Back to black

I am a fan of black nail polish. In editorial. When it looks all glossy and neat, when it's paired with a super-cool outfit (probably including studs or feathers), painted onto short, sweet nails all ultra precise and lovely by some uber nail tech-trix. Then – and only then – does it look amazing.

At home, black just isn't the same – it often looks very DIY because it's totally unforgiving, so it's probably a bit messy, jagged round the edges, marked from your bedsheets or iffily smudged around the cuticle region, where a bright or nude colour could get away with not being superbly applied. What's more, black polishes tend to need at least three coats, even if you use a good brand (Essie, par exemple) and this only exacerbates the risk of mess-up.

What's more, I think black nail polish has a strong tendency to look a bit like door paint, or undercoat. That nasty not-matte not-gloss compromise ... a sort of Satinwood for nails. And that I do not like. I bring good news, though: I have happened upon a solution. Credit must be given to the therapists at Glow Urban Spa who introduced me to this little trick about a year ago... I've only just cottoned onto this as a home trick, though. It's tres simple. Paint on two coats of navy, dark green, dark red, or similar – whatever you want. Then finish with one thin coat of black – Essie's Licorice is ideal, or I'm using Bourjois So Laque! in Noir de Chine. It looks black, but not dull like house paint. You get the depth of the underneath colour which sort of tones the black, so it's almost imperceptible as a deep deep deep dark blue and just looks like a really great 'shade' of black. Somehow it also looks glossier, though a coat of Jessica Brilliance top-coat won't do any harm.

Hurrah! Smart girl's goth nirvana.