Putty & Envy

Last week, I received the most gorgeous set of polish from Borghese, and literally went insane with adoration. Their newest batch of colors are dubbed “The New Neutrals” and there are so spot on.

Red and pale pink are nearly antiquated as go-to nail colors anymore. All of sudden, blues, greens and purples are acceptable not only for work, but for day wear, weddings, and events where people used to look at you strangely if you wore anything that wasn’t red-derived. Painting each nail a different color isn’t only for junior high school kids and fashion editorials anymore… “Those crazy kids and their rainbow polish!” This particular collection of new neutrals is inspired by the beautiful gardens of Italy.

Borghese New Neutrals Collection

(Left to Right; Arrivederci Mist, Riviera Sunset, Euro Green, Buon Viaggo Mauve, Tempesta Black)

You can see how each one of these colors could easily make their way into your “go-to” color palette. Personally, I’ve been obsessed with this pale, muddy lavender color for months, so I reached instantly for Arrivederci Mist.

Le swoon.

I said somewhere else on this silly website that Borghese made my favorite nail polish, and I meant it. Their brush is 500x better than any brush I’ve ever used – it’s wider at the tip, so it covers more nail-space in one stroke, and you really only need two coats to make it perfectly opaque. I’m wearing topcoat, so it’s super high-gloss, but if you wanted to leave that step out, or add a matte topcoat (like this one from CND which is $8.50, or this one from e.l.f. – it’s only $1!), it would look just as beautiful.


With my gigantic pile of beautiful, Italian garden-inspired polishes before me, I had to break out the pedicure. It was basically required. So, after deciding that I wouldn’t be matchy-matchy (how could I with so many options?!), I decided to go with Euro Green on le toes.

I know it looks metallic in the bottle, but it is seriously so. metallic. Like, nearly blinding-reflective-mirror-metallic. But the green is so pretty – it has a gold tone in it – and I learned a lesson during this process: buff out your nails when using metallic polish. Because of the reflection, it’ll show every ridge, bump and crack in your nails.

Do you see the blinding action here?

It’s a very dark green, but the gold metal in it is just so, so beautiful. The “new neutrals” label is so appropriate because, while these are both obviously colors (one of which is heavily pigmented), they go with everything. The green is powerful, but it becomes perfectly integrated when paired with a different color, pattern or texture.

You can buy both of these colors at Ulta, and see more colors on the Borghese site!

What do you think of the idea of “new neutrals?” Would you wear them instead of your regular neutrals?

Probably watching Netflix.