Friday, May 28, 2010

MINX ON A ONE NIGHT STAND



So, Sephora went ahead and released their latest catalogue and included a brand new product(yet to be actually launched - early June is the word...) that had Minx Nail technicians the (American) land over getting more heated than their Minx lamps. Then they took their heat to the online beauty forums... http://www.beautytech.com/forums/viewtopic

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's re-cap.


MINX NAILS x OPI x SEPHORA.

We don't have Sephora in Australia (Minx Nails just landed here a mere 6 months ago) so this product will most likely never see the light of day here, but it's been causing all kinds of drama and intrigue on the world wide web, so you know I had to get into it.


Upon posting my discovery here :) , I immediately sent the link over to the dynamic duo, Peter and Lucy Lykissas at Switchfunky - the official distributors of Minx Nails in Australia - to ask them if they'd heard about the special project. 

Peter called me straight back and things quickly started making a bit more sense.

This is what it is....

The girls from Minx Nails sat down in a design capacity with OPI to develop 'CHIC PRINTS for NAILS' to join the already extensive 'SEPHORA by OPI' range.   'CHIC PRINTS for NAILS'

Although this new product looks suspiciously like Minx Nails forms, apparently the material the designs are printed on is not the same thing at all.

'CHIC PRINTS for NAILS' is a temporary nail sticker designed specifically to last no longer than one day/night (..you heard right). And, unlike a professional in-salon Minx Nails service, this product does not need the use of a heat lamp or expert prep and application (uhh...no wonder a set only lasts one night). Also, there are only 8 designs available compared to the hundreds to chose from with the professional service.

I can understand with the extremely limited amount of info available at this time, why Minx Nail professionals would be feeling cranky and nervous (and somewhat hung out to dry) about this brash new thing being available for the masses to d.i.y. - but upon hearing some more of the facts, I'm thinking this is good for everyone involved.

Really.

OPI and Sephora have incredible brand integrity, marketing power and consumer bases. Everyone (and their mama) wants Minx. 
This new product literally looks like a trial run for anyone thinking of having a Minx service, especially those who need to carefully consider spending $50-$60 on one professional nail appointment. 

I don't know that Minx or Sephora anticipated such a strong reaction from Minx technicians (I know I certainly wanted to know what this unlikely mystery product was gonna be) and it may not have been the hype they were hoping for, but by the time CHIC PRINTS launch, I'm thinking this beauty tsunami is gonna look more like storm in a hot teacup. (if only my u.s. fam were into tea...).

Image courtesy of beautytech.com

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