the perfect nail color

S, who accompanied me for a pre-opera manicure/pedicure yesterday afternoon, long ago turned me on to a beauty secret I will now share with you, worthy readers. I know everyone is convinced that Essie's Ballet Slippers or something equally dull is the perfect nail color but I think the flaw with Ballet Slippers, which I have worn several times myself (my mother used to do nails) is that it looks better on those with lighter skin. It's not impossible to flatter almost all skin shades with a single hue, think of colors like eggplant, which look nice on practically everyone. No, in my opinion, the perfect nail color (and I am so in awe of this shade that I will continue to refer to it just like that, with italics) is Essie's Guchi Muchi Puchi. This pale pink looks as lovely with a tan as with pale wintery skin, and has enough white and pink in it to show up on everyone. It's ladylike, and although I can see it working in a mod sort of way with the right jewelry, it's mostly just timeless. As S once pointed out, the polish fades really well, so that while your pedicure at first has more purple-y tones, three weeks later it's looking a bit pink (rather than a bit dull). At seven bucks a bottle, Guchi Muchi Puchi is a worthy beauty indulgence.

I'm wearing the overly trendy but decidedly (and yes, I mean "decided by me") sexy Russian Navy on my toes. I like both of these shades enough to own bottles of them.