MAINICURE STYLE NAILED DOWN; FUNKY COLORS POLISH UP SALES FOR COMPANIES.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer Whether they're tapping on keyboards or drumming on tabletops, women's nails are increasingly dressed in purple, metallic brown and green rather than the traditional pinks and reds. In a cosmetics revolution arguably on the same scale as the explosion of color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color and design in men's ties, the nail polish industry has made grit and grunge grunge - /gruhnj/ 1. That which is grungy, or that which makes it so. 2. [Cambridge] Code which is inaccessible due to changes in other parts of the program. The preferred term in North America is dead code. into a chic choice for the mainstream market. ``We've seen so much attention focused on nails,'' said Erika Kotite, managing editor of Redondo Beach-based Nails magazine. ``It's never happened before.'' Sales of nail polish at mass merchandisers, supermarkets and drugstores jumped 24 percent from 1995 to 1996 to $295 million, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Information Resources (1) The data and information assets of an organization, department or unit. See data administration. (2) Another name for the Information Systems (IS) or Information Technology (IT) department. See IT. Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm. The jump in sales coincided with the introduction of Chanel's Vamp, a blood-red, almost-black nail polish that sold briskly and redefined the nail-color market. North Hollywood-based OPI (Open Prepress Interface) An extension to PostScript that provides color separations. It was developed by Aldus Corporation, which was later acquired by Adobe. , one of the leading firms in the cosmetics industry, will launch Nicole, a line of funky nail polish that will be available at salons this fall. OPI colors range from blues and greens Blues and Greens, political factions in the Byzantine Empire in the 6th cent. They took their names from two of the four colors worn by the circus charioteers. Their clashes were intensified by religious differences. to pinks and sparkled clear polish. The company expects to sell $4 million worth of products in 1-1/2 years, officials said. ``There's been an explosion in color,'' said Suzi Weiss-Fischman, OPI's vice president and artistic director. Women ``can go out there and make a statement'' of their individuality. The business is growing so strongly that nail polish is now being offered in some unique retail settings. In June, for example, 7-Eleven stores started carrying scented nail polish nationwide. ``It has been flying out of the stores,'' said Karen Raskopf, spokeswoman for Southland Corp. in Dallas, parent company of the 7-Eleven chain. The chain carried nail polish in 1992 but pulled it out after a lackluster performance, she said. But with funky nail color a hot new trend, 7-Eleven brought polish back. Buyers are almost devouring its Fruity Nail Enamel line - sporting lemon, strawberry, grape and orange - at $2.99 each. ``It's a very trendy new product,'' Raskopf said. Added Nails magazine's Kotite: ``It's fun, it's eye-catching and it's cheap.'' Sales are brisk at Hard Candy, the Beverly Hills-based cosmetics company that was one of the first to sell nontraditional shades of Noun 1. shades of - something that reminds you of someone or something; "aren't there shades of 1948 here?" reminder - an experience that causes you to remember something nail polish and makeup. In only two years, Hard Candy has grown to a $10-million-a-year company. ``It took off. It was out of control. It went gangbusters,'' said Dineh Mohajer, the 24-year-old founder and president of Hard Candy. Mohajer started mixing her own colors when she was a senior at USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. . Fellow students clamored for bottles of her polish. Within five months after she mixed her first polishes for commercial use, her products crowded shelves in Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus U.S. department-store chain. It was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1907 by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband, A.L. Neiman. and Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue is a chain of upscale American department stores that is owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the elite luxury department store market with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New . The nail polish retails for $12 each. Today, Hard Candy sells 64 different colors and has expanded into lipsticks, lip pencils, eye liners and other cosmetics. ``Our image is very, like, high-end,'' said Mohajer. ``It's clean and gritty at the same time.'' Will this trend last? ``I don't think it's going to last forever,'' Kotite said. ``But the residual effect is that women will no longer limit themselves to `pink-lady mauves.' '' CAPTION(S): Photo, Chart Photo: (color) OPI Vice President Suzi Weiss-Fischman shows some of the firm's nail colors. John McCoy/Daily News Chart: (color) A ROSE BY ANY NAME (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion