Where There's Smoke, There's Emerald

This winter, the smoky eye keeps things smoldering, especially when done in emerald. Lucky magazine's Beauty Spy (left and below) loves the look of deepest indigo-emerald accented with lush black lashes.  What to wear with? A subtle lip, neutral cheeks, and may we recommend nails in OPI Ski Teal We Drop or Here Today ... Aragon Tomorrow lacquers. Feel the burn.

All's Elle that Ends Elle

One of the last words on everything fashion and beauty, Elle magazine loves OPI's new Swiss Collection lacquers, especially three of its amazing jewel tones.  In its August issue, the mag raves that "the 24-karat Glitzerland, intense emerald Cuckoo for this Color, and amethyst The Color to Watch rival Basel's most exquisite baubles."  All three make the mag's It List -- they should make yours, too.

   

Nautical Net-ical

magazine's editorial on the nautical look (très chic this spring and summer) includes a round-up of beauty faves to help you carry it off.  For nails, the mag picks OPI Nail Lacquer in Catch Me in Your Net from the new Summer Flutters line.  "Sparkly blue goes with everything, in case you didn't know," Nylon tells us. We knew -- and now so do you. Happy sailing.

 

Loving Hue!

Looks like this summer is shaping up to be one of sizzling color, and Shape magazine has OPI leading the way for fingertips and toes.  The mag's June issue calls Funkey Donkey, from the Shrek Brights selection, one of the season's best "vibrant, hot-now hues."  And Shape loves A Good Man-darin Is Hard to Find, a star of the Hong Kong Collection, calling it a "fab summer hue."  Color your summer.  Sensational.  

Flutter By

Floaty, flirty, frothy color -- that's the fashion cue for summer.  And OPI's Summer Flutter line of lacquers is a fun way to show it off on nails. Inspired by the brilliance and whimsy of colorful butterflies, these four shades look great against bare skin, whether your style is bikini-ista or sundressed best. Be sure to capture  these beauties before they -- and summer -- flutter by!  Shades, clockwise from top left: Wing It, Catch Me in Your Net, Flit a Bit, Flower-to-Flower

 

Get to Know Jacques

In addition to honoring OPI Nail Lacquer in Big Apple Red (see my previous posting), InStyle magazine lavished another Best of Beaut Award on You Don't Know Jacques!, a trendy, head-turning taupe that looks fabulously fresh this season.  The mag quotes Robbie Schaeffer, owner of ROB|B OPI Concept Salon in Los Angeles, on his take on why this shade is so hot right now:  "There's a surprise factor to this shade.  Even the most skeptical women fall in love with it once they put it on."  A ménage of grey, brown, and dusty purple -- what more can I add except "oui."  Try it on at opi.com

Painting: Toulouse Lautrec

Kickin' It Khaki

Always a classic, now a this-season's-hot-pick, khaki is making its appearance in closets everywhere this spring. Khaki was all over the designer runways, in cropped trench coats (so divine), shirts, dresses, sexy, slouchy trousers, and more.  Ranging in color from warm tan to cool taupe to neutrals in between, khaki is kicking it in sexy new incarnations (try rolled-up trousers with high-heeled, strappy sandals) and manages to be both casual and polished all at once. Another way to khaki?  Try it on nails in OPI's Over the Taupe, a marvelous mushroom shade that is chic, trendy, and so wearable.

Photo of Gwen Stefani in Comme des Garcons jacket, courtesy of FabSugar.com

Snow Time Like the Present

Here's an idea for a snow-inspired manicure that will make taking off those gloves and mittens something to look forward to! Start with your choice of OPI base coat (Natural Nail Strengthener is a favorite). Then paint your entire nail with two coats OPI Kyoto Pearl Nail Lacquer (shimmery white satin).  Let dry completely.  Apply shimmery silvery OPI Happy Birthday! Nail Lacquer to just the tips of your nails. Finish with RapiDry Top Coat.  A few drops of DripDry Lacquer Drying Drops, and you're on your way.  Go, Snow Queen, go.

Pin courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scene in Green

You heard it here first, and you'll keep hearing it in this fall's fashion pages.  Green is the new black for fall.  W magazine loves finds the trend to be eminently wearable, from emerald to bright olive to grassy, pine, and blackened greens, and chooses OPI's Here Today ... Aragon Tomorrow as one of its faves.  And Cosmo gives the trend a green thumbs up, naming Here Today ... as one its picks for "lush green nails."  Seems like getting your daily greens is a great for nails too.

Better than Bare

 Sometimes a little more is, well, a little more.  Case in point:  OPI Barefoot in Barcelona, the new nude shade that Real Simple magazine calls "the most flattering nude polish for most skin tones" and Allure recommends as one of "the best shades of the season."  This luscious, opaque shade makes fingertips and toes look chic and "finished," and is the perfect foil for fall's boldly   colored fashion picks.  Try it on at opi.com.

Photo: John Aquino, WWD                                               Fashion: Isaac Mizrahi