Bookworm Cottage Style

While I wear sweatpants far more often than I’d care to admit and I apply less and less makeup as the years go on, having my nails painted is one of those rarely-skipped beauty rituals that instantly makes me feel put-together. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve gotten fairly adept at at-home manis.

I first tried Dazzle Dry nail polish at a salon probably around a decade or so ago, and I was so impressed with the quality that it’s the only type of nail polish I’ve worn since. Why?

IT LITERALLY DRIES IN 5 MINUTES! Seriously. Like put your socks on and run your fingers through your hair dry. It also wears more like a gel than a typical polish and easily resists chips for a full week or longer. It also comes off easily with regular old nail polish remover. I wash A LOT of dishes each week but you would never know it from looking at my lovely manicure.

Finally, for all my fellow clean beauty girlies, Dazzle Dry describes itself as nontoxic, vegan, cruelty-free, and “the cleanest of all solvent based polishes on the market today” — specifically, that it is “free of harmful, carcinogenic, and endocrine disrupting ingredients including formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, DBP, camphor, nitrocellulose, TPHP and many more.”

A Dazzle Dry at-home mani is not as simple as brushing on a swipe of OPI or Essie. To make the polish “stick” you really do need to use their entire “system” which consists of: 1) a solution that you rub on your nails to prep them, 2) a base coat that needs to be soaked in warm water to be activated, 3) your polish color of choice, and 4) a quick-drying top coat. This starter system is $72 and the individual polishes are $22 each, so it’s definitely an investment. Although to be fair, they do last a long time, and the starter system also includes a “nail revive” solution to mix into old, dried out polishes.

I’ve been using Dazzle Dry for years, and these are a few of my most-worn polishes, as well as a couple of others that I’m tempted to add to my cart.

If you’re local and want to try Dazzle Dry in the salon experience before investing, I recommend Aer Nailbar in Brookline (the best!), Miniluxe (lots of locations), and Gloss in Melrose.

As far as other nail tools, nothing works as well as this (likely very toxic) Cutex remover, though I’ve also enjoyed this bougie one too. I sometimes use the Dazzle Dry nail and cuticle serums, and I’m very intrigued by this Olive & June clean up brush. The nail polish caddy (which I love!) in the top photo is from Amazon, though the exact make and model I have is no longer available.

Are you a Dazzle Dry convert?