“Never wear white after Labor Day.”
While I definitely take cues from fashion rules, this one is a little bit harder to follow. Especially living in Southern California, where the weather is as hot as your Venti PSL through the end of November. With Labor Day coming up tomorrow, I decided to shine a spotlight on white polishes – my favorite brands and a fun negative space mani!
White Nail Polish Showdown – Top White Nail Polish Picks
I tested out four white polishes: Essie, OPI, Ulta and Sally Hansen. I’ve been a religious Blanc user for years, but it was never the perfect white. It turns out that it’s actually not even in my top two from this test!
First thing I learned from trying out the polishes is that it’s really hard to photograph white nail polish and make it look true to life. Above are the four bottles and their corresponding swatches. You probably can’t tell, but the winner is…
OPI’s Alpine Snow (shown on pointer finger). A close second was Ulta’s Snow White (ring finger). Sally Hansen came in dead last. It was streaky and not opaque at all in two coats. Sadly, Essie Blanc wasn’t much better – still streaky and not very user friendly compared to the wide OPI brush or creamy consistency of Ulta’s Snow White.
Now that we’ve figured out which white does the job best, let’s chat about negative space manicures. First, make sure you have a good base coat that won’t peel off with striping tape, which can leave the unpolished area uneven. Next, tape off your negative space design and paint finger by finger, peeling off the tape before the polish dries. It’s the perfect subtle mani for Labor Day… and every day after that!
Happy Reading!