The Nails Inc Nailkale Nail Polish Windsor Mews on a weekday dreaming.
If the name of the nail polish shade itself isn’t enticing enough – just think of somerset meadows and a walk down Oxford Street on a bright sunny day – perhaps the colour of the polish will be.
Windsor Mews is my first Nails Inc lacquer, which I delightfully discovered at a random Sephora trip. I was looking out for a classic, elegant and timeless shade that wasn’t over the top nor would give people the impression that I was all about serious business. I swatched this shade once and I was sold. Here’s why.
The bottle is of a good size and is heavy-bottomed. This means that it will sit well on the table and you don’t have to worry too much about it toppling over if you accidentally knock into it. The fact that it’s rectangular with concave sides means it also fits differently in your hand. I don’t have a preference for blocks in terms of packaging, but it sure is nice to have a variation from the usual round or square bottles. The metallic cover can be taken off to reveal a smaller black screw-on brush handle, which makes it easier for applying product on your own nails.
The Nails Inc Nailkale Nail Polish in Windsor Mews.
The best part about the packaging is that you can turn the bottle on its side and then slip your finger underneath it to see what the shade will look like on your own nails. Something like this:
A tester without being tested – how ingenious.
Granted, this special “test without testing” feature can be seen in all of Nails Inc’s nail polishes, so you can bet that I never leave Sephora without trying them out this way.
The brush is another plus point of this polish. I’m not sure if this applies to all of Nails Inc’s polishes, but I love how the brush is wider on one side. This allows for easy application, as the wider part of the brush covers more of your nail with each stroke.
The brush as seen from 90-degree angles. Perfect brush for a stress-free DIY manicure session.
Of course, you’d want to know about the pigmentation and shade of the polish. Who wouldn’t? What I can say is that I was pleasantly surprised with how much colour you can get in one layer. Two layers are enough to get an opaque manicure without streaking. As for the shade, it’s a light dusty purple. The more I think of it, the more I feel that under sunlight, it looks something like or nee or our local $2 bill. But that’s not very romantic. Maybe ice cream and smoothies are better.
{You might need to refresh your browser to see the Instagram photo of the swatch I’ve embedded in this post.}
Lavender overload.
Nails Inc sells this product as part of their Nailkale range, which boasts nail kale extract that’s known to contain high amounts of vitamins A, C and K for healthier nails. It’s also formulated with the brand’s patented Regenerating Complex, which is a blend of aldehyde, zinc and calcium. However, I’m not convinced that this range gives you healthier nails. Not at all. Let’s start with the list of ingredients used.
Ingredient List:
Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol/Trimellitic Anhydride Copolymer, Isopropyl Alcohol, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Acrylates Copolymer, Stearalkonium Bentonite, Steyrene/Acrylates Copolymer, N-Butyl Alcohol, Silica, Benzophenone-1, Diacetone Alcohol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Hexanal, Lauraldhyde, Zinc Acetylmethionate, Brassica Oleracea Acephala Leaf Extract, Tocopherol and Sodium Benzoate. May contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891),Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Red 34 Lake (CI15880), Black Iron Oxide (CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Red Iron Oxide (CI 77491), Red 6 Lake (CI 15850), Black 2 (CI 77266 [nano]), Ultramarines (CI 77007) and Red 36 (CI 12085).
Looking at the ingredient list, you’ll find kale extract in the form of Brassica Oleracea Acephala leaf extract. It’s not one of the firsts in the list, but I’m not so sure it really matters anyway. While kale has high amounts of vitamins A, C and K, and all of these are beneficial to nails, they are only known to be beneficial when ingested*. This means you must eat them – consume them in your daily diet – as opposed to just apply them onto your nail surface.
Our nails are made up of keratin, just like our hair, and are pretty much dead the moment you can see them. Much is debatable when it comes to how keratin is formed exactly but we know that our bodies process proteins and amino acids from the food we take in, and these are in turn used to form keratin. The more we have protein and amino acids in our diet, the healthier our nails and hair will grow to be. Thus, if you want healthy nails, I strongly suggest you add kale into your diet instead of relying on nail polishes (and snack every day).
I don’t doubt the formulation of the brand’s Regenerating Complex, even though calcium isn’t listed in the ingredient list, because after all, it is patented. I’m just not sure I believe it’s very effective in giving you healthy nails. To give you an idea, although zinc does give you healthy nails, you also have to ingest it – like kale. Calcium, while an important building block of bones, is present in our nails in such minute concentrations that it’s not enough to justify the strength of our nails.
(To that tune, drinking milk gives you stronger bones but it does not in any way make you nails grow faster or healthier. Try bananas instead.)
So while I really like everything about the Nails Inc Nailkale Nail Polish, I’m just not convinced my nails are getting the rejuvenating spa treatment they deserve. If you get this polish, it should only be because of the following reasons:
- It’s affordable.
- You can get it in Sephora, so it’s pretty easy to find.
- The sleek, functional packaging is awesome. I love it.
- The brush makes applying the polish so much easier and stress-free.
- It comes in a colour that is so you.
- The polish has such a gorgeous glossy finish.
- The pigmentation is top-notch.
- The shade, Windsor Mews, is work-safe.
- Alexa Chung collaborations – what else?
I’m definitely getting this in another shade because I just love how the polish looks on my fingers. I can foresee though, that Windsor Mews will be my staple for quite a while to come.
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Happy DIY-ing,
Roxanne
* There are those who oppose the view that your diet affects the health of your nails, although they are but small in numbers. I guess we’ll never be 100% sure about the biology behind our nails until people start dying by the hundreds from nail disease.
Image credits: Curly Girl Kitchen, That’s Just Fabulous & Nomnom.sg