Polish Pizazz With Names Like Gank And Shag, The Hippest Hues In Fall Fashion Will Be At Your Fingertips

Quick: What’s the fastest, least expensive way to look chic and hip this fall? Paint your nails an outrageous color.

With a swish of the brush, you can be part of the latest fashion fad sweeping the industry from the runways of Milan to the streets of Spokane.

Now that body piercing and tattooing are passe, people of all ages are using wild nails and lip colors to make a fashion statement with an attitude.

The birth of this latest phenomenon is most often attributed to Dineh Mohajer, founder of Hard Candy Nail Polish.

Mohajer, a native of the Detroit area, abandoned the Northeast for the warmer climes of California, where she enrolled at the University of Southern California as a biochemistry major.

By the spring of 1995, Dineah was only two credits away from a pre-med degree and should have been studying for final exams. She decided to go shoe shopping in Beverly Hills instead.

Bored with the choices of pink, red, or brown nail polish, Mohajer had mixed up a pastel blue of her own and painted her toenails. While she was busy trying on shoes, the salespeople were going crazy over her nail color.

On a whim, Dineh and her boyfriend Ben concocted four bottles of polish (blue, yellow, mint green, and lavender) and took them into a Fred Segal store. The customer response was immediate and overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Like wildfire, Hard Candy sparked a revolution in the cosmetics industry with funky colors and names to match.

This fall Hard Candy’s offerings feature Shag (‘70s apartment carpet green), Gank (dirty turquoise), and Hot Rod (mustard yellow).

Urban Decay, another non-traditional nail color company helped push the envelope with its own line of funky colors. Smog, Oil Slick, and Pallor are not exactly the colors Aunt Edna would choose to wear to the church potluck. Or would she?

According to Janet Sewell, director of marketing for Hard Candy, the original target market for these wild products were 12-year-old girls to 24-year-old women. But it soon became apparent that the customers purchasing these new colors actually ranged in ages from 8 to 45.

The youngest consumers tend to go for the bright, shiny colors like Nail Fetish’s Crush (silver sparkle), Fairy Dust (light purple), and Tank Top (hot pink) or Jane’s Taxi (lemon yellow).

Another new line of nail polish, Solarsation, is bound to appeal to this younger group as well. The clear polish changes color when exposed to sunlight. It’s a way cool look that’s sure to be seen in schoolyards across the country.

Older girls are still gravitating toward the grunge colors like Nail Savvy’s Tremor (metallic gray/green) and Black Orchid (deep purple) or Hard Candy’s Weenie (burnt orange). Dirty cream colors are what the majority of this age group prefers.

Women over the age of 25 tend to go for the colors that don’t quite shock but still make an impact. They realize that OPI’s Moon over Miami, Creative Nail Design’s Parakeet, or Jane’s Soldier Boy are fun to play around with on the weekends but need to be replaced with something a bit more traditional before Monday’s board meeting.

That’s when they switch to Revlon’s Stone EDGE Pebble, Lancome’s Divine, or L’Oreal’s Plush Velvet. They still make a statement, but in a much more subtle way.

Switching colors is precisely why nail polish has become such a hot fashion statement. Unlike a tongue stud, a nose ring or a viper tattoo, nail polish offers a cutting-edge look when you feel daring but is easily removed so you can slip back into mainstream society with minimal effort.

Nail a’Peel, the latest entry into the polish industry, makes changing colors even easier. The color simply peels off when you want to make a change. No need for messy acetone solvent removers.

Because Nail a’Peel is water-based, there are no heavy chemical fumes when the bottle is opened.

Being water-based also extends the shelf life of the product. You end up using the whole bottle, not throwing half of it away because it’s too sticky to use due to chemical evaporation.

This environment-friendly alternative to traditional polishes, available in more than 40 colors, is expected to show up in many local retail stores this fall.

Another big plus with nail color is the cost. You can spend as much as $14 for a bottle of Hard Candy or as little as 80 cents for a bottle of Wet and Wild. Other companies, including Townley, Pro 10, and Hot Tips come in around $4 to $5 per bottle.

Still unable to find just the right shade of green or blue or purple? Do what Mohajer did: Mix up your own colors. Start with a white or off-white polish and add a few drops of food coloring.

Experiment. Try a drop or two of red, a drop of blue, and a couple drops of yellow. Now comes the fun part: you get to name your own color! For even more pizazz add some glitter, and you’ll really have a personal statement.

To accompany the nail colors, many lines are also offering new lip hues. Hard Candy’s best seller is a sheer iridescent periwinkle called Exxtasy.

Look for other manufacturers to follow with their own versions of blue, green and yellow shades to match the nails.

This aspect of the trend is so out-there that only the very bold are willing to give it a shot.

According to 15-year-old old Angie Legg, who maintains a Web site (http://pages.prodigy.com/voodoo/angie.htm) dedicated to the new nail colors, “I have over 114 different colors (of nail polish), but I normally do not wear the lipsticks that match the nail colors because they tend to be very unflattering. Your face is the first thing people notice about you, and I think that the outrageously colored lipsticks are a little too distracting.”

While most people are still hesitant to try matching the really cutting-edge lip and tip colors, there are some exceptions on the horizon. L’Oreal’s Mulberry set, Lancome’s Henne’ duo, and Revlon’s Pebble pair will be popular, toned-down combinations destined to gain acceptance as the holidays approach.

It’s fun, outrageous and cheap but leaves no permanent marks. What more can you ask for in a fashion fad?

Give it a try. The evidence of your wild behavior can be gone in a matter of minutes.

Who knows? Even Aunt Edna may discover she likes wearing metallic blue on her nails.