When I travel, I love to visit beautiful salons in all different parts of the world. It’s such a treat for me to learn about the many cultures and manicure services in their neck of the woods. From the unique décor to the wide range of products to the incredibly sweet and welcoming staff - salons across the globe continue to impress me.

One thing I’ve noticed about salons around the world is their creativity when it comes to merchandising our products. Here is a picture of me at the Dorchester Spa in London:

[a beautiful essie display at Dorchester Spa in London]

I just absolutely love this display! It makes such an impact on visitors and shows the wide variety of essie colors to pick from. I was in awe when I visited this salon!

The Bliss Salon & Spa in Manhattan came up with an amazing way to display our colors, too. I love this kind of unique innovation!

[essie polish display, Bliss Salon & Spa, Manhattan]

Other salons and spas choose to do beautiful window displays, like this one in Prague.

[Péče O Nehty Salon, Prague]

I absolutely LOVED this salon in the Middle East:

[Nailtini Salon in Kuwait]

The décor was so vibrant and filled with culture - I just love all the colors they used to decorate it! And the staff was so gracious and kind.

[Me with the staff at Nailtini Salon in Kuwait]

I also love Fresh Nails in Germany and American Nails in Paris - they are both spectacular salons and I always look forward to walking through their doors.

What do you LOVE about your salon?

Until next time,

“Fashion is art and art is fashion. And both of them couldn’t exist without color.”

Spring is blossoming here at essie. Our newest collection, the Art of Spring 2010, is just about to burst onto the scene! I had such a great time choosing and naming these polishes and I can’t wait to share the wonderful colors with you!

[The Art of Spring Collection]

At the Spring fashion shows last fall, I noticed an exciting trend towards classic elegance, pastels and sexy pops of color.  Unending shades of lilac, rose, cerise, crimson and coral stole the runway and brought colorful distraction from the gloomy fall weather.  There’s nothing that I love more than a classic pastel hue paired with an explosive burst of color!

[Vibrant reds at the Philip Lim show]

Monet-like flowers, abstracts and pop-art graphics were all over the runway. Art is so closely related to fashion and I knew I had to make a connection to it for this collection. These names were a blast to create, too, and I love how they all come together to make a sexy, modern and playful “color exhibit”!

HOT LIST: My favorite things about Spring

1. I’m getting ready for my garden! Tomatoes and basil and fresh veggies, oh my!
2. New Tod’s flats in lavender are awesome, I just love them.
3. I love to see and smell the flowers all over and everyone is shedding all those bundled layers!

What do you love most about Spring? Please share!

Love,