Little boosts come from strange and subconscious places. Feeling a bit richer or a bit thinner or a bit more loved are obvious encouragements. But on a dull day it’s the subtle seasoning in your life that can buoy things up almost imperceptibly.
Which is why I would argue that nail varnish remover isn’t just nail varnish remover when it’s Chanel. The very sight of this small, weighty bottle glowing from a crowded bathroom surface is a bit of an affirmation. It’s a tiny peep that says you deserve the good stuff. It whispers of time and space and something other than drudge and worry. This is all very subliminal stuff — I’m not totally deranged. Not totally.
The cloudy rose-hued blend of water and acetone smells of nail varnish remover but it also smells of Chanel No5 somehow; soft and powdery and pleasing. I find myself surrounded by things that smell of No5 — the talc, the hair mist, the bubble bath — because I don’t quite dare to wear the fragrance itself. It’s so perfect that I’d feel like a pretender.
This is obviously more expensive than your standard paint stripper, but it lasts for ages, efficiently removes nail colour and doesn’t dry out the cuticles. Also, the glass bottle is so heavenly that you could always refill it. Am I allowed to say that? Probably not. Oops.
Chanel Dissolvant Doux Nail Colour Remover, £11.70, at houseoffraser.co.uk