Clearly, here at Flavorpill, we love nail art almost as much as we love pop culture, and we get especially enthusiastic when those two interests merge. So do other people, apparently, because it’s become incredibly trendy now for polish makers (especially OPI) to launch lines inspired by television, movies, books, and celebrity branding. Sometimes the mash-ups make sense; sometimes they really don’t. We’ve rounded up some of these nail polish lines and ranked them by how confused we are by their existence, after the jump.
OPI Nicki Minaj collection
Come on, it’s Nicki Minaj. Of course she has a nail polish collection, and of course it’s mostly neon colors and sparkles. This partnership between Minaj and OPI was inevitable, and so were the polish names – “Pink Friday,” “Super Bass Shatter,” and “Metallic 4 Lyfe.” Our Favorite? “Did It On ‘Em,” a bright chartreuse green.
China Glaze Hunger Games collection
While we imagine that nobody in any of the Districts of Panem could wear these – much less afford them – but in the Capitol they would definitely be all the rage, so it works. We’re surprised OPI didn’t snap up the idea first, but we love what China Glaze has done with it, especially the decision to make every shade represent the exports of one District. Too bad they didn’t make a District 13 one, though – it could have glowed in the dark!
NerdLacquer
Take it from us: geeks love nail polish, too! And we especially love the polish made by Amanda Collier of NerdLacquer, which all have names like “Mad Man With a Box,” “No Medal for Chewie,” “I Aim to Misbehave,” and “Hyperspace Bypass.” (And if you got all those references then congratulations! You need to go outside and get some fresh air. Trust us.) The Etsy store is so popular that Amanda’s been forced to take a hiatus, but it seems like it’ll be well worth the wait!
OPI Muppets collection
Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller were clearly trying to evoke a certain kind of childhood nostalgia in their audience when they wrote The Muppets, so why shouldn’t OPI do the same? Naturally, most of these shades are Miss Piggy related, with names like “Divine Swine” and “Excuse Moi.” The best name, however, goes to “Meep Meep Meep.” We’re not sure what the fuchsia color has to do with Beaker, but we’re not complaining.
Julep 2012 Oscars collection
Movies be damned: the Academy Awards are really all about fashion, so it makes sense that Julep, a company that names all its polishes after celebrities, would jump on board. What’s weird about this line is that while there’s one for Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and even several actresses who weren’t nominated this year, Rooney Mara and Michelle Williams were left out. Ouch. Too bad — we bet Rooney’s shade would have been sick.
Nicole/OPI Justin Bieber “One Less Lonely Girl” collection
It would be so easy to make scores of jokes about Justin Bieber’s apparent lack of machismo, but really, it does makes sense that OPI would want to capitalize on the singer’s popularity amongst tweens. That didn’t stop him from openly calling it weird in public, though, so that’s reassuring. At least the names of the polishes are cute, like “I’m a Belieber.” What can we say? We appreciate puns.
OPI Spider-Man collection
Apparently OPI has decided that nerds are into nail polish, because they’ve announced a new line of polishes to tie in with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man this summer. While we love the colors, we’re a little confused by some of the names they’ve given these shades – “Your Web or Mine” for a pink color? What does “Into the Night” have to do with Spider-Man? And then there’s the unfortunately named “Just Spotted the Lizard.” We won’t even go into what’s wrong with that.
OPI Shrek: Forever After collection
Yes, we agree: it’s very weird for OPI to launch a line to celebrate Shrek: Forever After, a movie which nobody wanted in the first place. At least the colors are delightfully funky – though we think Minaj might have copied her green from this “Who the Shrek Are You” color (except we think Nicki pulls it off better – sorry, Shrek). We don’t really get the names, either – “Rumple’s Wiggin?” Is “wiggin” another word for lilac? We said we like puns, but that’s too nonsensical for even us.
OPI Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection
Frankly, we’re very perplexed by this polish. At least with Shrek you could sort of argue that they created some interesting colors that fit in with the movie’s theme – you know, Shrek is green, there were some cool greens, it almost kind of worked. These pastels are lovely, but what do they have to do with rough-and-tumble pirates like Jack Sparrow? And there isn’t a single gold shade – pirates love gold! That’s their thing! This is weird.