Quite aside from reaching for another layer – or an umbrella – before running out the door, you know the season is changing when everyone starts switching the colour of their manicure.
Recently there’s been an inescapable wave of popularity for the understated, nude-pink manicure. You may have updated it slightly with a sheen of chrome, or the pearlescent shine of cat-eye polish, but the minimalist mani has reigned over the summer months.
However we noticed a theme, confirmed by our nail technician, on entering the nail salon over the weekend. Everyone was asking for a specific, deep wine-red hue for their polish or builder-gel manicures, on either squared-off, or elegant oval tips.
Of course we jumped right in too, knowing the look is a perennial classic.
It might be popular right now, given all things berry and cherry is dominating the beauty world, but dark red has been beloved for autumn and winter manicures for decades. Cases in point? Popular nail polish brand OPI included the deep-red shade ‘Malaga Wine’ in it’s 1989 launch collection and it remains one of our go-to’s, and one of the brand’s core shades today. Essie’s vampire-red ‘Shearling Darling’ was released in a winter collection in 2013, but remains wildly popular.
Chanel’s ‘Rouge Noir’ is perhaps the world’s best known deep-red shade, first debuted at the A/W ’94 Chanel fashion show in Paris, but is said to be inspired by a fabric shade Coco Chanel favoured way back in the 1920s. It was initially named ‘Vamp’ and was famously worn by Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, ‘Pulp Fiction’. The moment helped boost the popularity of the shade, which still remains a best-seller.
To find the perfect dark-red polish, the key is to find a shade with a shiny, cream finish and a depth of colour that is created with only two coats.
If you’re DIYing your mani instead of visiting the salon, with dark polish colours, it’s important to use a good base coat, to ensure your nail beds don’t yellow or stain thanks to the intensity of pigment. Look for a strong but gentle nail polish remover when it comes time to remove the polish too, this colour can be difficult to remove, and linger on any dry cuticles.
Because the same hue is popular year-in, year-out, there are some iconic polishes we always reach for. To help you achieve the same perfect deep red autumn manicure, here are five of the best polishes to pick:
Best deep red nail polishes to try:
L-R: Dior Vernis Nail Polish in ‘Nuit 1947’; OPI Nail Lacquer in Malaga Wine; Essie Nail Polish in ‘Shearling Darling’; CND VINYLUX in ‘Cherry Apple’; Chanel Le Vernis in ‘Rouge Noir’.
