One Small Thing: A Nail Polish That Forgives All Errors

There are a few small beauty rituals I partake in order to feel slightly less like a lizard hiding in a human suit. I feel undone, for example, if I’m not wearing mascara. A tiny bit of perfume or nice-smelling deodorant makes me feel fancier. But if I have clean, unchipped nail polish on my nails? I might as well be a movie star in full-glam.

I’ve always enjoyed painting my nails at home (and the 20 minutes or so after in which I can’t do anything besides melt into my couch and watch Love Island in case my delicate paint job gets smooshed, whoopsie!) But I can’t paint my nails like the pros at my local salon, and I also put my hands through enough hand dishwashing, scalp scrubbing, and general wear-and-tear that my polish never lasts as long as I want it to.

Pre-pandemic I had gotten into a vicious and frankly expensive cycle of getting gel nails, which are lovely and make me feel like a classier version of myself. But in lockdown, I ditched the routine because I wouldn’t dare, and—for the most part— I couldn’t enter a salon. My routine also got lazier and lazier, as my pretty dresses were replaced with sweats and my full-face make-up routine was replaced with moisturizer. Enter glitter nail polish, which creates the most mind-numbingly easy manicure.

Over the pandemic, I got obsessed with essie’s Luxeffects glitter polish, in both gold and silver. All I have to do is paint it on my bare nails, two coats max, and my nails look great. The muted color palette keeps my nails from looking like I stepped out of Claire’s (which isn’t a bad look, to be honest) and the glitter flakes are large enough that the polish isn’t a pain in the ass to remove like a lot of glitter polishes. And if it chips, I just go over the holes with a little touch-up. No more wiping away at the edges of your nail bed if your dark color bleeds, no more noticeable chips. Get glitter nail polish and sleep at night knowing that even if everyone in your life won’t forgive your fuck-ups, at least your nail polish will!

One Small Thing only features products we paid for ourselves. We have not been sent samples or otherwise bribed.