Dear Friends,

The word on the streets of New York City is “coolhunting.” It means tracking down the coolest trends in the Big Apple from SoHo to Tribeca, from midtown to MacDougal Street. The newest, freshest urban expressions take shape in nails, hair, fashion, design, and all of the arts.

I did a bit of coolhunting myself while in New York recently to visit with editors regarding OPI’s new fall colors, The New England Collection. I visit New York every year, because if it’s happening, it happens in New York first.

Visiting the sky-high editorial offices of the beauty and fashion industry’s most high- powered magazines, I really got an eyeful of trends being born. Each editor knows what will interest her particular readership. Glamour’s editor is looking for something different than Seventeen’s editor, I tell them my predictions on nail color, styles, and trends, and, of course, I pick up trend information from them, too. Everything helps when you’re designing a polish collection. It’s kind of a lifestyle thing – dress, songs, feelings. I never return from there empty-handed (literally and figuratively).

Trend 1: Dark colors aren’t just for winter anymore. You don’t have to wear sheers or pastels just because the weather is hot. One striking young woman who was answering phones wore her long, oval nails with dark red polish dipped below the “moon,” and with the tip exposed. I admired it, and told her that women of a certain generation called that look the “Cuban” manicure.

I saw lots of red-hot nails and dark nails, too - colors that would be right at home with a winter palette as well. The woman who sat next to me at the hot new play “The Lion King” looked like an African princess: long neck, short, natural hair, and perfect, bronze-polished nails. It turns out that this regal-looking woman is an attorney, and she wears bronzy brown nail colors because they match her skin. The look is finished, sophisticated, and appropriate for her profession.

Trend 2: Matte isn’t where it’s at. another trend I picked up on was that flat, matte color seems to be over. Women seem really drawn to colors with dimension or layers, whether it’s a metallic blend, glitter, or some other special effect to give the color some complexity and depth. Lots of the fashions in the store windows used hologram-like fabrics that change color depending on the light, kind of like ‘60s psychedelic, except much more high-tech.

Trend 3: Bright is alright, but neon? Going, going, gone. Toss out those neons. For about a minute, women seeded to love day-glo orange, neon pink, and poisonous-looking acid-yellow. Now these colors just look thick and dated, as though their expiration label has expired. And with the ‘60s and the ‘90s behind them, they’re now officially outdated – twice! Contemporary brights are toned back with a bit of brown or gray, and also are given depth and dimension with metallic or shimmery opalescent blends to keep them from going flat.

You have to be hard as nails to make it in New York! I knew my trip to “nail down” editors would be rush, rush, rush, but even after clawing my way to the top of the Big Apple, the rest of me feels fried, but my nails still look great.

Love from the Big Apple, via the Big Orange (back home in LA)