This Milky Nail Concealer Is The Mani-Pedi Substitute We Never Knew We Needed

“One coat gives you that ‘is she wearing nail polish, or does she just have flawless doll nails?’ look,” said a HuffPost editor.

When my colleague Lydia O’Connor, a senior reporter here at HuffPost, recently shared that she was taking a break from gel manicures in favor of using a “nail concealer,” I was immediately intrigued. I’d been looking for ways to keep my beauty expenses down, but given that I’m horrible at applying nail polish and my feet are in flip-flops year-round, I’d never imagined I might be able to cut back on regular pedicures.

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But her recommendation — Londontown’s $20 Kur illuminating nail concealer — was an absolute game changer. The concealer is similar to polish, but instead of color, it deposits a sheer milky veil that makes nails look like a super-healthy version of their natural selves, covering up imperfections and leaving them glowing and perfect-looking. It’s also buildable, so you can apply as much or as little coverage as you need. With this, a Microplane foot file and gel socks, I’ve been skipping the nail salon and saving tons of money without having to hide my feet in close-toed shoes. Even my fingernails — so hopeless I don’t even bother getting manis — look great with it.

“I am obsessed with this product,” O’Connor told me. “One coat gives you that ‘is she wearing nail polish, or does she just have flawless doll nails?’ look. Two coats gives you a milky, slightly iridescent finish that I love.

“It’s basically foolproof to apply. The formula isn’t streaky at all, and the brush is quite wide, allowing you to cover your whole nail in one seamless swipe. This is the only polish that’s ever looked decent when painting with my nondominant hand.”

Turns out she’s not the only one in the office that’s thrilled with this product. HuffPost’s head of Life and Commerce Kristen Aiken has been using it as well, along with Greta Geiselman, our director of office services.

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“I love this stuff!” Aiken said. “I have really weird nails (the whites are jagged because I use my hands too much and have ‘nailbed trauma’) and I’m too rugged to paint my nails because it instantly comes off, but I love the nail concealer because it looks natural but just, better. And it doesn’t show when it starts to chip off.”

Noting “it’s so easy to give yourself a manicure with this stuff,” O’Connor said it’s been giving both her nails and her wallet a break. “I recently broke the cardinal rule of nails and peeled off my gel manicure as it started to chip, and this has kept my now-brittle nails looking neat and tidy as they grow out,” she said.

The concealer comes in four different colors that look great on a variety of skin tones: bubble, pink, milky and quartz. Each formula contains optical brighteners to give nails a subtle gleam and hide imperfections and discoloration, along with plant extracts and a nourishing complex.

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Promising review: "As much as I would love to have nice, manicured nails, i don’t spend money on manicures. Gels are damaging and regular manicures last a couple of days before peeling. I get regular pedicures bc they last but my hands have looked pretty unkempt for much of my adult life. Until now.

I was definitely skeptical that this polish could be any different from one of the countless neutral Essie shades out there that I’ve tried since the '90s — Ballet Slippers, Light as Linen, etc., — but I decided to give the milky shade a try and I’m so glad I did!!! My nails look incredible. I’m not even sure how to describe why but they look very natural and clean. It’s been a week of wearing two coats and there isn’t one bubble or lift forming on the edges. One coat actually looks great also. I am sold on this stuff. Hopefully it will never be discontinued. So so happy." —Jann

Get it from Amazon for $20 (available in four colors).

Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.