elongate your fingers. Nails cut too short can give the impression of stubby fingers.
The shiners
Metallics! They are a beautiful thing. They seem to match everything, and they have that extra festive shine. They are definitely replacing the glitter polish, which, in my opinion, is only really wearable at a Christmas or New Year’s party. Metallics, though, are versatile. There are tons of different metallic sheens on traditional wintry colours that create a full, shade-shifting colour. You can have a frost finish, a pearl, or a foil sheen.
Foil sheen is a more subdued form of glitter finish, which can be a bit much. I generally would lean towards keeping it classy rather than glitzy (unless you’re going to a club … Go crazy for the club).
New holographic and duo chrome polishes—which change shades in the reflection of light—are coming into style and can be fun to play around with. Bright pinks and lighter hues under a metallic sheen can be a bit too much, and would likely clash with, well, any outfit. I’m not just talking about gold, silver, and copper.
Try a blood colour – oxblood, dark green, or midnight blue. Or try it with a subdued autumn neutral such as pale yellow, burnt orange, or sea green.
The classics
The classics don’t jump out at you immediately. But when you see the soft, neutral nails of the girl sitting next to you, or the cashier, or your buddy, you immediately think, “they’ve got their shit together!” Nails are noticeable, and I think people underestimate that. You deal with people using your hands daily—hourly—and we notice each other’s hands. Neutral and soft colours in autumn fashion reflect the colours of the season.
Take a look outside. The skies are a cold, pale blue or grey-white. The forests are a soft olive or mossy green. The leaves are a pale yellow, or a musky orange. (No. Not neon. Don’t you even dare.)
Generally speaking, blood colours have a creme finish, which is the usual one we are all familiar with. The classics, however, go quite well with a matte finish, which has no shine at all.
I’d lean towards keeping it subdued, but you can also try suede, which is also matte but has shimmer to it. Because the classics don’t stand out at all, they are versatile. Short nails, very long nails, rings and bracelets … Even if you have an electric blue scarf, you can pull off pretty much any classic nail colour.
