Samantha Murray Greenway.
Taking care and having fun with your nails is an easy way to update a look, says
My grandmother’s favourite beauty tip has been reinvented on TikTok. Before bed (probably after a day of gardening), she’d apply hand cream, smooth Vaseline over the top, slip-on white cotton gloves and wake up to beautifully soft hands and the kind of cuticles that don’t resist when you try and push them down.
The process of using an oily emollient over a water-based cream in a bid to seal in the moisture formed the basis for last year’s high-shine facial beauty trend. The effect was rather meanly labelled the “glazed doughnut”. Now the technique has migrated to hands, with a focus on fingernails. On TikTok they’ve christened it nail slugging.
Despite the name, I’m not surprised it’s caught on. The simple fix is gratifyingly transformative. During lockdown, all that constant daubing with hand sanitiser left me with palms the texture of sandpaper. I reverted to the hand-me-down remedy (minus gloves – even if I wanted to sleep in them, I’m not sure who sells such things these days) and, just like Granny, I was left with miraculously smooth hands.
There’s something about the process of simply moisturising your hands and buffing your nails. It’s one of those small but mighty changes that can pack a morale-boosting punch, a bit like wearing good underwear: no-one else needs to know about it, but it’ll make you feel good from the ground up.
And then of course, taken to the next level with a manicure (DIY or otherwise), it becomes an affordable pick-me-up on par with a new lipstick.
I was on the London Underground last November, squished between two 20-somethings discussing in fascinating detail their “Christmas nails”. Even if you can’t be bothered to dress-up, there’s joy in expressing style via manicure. Take the skittle trend – each nail painted a different candy-bright colour. Or the pretty, soupedup version of that wedding day favourite, the French manicure. This time around, while the nail bed still looks like a pastel sugared almond, the sickle moon-shaped tips aren’t painted white but sing-out in colourful dayglo splendour.
Experience has taught me to leave nail extensions and gels to those whose nails won’t get wrecked and broken for weeks afterwards. I file my natural nails short and add a non-toxic polish. JINsoon Nail Lacquer is the fashion world’s favourite, named for the New York-based nail artist who works with photographers such as Steven Meisel and designers such as Marc Jacobs. Mecca stocks a good selection of the 60-plus colour range, which is vegan-friendly, free from harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde or lead and is not animal-tested.
Alternatively head online to the brilliantlynamed website, It’s Organic Darling, where the recent spate of hot weather in parts of the country and subsequent jandal-wearing has seen a surge in sales of Australian brand Hanami’s vegan, water-permeable “plant polish”. “It’s a great nail polish that stays on long and doesn’t chip, and we like the brand because it fits with our no nasties policy,” says owner of the Whangaparāoa-based website, Lesley Dobson.
Whether you take your favourite colour to a local nail bar or do it at home, prepped skin makes a difference. You could go the overnight double-layering route or, for instant results, try what is apparently Rihanna’s requested hand cream, Weleda Skin Food. It’s been going since 1926, smells beautifully herbal and is an excellent onestop-shop.