Nail polish maker keeps from spreading too thin in market. (Up Front).

When George Schaeffer gathers his executives in Las Vegas next month, the focus will be international.

Accompanied by three translators, Schaeffer, chief executive of nail polish maker OPI Inc., will be holding the firm's first international symposium, aimed at beefing up business in Japan and the United Kingdom, where American nail polishes are hot. More than 80 overseas distributors will join them as they pitch a European-themed fall line.

Overseas sales of its trademark nail polishes account for 15 percent of its $70 million-plus annual revenues. And the 21-year-old North Hollywood firm, which is still a small player in the $6.4 billion-a-year industry, has glommed onto foreign fingers by using a decidedly American approach - specifically, wacky product names like "Wanted.. .Red or Alive," "Wyatt Earple Purple" and "Red, Red Rhine."

But will its "I'm not Really a Waitress" translate into Japanese?

"We offer some translation in PR materials, but not in packaging," said David Trocker, vice president of marketing. "Most of the world trusts Hollywood to set the trends and is more concerned with the product and color than the name," he said.

Picking its spots

Successive years of revenue growth also are the result of choosing not to go head-to-head with the major players.

"The company has found a niche and it's been successful at what it does," said Rommel Dionisio, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey. "But companies (like theirs) are in a word-of-mouth industry, and need to expend advertising dollars to take them to the next level," he said.

This niche suits OPI just fine. "We're small in the big retail world of the L'Oreals and Revlons, but in this little pond we're in, we're very big," said Eric Schwartz, the company's chief operating officer.

The company has limited its sales to private and chain salons, such as JC Penney Salons, and to professional beauty supply shops. "We want to be on the same level as a Paul Mitchell or a Redken," said Schaeffer. "We're careful to stay out of the Costcos and chain drugstores of the world."

The decision to bypass big retailers is aimed at creating a sense of exclusivity that's pitched directly to consumers in one- and two-page spreads in popular women's magazines.

"OPI marketed directly to consumers before anyone else did," said Cyndy Drummey, editor and publisher of Nails Magazine. "They invested heavily in consumer advertising that built the brand and drove customers into salons."

Once customers are in the salons, it falls to Schaeffer's sister in law, Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, the company's creative director, to develop a palate that will generate sales.

She selects colors from each line and offers "Suzi's Picks' matching lipsticks and lip liners that match the polishes. OPI offers collections, much as a couture company offers seasonal lines, with distinctive names. Inspired by Schaeffer's travels, the fall European collection includes "Kinky in Helsinki," a bold magenta, "It's My Prague-ative," a rose red, and "Amsterdamsel in Distress," a cinnamon.

With an average of 60 to 90 colors on the shelves, 24 are "retired" each year.

"We don't want people to get locked into the same old colors," said Trocker. "There are lots of differences in shimmers and shines," he said. "The color palette is endless."

The company, which had its origins in Odontorium Products Inc., a North Hollywood dental supply company, had six employees when Schaeffer took over. It now has a full-time staff of 350 at the North Hollywood headquarters, with more employees in Chicago, Florida, Northern California, New Jersey and Guatemala.

Both Schaeffer and Weiss-Fischmann, emigrated from Hungary, Schaeffer arriving in New York when he was 10 and beginning his career in New York's fashion district. He moved to California and bought OPI, only top find the acrylics used in dental ware made for durable nail products.

As for the decidedly not sexy OPI name, Schaeffer was adamant. "I didn't want it to sound like all the other nail brands," he said. "OPI is different, and people remember us," he said.