I’ve seen a lot of crazy beauty crap in my days. Fart guards, spray-on ab kits, press-on shadows – basically, nothing surprises me anymore.
Yet when Revlon’s April-launching collection of eight fruity-scented nail lacquers landed on my desk last week, all that practiced cynicism was replaced with a WTF. Nail polishes that become fruit-scented after they dry? Right. But since it’s my job, I went ahead and lightly painted my pinkie with the deep periwinkle Not So Blue-berry shade, then tentatively sniffed my nail.
I spent the rest of the afternoon compulsively inhaling my finger the way we all used to inhale Mr. Sketch’s grape markers in third grade art class, making the other Starbucks patrons around me very uncomfortable and giving myself one hell of a migraine.
At some point, while I inhaled the sickeningly addictive sweet, sweet scent of fake blueberries, I imagined the marketing meeting for this one: “So I’ve got this great idea. Nail polish you sniff. The kids’ll love it, providing they don’t get brain damage from inhalation.”
General impression: The colors are pretty, the polish goes on smooth, they didn’t chip easily and the scents are alarmingly addictive. No they don’t really fulfill any specific beauty needs, nor are they some groundbreaking development for the industry, but boy are they fun. And every now and then it’s nice to have a little bit of silliness in your routine. Now excuse me while I paint on the Mango and imagine I’m in Tahiti.
–MEGAN MCINTYRE