a tale about the ‘holy grail'.

It seems only fitting that my foray back into the blogging sphere should be induced by something really quite special. That something in this case, is a nail polish. Pause for reaction. Honestly, up until a couple of years ago I was never all that bothered about nail polish. In first year of university I would basically rotate from red, to coral, and back to red again. A glitter top coat at christmas was about as exciting as it got (and even this was layered over that trademark tomato shade...) But then I saw the light. This epiphany was most probably encouraged by my friends Alice and Gemma - they too have a penchant for all things nail related. It's clear we were meant to be. After 3 years of friendship, I now hold them both personally responsible for the sizable dip my bank balance takes every time I aimlessly wander past a Barry M stand. But we're moving slightly off topic here..


My love affair with the particular polish in question began when I first saw it adorning the nails of Zoe and Fleur. If you're at all acquainted with the online world, then you should already be familiar with these two, and it's through their videos that I first laid eyes on what would later become known as 'the holy grail'. Color Club's 'The Reign in Spain' is essentially a neon orange - but not a fluorescent orange most easily related to Stablio boss - a pale, creamy, pastel neon orange. In short, it's perfection in a bottle and I knew I had to have it.

Color Club's 'The Reign in Spain' in all it's glory.

But that's where things got difficult. As Shakespeare once wrote: 'the course of true love never did run smooth', and that could not be more relevant in this case. Firstly, I discovered that the nail polish was from a beauty box that was no longer available to order. Not great, but we'll work with it. Then, I discovered that whilst the polish was supposed to be available from the beauty box's UK website, it was nowhere to be found. Again, not the best. But perhaps the worst of all discoveries was that Color Club is an American company, and the nail polish in question appeared only available to order in the USA. Not ideal to say the least.

This is the part of the story where any normal person would cut their losses, accept that it wasn't meant to be, and go and buy something similar from Boots. But it was simply too late for that. I was in love. I was having dreams in which the polish adorned my nails whilst I stood majestically at the bow of a yacht cruising round Monaco. If I couldn't have the yacht or Monaco, I was sure as hell going to get the nail polish. So I formulated a plan. This plan involved a very unsuspecting friend of mine, Kate, who's actually lucky enough to reside in Brooklyn. Since i've never been there I imagine it's very much like Gossip Girl has portrayed it - all trendy loft apartments, vintage clothes shops, and morning coffee with Alexa Chung. That sounds about right. If you have tumblr then you should definitely follow Kate. Why? Because she's One Direction's biggest fan - as if you needed any other reason. But yet again we're heading off tangent.

I contacted Kate and, quite cheekily, asked her if I could have the nail polish delivered to her, and if she would kindly then forward it on to me, after I'd obviously reimbursed her for any costs incurred. She obliged, like the lovely person she is, and I thought victory might well be in sight. It was not. I soon realised that the site wouldn't accept my debit card because it had a UK billing address. Back to square one. But, all hope was not lost. Thoroughly dejected, I turned to surfing the vast corners of the internet in the hopes that my dream would somehow come true (minus the yacht in Monaco. Unfortunately.) And it did. fittingly, the solution to my woes came from the land where dreams are made daily (they're also most likely destroyed daily too, but let's gloss over that) - LA.

There was an ebay listing that proved the answer to my prayers - let's ignore the fact that shipping cost me more than the actual nail polish itself, or that it ended at 4am (curse time differences), forcing me to make the tough decision of whether or not to wake up well before the crack of dawn and ensure the polish was mine, or put a bid in before bedtime and hope for the best.

An example of the fascinating updates I provide daily on Twitter.

In the end I decided to do the latter. Which perhaps calls into question my real commitment to the quest, but I've never been a morning person. Not even for a bloody good nail polish.

After a tense nights sleep, no doubt involving that yacht dream again, the nail polish was finally mine. And it certainly didn't disappoint when it arrived on my doorstep a week later. Whilst the formula and lasting power arguably aren't the best, I managed to go a good few days without it chipping, probably down to the staying power of the topcoat of the century (detailed post to follow. Be excited.) What's more, the colour is a vibrant, but pastel neon that has actually somehow converted me to the brighter side of life. No mean feat. I'm certainly no longer just a red nail girl anyway, and this is no doubt one polish that I have to thank for that...

The professional blogger holding bottle photo.

So neon.

However, as with every good tale, there is of course a twist at the end of it. Anyone reading this who wishes to own the nail polish themselves will be pleased to hear that it's actually now back on the Birch Box UK website. Rendering my entire quest to obtain the 'holy grail' actually fairly pointless. And expensive. Seriously, what is my life?