Patriotic nails - Isadora, OPI for Merle Norman, Le Métier de Beauté - Updated for July 4

Isadora, which is from Sweden, posted this picture of patriotic nails on Facebook:

Patriotic Nail art from Sweden's Isadora

Isadora Wonder Nail polish shades:

• no 603 Tip White
• no 702 Blue Jeans
• no 653 Chelsea Red

And don't ask me about the red hands! :-)

Merle Norman likes to trumpet its "Made in the USA" credentials. OPI created its Americana nail set to celebrate Merle Norman’s heritage. It features red, white and blue mini OPI Nail Lacquers. The Americana nail set features:

• Hussy - a ravishing red polish. No, it's not named for a brazen woman who's got her mitts on your man (and believe me, I've had to deal with one), it's named for a classic car. 
• Alpine Snow
• Yoga-ta Get this Blue! 
• RapiDry Top Coat

OPI for Merle Norman Americana nail set

And once again, my apologies for the lousy picture quality, but it's the best I could find. :-(

See set from Le Métier de Beauté:

Buzz on the OPI India Collection

While I thought it was ignorant on the part of OPI to use an ad showing a model holding a huge turkey sandwich for its India Collection, I have to agree that the shades are very pretty:



OPI India Collection

It's also worthwhile to note the buzz that this collection has been getting:

Beauty Anonymous (found through my BlogRush widget) writes:

Lunch at the Delhi looks quite rosy-pink red in the bottle. It delivers a glossy red finish on the nails with pink and coral undertones. Surprisingly, I found the color reflects a warm tone of red shade under natural lights or indoor lights. Unlike the sexy, dominant power of deep reds, bold reds or true reds, Lunch at the Delhi is a soft, sweet tone of red with a girly woman characteristic. I have tried many kinds of red nail colors before from different brands. Lunch at the Delhi is one of the few that suits my complexion nicely, and is appealing to me.

Edwina Ing-Chambers, beauty columnist for FT (which, like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, has discovered the value of lifestyle reporting) writes:

Besides, it turns out that this stuff [blue nail polish] is flying off the shelves. When O.P.I. launched its “Russian Navy” shade of varnish in November, one Manhattan boutique sold 1,800 pots of it in 24 hours and since it launched in the UK it has sold out three times. Plus its new “Yoga-ta Get this Blue” shade – more indigo-ish for spring – is already trotting out of the door.

Ing-Chambers then waxes rhapsodic about Chanel's Blue Satin, the "it" shade of nail polish for the season. Another blue she likes is Essie's Aruba Blue (which is unfortunately named, in view of Aruba's mismanagement of the Natalee Halloway disappearance case):

She describes this as "lighter, brighter, kind of Renaissance tone; Botticelli would probably have loved it."

Cultural insensitivity?

Insenstive

I always enjoy visiting the i♥make-up blog for her posts on beauty secrets of Bollywood stars. On Monday, she posted an article on OPI's India Collection nail polishes, in keeping with her India theme. As usual, OPI has come up with punny names for its nail polishes.

I scanned the above image from the March 2008 issue of Lucky (and if someone could tell me how I can prevent the reverse side from showing through, I'd be grateful). I found this picture of the model holding the turkey sandwich insensitive and lacking in cultural awareness, as a majority of Indians are vegetarians. Some Hindus eschew onions, garlic, and mushrooms as tamasic, that is, tending to sluggishness. Some abstain from certain foods on fast days. Observant Jains do not eat vegetables that grow underground, such as carrots and potatoes.

I do agree with i♥make-up, however, that this ad was probably not intentional. What do you think?