Something very interesting has happened to the nails of women we know, during lockdown – backed up by chatting to a manicurist, recently.

With regular salon manicures off the menu, and with many of us choosing to leave nails bare, our natural nails have become infinitely stronger and more resilient. Where once we would have had to wear polish just for protection against flaking and splitting and snapping, our nails have turned from the equivalent of seven-stone weaklings into strongmen. (Or women.)

But… you know, after a while, it gets boring to glance down and see a naked nail, yet again. So when these landed on our desks from natural nail brand Kure Bazaar – who’ve scooped several Beauty Bible Awards, over time – Jo decided to take them for a spin.

The two shimmers - one pinky-gold (Or Rose), one ever so slightly blue-mauve (Flamingo) – have done duty on Jo’s fingernails, kissing them with a bit of Tinkerbell stardust. (Just one coat is all you need, to be honest.)

The classic red, meanwhile (Chérie) made it onto Jo’s toes for a just-in-time pedicure before lockdown, and is a very cheering sight when she takes off her socks.

What’s really astonishing is that these non-toxic formulas are up to 85% natural based on wood pulp, wheat, cotton, potatoes and corn – yet they last ages on the nail, are shiny as anything conventional and have great colour intensity. Absolutely no clue how they pull this off, but they do.

We probably won’t ever go back to regular salon manicures, preferring to do our nails at home from time to time (and leaving them bare in between, to recover). The habit is broken. But it is really nice, for a change, to look down and see a hand twinkling prettily…

£15 each – buy here

Prize Draws