Growing up, I had an obsession with nail polish. I would raid my Mom’s collection for something that caught my eye and ask her to paint my nails, always fascinated by the difference in both of our techniques. As I got older, I would sneak a few shades into the shopping cart while at the supermarket. I always hoped my Mom wouldn’t notice until we were at the checkout so that she wouldn’t say anything. But nope, I was always caught. Thankfully, though, she was a sucker for nail polish just like me and would let it slide once in a while.
Later, as I spent my afternoons after a long day of learning in high school searching for something to help me unwind, I discovered the newly growing world of YouTube beauty. As watching tutorials became a thing that people did, I became even more fascinated with nail polish. My little mind was absolutely smitten by colourful nail design! Wait, actually, let’s backtrack for just a second. I’m sure you can remember the popularity of French tips in the early 2000’s and even before then. This was as crazy as my dabbling in nail art got as a pre-teen. It was the epitome of elegance, and I would spend my self-manicure sessions trying to perfect my white tips as they always started out a tad wonky. I must also mention my Mom’s love for pinky-nude translucent polishes. Totally simple, yet perfectly classic. I must have inherited my Mom’s love for those shades because my nails were always dipped in them. So, flash-forward to the YouTube era. It completely changed all things beauty, but especially nails for me. Painting my nails was something I already loved doing — though something I could never do without smudging a few fingers before they were dry! And now with all the possibilities of design (stripes, polka dots, miniature drawings even!) I was attracted to colour more than ever. Goodbye nudes! Actually I’m just kidding, pinky-nudes were always a staple, but I was seriously into the rest of the nail polish rainbow. This was a new way to be creative for me. Always heart-breaking when I messed up (which was often), but it was so easy to start over with the swipe of polish remover!
As I ventured out of high-school, too aware of either the messiness of funky designs or how many colours rarely suited me, I fell hard for nudes once again. As mentioned, I was never out of love with them. Really. Pretty much every few months either my Mom or I would buy another version of some peachy pinky translucent nude, only to find something similar in the bathroom cupboard at home. Call it a problem, I don’t care, LOL! This new one was either juuust a bit more pink or subtly more peach than the ones we already had. That justifies it, no?
So lately I had been on the hunt for something to refresh my translucent nude collection. If you have any of these polishes, you likely know of how they tend to thicken quicker than others over time and become a pain to apply or dry. As I was browsing the Essie section at the store, my eyes luckily landed on ‘Skinny Dip’. I was hoping to find something that would give me a classic manicure, you know, nothing too fussy. Just elegant. I also wanted something brighter than my current polishes as they were dulling me out. Something with a little pop, as though to say: here I am in all my glory!
And I think this is what I like about these translucent shades. They vary in so many tones (which is at times tedious when finding the right one for you; no testers = big problem!), but that means there’s one out there for most skin tones. And, in my opinion, this type of manicure is the best. Easy to do on your own, but classic enough that it really does make your nails shine in their perfect glory! It’s the manicure, in my books, that can do no wrong. This is why ‘Skinny Dip’ has been my favourite for a few months now. I know it’ll be so for many more to come!
What do you think of this shade? Do you love translucent polishes over others, like me?
