Press Preview: OPI Spring 2013 Euro Centrale Collection
Suzi Weiss-Fischmann is pretty chuffed. The vivacious executive VP and artistic director of OPI loves every nail polish collection she launches, but her Hungarian roots especially connect her to Spring 2013's Euro Centrale, a colourful nod to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
"These countries were kind of living in different times, and it takes years sometimes to get the women to fashion and to appreciate beauty. That's when I really wanted to do something," says Suzi when I ask what took so long to get to Hungary. "To get inspiration from architecture, yes it's great -- you know, everything inspires. But mostly I love to see women look fashionable, embracing beauty, and I want to make a contribution to that."
Suzi unveiled the Euro Centrale Collection by OPI to Canadian beauty media yesterday at the Trump Hotel in Toronto. Fun fact: the chandeliers in the room are made of Czech crystal. Langton PR, the agency that handles press relations for OPI in Canada, discovered that serendipitous tidbit during the site check.
Let's play guess-the-country connection! The bottles:
Polka.com: blue and violet glitter flakes in a clear base. One of the best nail lacquer names ever.
My Vampire is Buff: creamy pale nude -- nude if you're a vampire. Wait, suddenly I'm having thoughts of Ian Somerhalder as Damon in "The Vampire Diaries," David Boreanaz as Angel in "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," and James Marsters as Spike (my favourite), also in "Buffy".... Sorry, what?
A Woman's Prague-ative: shimmery copper.
Can't Find My Czechbook (aqua), OPI... Eurso Euro (deep blue cream), My Paprika is Hotter than Yours! (fiery red).
Hands Off My Kielbasa!: bronze tan. The naming process at OPI sounds like all kinds of fun, held in a room with walls papered in regional maps, and further inspiration from food and drink native to whatever area is the focus of the collection. This time it was good bread, cheese, cold cuts and Hungary's best-known red wine, Egri Bikavér (translation: bull's blood of Eger, a region in Hungary). Suzi says that she usually likes a little red wine as her drink of choice, although on a recent trip to the South of France, she got into rosé.
Oy -- Another Polish Joke!: shimmery gold. Suzi predicts gold as a big colour for Spring. In other news, I once played a game of charades in which the teammate before me got the word "polish." Her time ran out when she was trying to mime "polish" as in sausage. How many of you read polish as pawlish first?
Vant to Bite My Neck?: deep eggplant. Back to Damon Salvatore.... sorry, what?
I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw: midnight blue. Another one of my favourite shade names. How deep into the red wine do we suppose the OPI team was at this point?
Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!: warm pink. Suzi says that at 3 o'clock in the afternoon she runs around the office looking for food.
You're Such a BudaPest: periwinkle purple.
For yesterday's event, Suzi wore two shades.
Her mani was OPI... Eurso Euro, with Polka.com as a topper on an accent nail on each hand.
The watercolour artwork for this collection also caught my eye. So pretty!
The Euro Centrale Collection by OPI hits in Febuary 2013. What shade do you want to try first? Can you identify the country for each shade?