As a beauty editor who has her fingertips on the pulse of the latest nail trends, I have a confession to make: I find my own nail upkeep tricky. Whenever I sit down in the chair with a nail technician, I can see their eyes widen at my ragged cuticles and thin nails that are crying out for cuticle oil after picking off my gel nails (I know it’s wrong, but I almost do it subconsciously). The saying goes “Nails are jewels, not tools,” but you can best believe I’m ripping open my post with my nails and generally ignoring most advice when it comes to growing long, strong nails. Whoops. I also don’t have the patience for painting my nails at home. I’m impatient and inevitably end up smudging 20 minutes’ worth of work and ultimately having to start from scratch again.
Despite that, I have dreams of my nails looking healthy and strong. And while I don’t have the time nor funds to commit to regular nail appointments or sit down to paint my nails at home to then only smudge them, I’ve found a quick and easy way to make my nails look their healthiest as I (try) to grow them long. The answer? Blush nails.
I had been seeing Dior’s covetable Nail Glow doing the rounds on my feed and loved the sheer yet bright wash of pink that it gives to the nail bed. It’s almost like a cream blusher for your nails, helping to impart a healthy flush to the nail beds. The blush nail trend (or blushing nails we’re coining it at Who What Wear) has kept cropping up on my IG, so I took it as a sign to give it a go myself.
I picked up a bottle of Nails Inc Glowing Out Nail Illuminator (£9)—a bit of a dupe for Dior’s Nail Glow—and I’ve never looked back. It’s now my go-to when I want my nails to look neat without having to spend ages applying polish. The sheer pink tint gives my nails a healthy flush in one coat and dried down so quickly that I don’t need to worry about smudging them. It’s also sheer enough that when it does eventually chip it’s not as noticeable as an opaque polish—which is great if you’re low-maintenance like me. That being said, you can level up the brightness of the polish with a couple of coats, which gives you a vibrant yet sheer hint of colour.
Up Next, These Are the Only 2023 Nail Trends That You Need to Know
