It can be tempting to swipe on polish and go, especially when warm weather sneaks up on you. But Gohil hits home the importance of always starting off with a base coat. “You should be using a base coat every time, but a lot of people are guilty of not doing that. There are a lot of chemicals that go into nail polish and they do affect the nail bed.” Gohil says that applying polish to naked nails can result in a discolored nail plate, where toenails can become white and chalky, even yellow. “If you’re someone who hasn’t noticed a change, you’re just lucky, because polish can weaken the nail and it makes you susceptible to things like fungal infections, dryness, brittleness and flaking — things you want to avoid.”
