nail varnish changing colours from drink in Netflix's Stay Close
Does colour-changing nail varnish that detects medicine exist? (Image: Netflix)

Netflix’s new adaptation of Harlan Coben’s thriller Keep Shut dropped over the festive interval. 

With out making a gift of any spoilers, there’s one half specifically that’s acquired lots of people speaking.

Throughout a scene in a membership, teenager Bea turns into suspicious that the person she and her pal are speaking to, named Cartlon, might have spiked their drinks.

To see whether or not that is the case, she places her finger in her drink when Carlton isn’t trying and her fingernail modifications color – indicating there’s a drug in it.

Bea then proceeds to swap the cocktails, so Carlton finally ends up consuming it, earlier than ushering her pal Kayleigh out the membership.

Whereas Harlan Coben’s story is fictional, a nail varnish that detects a spiked drink sounds very acquainted.

So does it truly exist?

Bea and Kayleigh in Netflix's Stay Close
Youngsters Bea and Kayleigh in Keep Shut (Image: Netflix)

It'd ring a bell as a result of there was discuss of such a product a couple of years in the past.

In 2018, nail-tech firm Undercover Colours revealed they had been growing a nail polish that may detect medicine, corresponding to rohypnol and ketamine, that will have been added to somebody’s drink with out their information.

Undercover Colours mentioned if the drink accommodates a drug, their proposed nail varnish would change color.

It was even reported that the corporate obtained $5.5m value of funding to develop the product.

Nonetheless, it appears the nail polish proved fairly exhausting to create – and by no means truly hit the market.

However, in its place, Undercover Colours has since launched a detection gadget that works in the same strategy to a being pregnant take a look at or a lateral stream.

Roughly the scale of a coin, this gadget may be hooked up to a key ring and may be very straightforward to make use of. 

Anybody wanting to check their beverage merely must peel again the protecting foil, place a drop of their drink on the pattern part (you should use your finger to do that) and search for one or two traces.

One line means your drink is spiked (and it's best to discard it) and two traces means your drink is within the clear. Undercover Colours states these outcomes will seem inside 30 seconds to a few minutes.

‘After 4 years in a lab, we're so excited to unveil the best take a look at for detecting spiked drinks,’ the corporate beforehand wrote on Fb. 

‘With only one drop, we provide you with a transportable, fast and correct strategy to decide the presence of generally used date rape medicine in additional than 100 liquids.’

A starter testing package is in the stores by the Undercover Colours web site, priced at $14.99 (round £11) for a three-pack – though it’s at present out of inventory. However for UK buyers this can be significantly extra with transport.

Nonetheless, it might be well-worth the funding because the product has glowing evaluations.

One guardian wrote on the web site: ‘I'm so grateful we purchased these for our daughter. She used them for the primary time final evening at a frat get together, the place they suspected her pal’s drink had been tampered with. It examined optimistic they usually instantly notified safety.’

Whether or not this take a look at will quickly are available different varieties, corresponding to nail varnish, stays to be seen.