Blue
China Glaze
Holiday Joy & A Consistent Lack of Diversity
Tuesday, November 20, 2012nail a college drop outToday I called in sick at work. Am I sick? Not exactly, but I
was far too exhausted from cranking out a twelve hour shift yesterday
to crawl out of bed for another twelve hour round of servicing
mortgages. Pretty sure you're not supposed to tell anyone when you are
playing hooky. But um.... YOLO?
What does this have to do with anything?? Nothing really. But I finally have the time to paint my nails and write about them.
Finally, a semi successful water marble! If only I could replicate these results every time.
So, your inquisitive nature wants to know what I used.
China Glaze Blue Bells Sings & Cranberry Splash
Why on earth do I have these? I'm not entirely too sure myself. So allow me to backtrack for a moment.
Every so often you'll see me mention the consistent lack of diversity in
China Glaze's packaging. While I realize just talking about it here
hasn't gotten enough attention to make any real changes, I decided to
send an email.
I find it completely ironic that your tag line is "Live In Color," yet none of the packaging, campaign ads, retail displays have any women of color. No, I don't just mean black women, but women of color as a whole. Sure there was the We Adorn You Fall/Winter 2006 Collection, but seriously one single collection from six years ago isn't enough! I just find it so hard to believe that every single time a new collection comes out; it is always the same type of woman. In all of the years and marketing no one ever thought, "Hey, you know what? Maybe more than just white women buy our products!" I did love China Glaze nail polish and I did think the colors were great. Now I'm just sorely disappointed with your brand, marketing, and last but not least, your tagline. I genuinely hope this isn't falling on deaf ears for I have bought my last bottle of China Glaze Nail Lacquer.
Sincerely,
A woman of color.
Some time passes and all the sudden I'm asked if I want to receive samples. I found this incredibly strange because the aforementioned email was sent from my personal email account and not the email account I use for my blogging duties (blogging duties? Is that even a term? I guess it is now). Yet I was asked via my blog's email if I wanted samples.
It could be incredibly ironic timing or an attempt at appeasement.
Either way these were provided for the review.
Now that you've officially been caught up I'll give you a short run down on these two holiday themed lacquers.
Blue Bells Sing
A blue foil that's very well pigmented and opaque in two coats.
I was surprised at how much I actually liked it.
Cranberry Splash
A red shimmer polish that's opaque in two coats.
Not my ideal shade, but then again I've never been a huge fan of red nail polish. It's a pretty standard red shimmer you'd expect to see this time of year.
*products provided for review*
The China Glaze® Holiday Joy collection will be available in November 2012 at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide. The collection will be available in 24- and 36-piece counter displays, a 36-piece rack and 36-piece prepack.
Well kids there you have it. A review, some nail art, and a lack of representation.
Here's to hoping a change will come.
Tune in. Drop out. Love polish.
6 comments
LOL, this is the best post EVER!!! Too funny!
ReplyDeleteI freakin love your email! That is how you do it! It's so true you hardly ever see women of color on any brand of polishes so agree with that email! Love the mani your watermarble came out perfectly!
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteSome days are really hard to work and just may not feel like it. Taking a sick day doesn't mean you have to be throwing up. Lol YWIM.
ReplyDeleteLove your email. Good for you getting some samples I hope they keep sending them to you. Just like Niesha said it's hard for woc on any brand of polishes to be recognized. I used to get their samples but they stopped sending them I guess I don't get enough pageviews. We don't even get many comments or pageviews as others. That's why we need to support one another on commenting on our blogs. Even if we don't like the color or the art we can say how are you, have a good day....Buy the way your watermarble is gorgeous as all of your nailart :)
Great post! Very true. These are things more brands and companies should be concerning themselves with. Whenever I review a collection for whatever I sometimes see comments like "finally swatches with someone of my skin tone", that really shouldn't be the case! There should be many, many, many choices for women of color that they can relate to.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for writing to speak your mind, and for representing the brand now for women of color. : ) I agree it is really great to see products in use by all types of women, ;all ages and colors, and even men too sometimes for that matter.
ReplyDelete"Mental health" days are important too. Sometimes you need to recharge your batteries. You can't keep giving away all your apples without filling your apple basket back up sometimes!
Best to you :) I won't tell the boss sshhhhh