Polish Maker Nails Down Paint Line

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Polish Maker Nails Down Paint Line
Brushing Up: Nail polish at OPI Products’ North Hollywood manufacturing facility.

Is there anything worse than when your fingernails clash with the walls in your living room? That fashion faux pas might be a thing of the past thanks to an unlikely partnership between a local nail care manufacturer and a hardware company.

OPI Products Inc., a North Hollywood nail products firm, has linked with Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware Corp. to match its most popular nail colors with a line of paint for the home. The 18 nail-polish colors will be available at about 3,200 Ace Hardware stores by the end of this month.

Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI’s co-founder and executive vice president, said the purpose was to emphasize her company as a lifestyle brand more than just a seller of nail products.

“Every corporation is looking to capture the female audience,” she said. “That’s our base, and for me, it’s more about keeping the consumer’s eye on the brand.”

The OPI colors will be made available through Ace’s premium paint line, Clark+Kensington. Prices will start at about $27 a gallon for the paint. Ace also has plans to sell mini sampler packs of some of the OPI nail colors that will be available in paint later this year.

The deal is for two years with plans to launch new collections.

OPI, originally a dental supply company, was purchased by George Schaeffer in 1981. He joined with Weiss-Fischmann, his then sister-in-law, to turn it into a nail care company. It has 700 employees and offers more than 400 shades with quirky names such as its popular Lincoln Park After Dark, an eggplant-colored polish that will not be available as paint, and a red shade called I Eat Mainely Lobster, which will be.

The company was acquired by fragrance giant Coty Inc. of Paris in 2010 for an estimated $1 billion and still operates independently.

OPI collaborates with everyone from singers such as Gwen Stefani and Mariah Carey to beverage maker Coca-Cola Co. to create one-of-a-kind nail colors.

Mary Rice, president and general manager for Ace’s paint division, said the collection should help Ace attract customers in an unexpected way.

“Women are very comfortable picking nail color and being fashionable,” she said. “And in many cases, what they wear is what they like in their home. So, we thought it would be a clever undertaking.”

– Subrina Hudson

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