2011 Color of the Year

Thanks to The Beauty In Everything for the inspiration for this post!  The Pantone Color Institute announced yesterday that Honeysuckle (Pantone 18-2120) as the 2011 Color of the Year.  I grew up in Mississippi where honeysuckle grows in abundance, and honeysuckles will always remind me of waiting for the blossoms to appear each spring and summer. From the Pantone site:

While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.

I enjoyed virtually flipping through the Spring 2011 Fashion Report from the Pantone Color Insitute as well, and now of course I'm ready for Spring, although DC had its first snow flurries of the season today.  The grass is always greener!

Essie Winter 2010 Collection

Today is the first of November, the first day that the Essie Winter 2010 Collection is available for purchase within the U.S.  I'm loving each of the colors, especially Smokin' Hot and Masquerade Belle, and I'm not even turned off by the green Going Incognito!

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Essie's 2010 Summer Collection

Love love Essie's new summer nail colors.  They pretty much speak for themselves, and I would wear every single of these... except possibly the green.  I know I'm a wimp, but I just can't put a color like that on my nails. 

Haute as Hello

Knockout Pout

Vermillionaire

Miss Matched

Demure Vixen

Pretty Edgy

All Laquered Up

I've been on a nail polish kick lately, and some co-workers and I have been ooh-ing and aah-ing over some of the recent releases from Essie and OPI.  I will readily admit that I am pretty traditional, though not necessarily conservative, when it comes to nail colors--give me pinks or corals on my fingers and reds or pinks on my toes and I'm a happy girl.  I do like a lot of grays and deep, dark purples, but I tend to steer clear of greens, blues, and anything that could be considered DayGlo.  So, you can imagine my delight when I saw the newly released Essie 2010 Spring Resort Collection.  I love the Playa del Platinum, and I really like the Splash of Grenadine.  I could even be talked into trying Turquoise and Caicos, and perhaps, just maybe, Lapis of Luxury.

Playa del Platinum

Touch of Grenadine

Turquoise and Caicos

Lapis of Luxury

However, I was not as thrilled with OPI's Shrek Forever After collection, to be released in May 2010 in conjunction with the movie Shrek: Forever After.  While the names are creative, as always, I only really liked Rumples Wiggin on my first look.  Funkey Dunkey (i.e., donkey) and What's with the Cattitude? are cute colors for summer, but I'd probably stick to one of my no-fail summer colors, like ElePhantastic Pink or Charged Up Cherry.  I can say that, without a doubt, you will NOT find me wearing Fiercely Fiona or Who The Shrek Are You?, although OPI did a pretty good job of transferring Shrek and Fiona's skin color to nail color.  Ogre-The-Top just reminds me of above-ground swimming pools, so that one is definitely out.  Overall, I think it's a fun color story, and I commend OPI for not including a pink or red hue in the collection.

Rumples Wiggin

Funkey Dunkey

What's with the Cattitude?

Ogre-The-Top

Fiercely Fiona

Who the Shrek Are You?