In the News: Nail polish replaces lipstick as women's favorite luxury product

Good afternoon my lovely readers! Today, I am taking a nail polish break and letting my cuticles recover from Acetone-gate 2011 yesterday. For today, I wanted to show you a few articles I have come across in the news:

From the Daily Mail UK: As sales soar 54 per cent in a year, how nail polish replaced lipstick as women's favourite recession-proof luxury

From Good Housekeeping: Nail Polish - An Afforable Splurge

For me, 2011 was the year of the nail. I have always loved nail polish but this year I really  took it to the next level and started becoming involved in the nail polish community. When I started searching for my bottle of OPI Black Shatter early this year, something clicked inside of me. I thought how amazing it was that something as inexpensive as an $8.50 bottle of nail polish could bring me so much happiness and excitement. And I soon learned that I was not alone in that excitement.

The Daily Mail columnist Tamara Abraham discusses in her article a phenomenon known as the "Lipstick Index," which is a trend for increasing sales among high-end cosmetics while the rest of the economy declines. Simply, if a women can only afford a limited amount of luxury products under a failing economy, a tube of lipstick is far less expensive yet equally as rewarding as a trip to the spa or a new outfit.  However, according to US trends, nail polish has actually replaced lipstick as that inexpensive luxury object that women seek.  As Estee Lauder chairman told Time Magazine: "Nail polish has become the heir to lipstick in the recession." Nail polish sales have increased 54 percent in the last year, whereas lipstick sales have only risen 14 perfect. 54 percent!!

I believe there are several factors that may have attributed to this drastic increase in the past year. Perhaps it can be attributed to the fact that more celebrity names have been putting their stamps on polish collections this year, such as Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. Also, several new nail trends such as the shatter/crackle phenomenon, and even magnetic polish (though it is still so new) have been taking center stage lately. I even said myself that my search for OPI Black Shatter is what started my recent nail polish obsession. I believe that many people look at nail polish as another fashion accessory. While it may be too expensive for you to go out and purchase new shoes or a new scarf during these difficult economic times, a new bottle of nail polish to compliment your outfit is always an inexpensive treat.

Whatever may be the reason for the recent increase in nail polish sales, it is very exciting! The nail polish industry continues to grow with more companies and more innovations in product lines. If people keep buying, they'll keep making it! I have seen so many of my "muggle" (read:non-nail polish-obsessed) friends painting their nails more often these days and becoming interested in what I'm doing with mine. I've even got some of them trying DIY nail art! So for me, I definitely see the trend of people moving towards nail polish in real life.

Nail polish companies, if you're reading this: keep on trucking! People are gonna buy your stuff! Throw in some holos, flakies, and duochromes and we can all be happy. I'm so glad to see nail polish forging ahead in the beauty world and I hope this is a trend that will continue for years to come.

So what do you all think? Do you agree that you have seen nail polish rise in popularity this year? Do you think that trend is here to stay?

Hope you are all having a fantastic day! See you all again tomorrow with a brand new Halloween manicure =)

-Jacqui