International Klein Blue Is Summer's 'It' Nail Polish Shade

2022-08-09 01:25:29 By : Ms. Aihua Dai

Tamim has been writing about topics including beauty, fashion, wellness, and music for nearly a decade. She has tested thousands of products including skincare, makeup, haircare, and body care. She stays up to date and informed by regularly interviewing and consulting leading experts in the beauty industry including dermatologists, makeup artists, and aestheticians. Tamim has been published in InStyle, Travel+Leisure, Byrdie, Health, Shape, Southern Living, Real Simple, and PEOPLE. She tries any and every product she comes across with a particular appreciation for eye makeup and lip liners.

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I cannot tell you the last time I had a professional manicure done in a single, plain color. I am a nail art person through and through — my fingers are almost always adorned with flower patterns, chrome finishing, cat eye glitter, rhinestones, stickers, etc. But during my last manicure, I did something that surprised even myself; I picked a solid, non-glitzy blue color and didn't add any adornments.

I came across this color on the nail salon's Instagram. It's a deep, rich blue, somewhere along the lines of Frida Kahlo's La Casa Azul and International Klein Blue, a shade first created, and hence named after, artist Yves Klein. When I sat down, I told my nail artist about the post, rifling through my phone to find the photo so I could refer to the hue. Before I could even pull it up, she said, "You don't have to find the photo. I bet I know what blue it is." She came back with a bottle of the exact cobalt, electric, Klein-ish blue shade.

She could tell that I was surprised she had picked the exact blue out of the dozens of options. "This is the most popular color right now. I use it on at least two people every day," she said. Although I tend to be a contrarian, hearing that did nothing to change my mind about my choice of nail polish shade.

I'm so glad I trusted my first instinct because wearing this bright blue on my nails felt like the inauguration of summer. It makes me think of the beaches in Sardinia, the wind while taking the ferry to the Rockaways, and Edward Hopper's pool paintings.

If you'd like to get this summer's shade with an at home manicure, here are five options: Nails Inc's Summers Street and Cirque Colors NYFW are what I'd consider the truest Klein Blues. Essie's Butler shade is a subdued, but still a lightly electric shade of blue, and OPI's Tile Art to Warm Your Heart is the darkest option. Lastly, I threw in ILNP's Blueprint, a glitter option for the maximalists.

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