Dior’s new limited edition summer shades feel au naturel in sunny climes
From the niche new beauty brands doing something different, to the industry’s evergreen icons, Sophie Bew opens up AnOther’s dream vanity in a new series...
- Who should use it? Colour-addicts and colour-phobes alike.
- How long until I love it? At first sight – or never.
- How planet-/people-friendly is it? Studies are suggesting that nail nibblers who wear coloured polish are ingesting more formaldehyde (especially with darker shades) than is healthy – so act accordingly!
- How do I use it? Guess!
There are never-nudes and there are ever-nudes. When it comes to nail polish (and perhaps also Mediterranean holidays), I am the latter. Coloured polish – albeit a weekly staple for what feels like at least 40 per cent of the planet – sometimes looks a little clownish to me. There, I said it. Yes, blood red, rouge noir and even black have come to represent, somewhat incongruously, nail-colour neutrals. But isn’t it a little alien? What about icy blue, glitter or gold? When did it become normal for our digits to resemble pieces of lego or tiny toys? I am a purist on these matters: if my talons are polished at all they are merely a glossy upgrade to my fair skin – Essie’s Topless and Barefoot perhaps (see – summer holiday nudity!) or Chanel’s Organdi. Though they are mostly a lazy shade of nothing; on a really good day, they might be buffed.
But lo and behold two of Dior’s Limited Edition new summer shades, with their self-exclaimed “couture colour, gel shine and long wear”. Less concerned am I with the texture – though boy is it shiny – than that delicious formica-topped table palette. Yes, Orange Sienna and Wild Earth may remind one of a 70s carpet backdrop complete with pineapple-and-cheese-sticks straight out of Abigail’s Party but for me they are a freshly-squeezed beach-side orange juice; a condensation-clad frappe glass on a Greek island roof terrace. They are all kinds of terracotta: walls, vases, villas. In which case, they’ll look right at home with a holiday backdrop – perhaps, dare I say it, natural?
