As I paid the cute bartender for my drink I noticed that the girl standing next to me at the bar was glancing over in my direction. My first thought (inner fashionista hope) was that she was jealously eyeing my new Chanel wallet, early Chanukah gift from my parents, and the admiration brought a smile to my face. When I looked at her, she points to my hands and says, “Is that Russian Navy?” Oh sure, I thought, she can spot my this season OPI nail polish color in a poorly lit bar, but not my gorgeous new wallet – did I mention it was Chanel? “Yes, it is,” I reply turning to walk away. I did not get off that easy. She begins to blabber…“Oh, I wanted to get that, but I didn’t think I could pull it off, so I’m wearing Essie ‘Lincoln Park After Dark’ from last season.” Two thoughts run through my head: 1) I don’t care about your dilemma choosing a nail polish color, and 2) if you felt you couldn’t pull off the OPI navy, but you seem very concerned about having trendy in-style nail polish, you should have gone for Essie Lincoln Park at Midnight, which is this season’s version of last season’s color. The nice Midwest girl ruled in that the appropriate response was to smile and say, “Well both look good, and you should try it, I am sure you can pull it off.”
This whole experience got me thinking, what happened to red, blue, or black? Does nail polish need a cithcy name to be a hit? When we replace dark red for “wicked” (Essie fave), and dark purple for “Lincoln Park After Dark” (OPI cult following), we create a new phenomenon where the ROY G BIV color palette we learned as youngsters is replaced for a series of odd names that have the fashion obsessed alike adding nail polish to the list of fashion topics gossiped about. The jewelry & accessories fanatic in me loves that specific nail polish colors have become the trend accouterment of the decade, and the PR girl in me loves that OPI and Essie found their way to make a splash in this huge industry.
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