StrangeBeautiful’s Exclusive Creations for Anthropologie
As I mentioned in recapping my trip to The Makeup Show NYC, I had the chance to meet StrangeBeautiful founder Jane Schub while in town. Jane is an interesting and thoughtful creature who brings her artistic background and unique eye for color to the world of nail polish.
Finding the beauty in something like a squashed bug or the veining in a piece of cheese is what sets Jane’s collections apart and now she’s bringing her creations to the masses on a more accessible scale by partnering with Anthropologie. In exclusive packaging designed just for Anthropologie, Jane has paired up a selection of her existing shades into duos. |
The StrangeBeautiful Anthropologie sets come in three distinct shapes. One very barbell-esque, another with block style ends like a Lincoln Log and the last reminds me of an architect tube. Rather than pull apart, each end unscrews so you are polishing with the other color still attached. At first I thought this would be awkward but in the hand it feels like a fine writing instrument. Not at all cumbersome.
As always, Jane has not named the colors but she did share the references for each shade.
Eau de vie macerated fruit and Borscht
Oscar Wilde and Cinder block
The dreadfully wonderful dirty almond color used on kitchen appliances and An orange turban in a 15th Century Florentine portrait titled Matteo Olivieriff
Cheap foundation and Verdigris
Aged chartreuse and The gradation of color on the fur of a taxidermy caribou head
The poem “Lapis Lazuli” by William Butler Yeats and Oeil De Perdrix (partridge – eye) pink color of Rosé champagne
The StrangeBeautiful Anthropologie exclusives will launch within the next couple weeks at Anthropologie stores nationwide and online at Anthropologie.com. The duos will retail for $18/ea.
What do you think of these new duos? Which ones will you be stalking at Anthropologie? I’m curious to hear your thoughts on polishing with this unusual packaging.
Even though I have the colors in the Cheap Foundation/Verdigris duo (review coming soon), I still want to pick up this set just for the packaging though the little barbell/block style is calling to me as well. What’s a girl to do?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Worst.Packaging.Ever.
As much as I love those colors I won’t grab any.
Are these full size bottles? It’s kind of hard to tell without a size reference. I don’t know that I love the idea of buying 2 bottles at once, since I like some colors but not always their partners (although their partners do go very well). So for $18, I’d definitely have to check them out a bit more closely to ensure that I’d actually use both colors. If I was better at doing a french manicure on myself, some of these combos would look great together for that purpose! Unfortunately I don’t have a steady enough hand =P
I don’t know the official size but just eyeballing it, they look a bit smaller than the regular SB .5oz bottles. I would guess .4oz. Shapes can be deceiving though. I’ll see what I can find out.
Hi Sara,
Have you seen those white sticker guides for french manicures? They were harder to find a few years ago but recently I started seeing them again. Rite Aid & Sally Beauty have them.
You know I tried them once YEARS ago (we’re talking like 10 years at least) and I didn’t have much luck, but I did totally forget about them and I bet they’re better than they were then. I think the problem then was that the stickers didn’t actually stick well, so then it just bled under the line!
Hello Sara!
Please be informed that STRANGEBEAUTIFUL came to fruition (in the market and in business)
for only a little over a year come this October
kind regards
Jane Schub
Creator
STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Library of Color
Just FYI–
Sara was referring to the french manicure stickers at Rite Aid, not SB polish.
Wow! How creative! Strangely (pun not intended), I really enjoy the almond kitchen appliances color & cinder block. Their complements are also intriguing. While I like that aged chartreuse, I can guarantee it will look horrid against my yellow skin tone. Can’t wait to read your “wear posts” on these.
But like I needed ONE MORE THING to drool over at Anthropologie.
Thanks for the heads up! I LOVE Anthropologie too…most of their stuff is out of my price range, lol. (I swear it used to be a bit more affordable.)
Anyway, I’m really digging the ‘Oscar Wilde & Cinder Block,’ and the ‘Lapis Lazuli & Rose champagne,’…so pretty.
I just hope some are left by the time I can get to an Anthropologie store…or maybe they will only be available catalog & web?
You’re very right when you say Anthro used to be more affordable. I worked there several years ago for the Christmas season and adored it. I don’t remember exact prices, but I would say stuff’s been marked up at least 25% since then.
hmm- to me they are more strange than beautiful… might be a bit of work to use the cap with the big polish bottle on top…
How interesting! I like the lapis and rose combo.
I’d like to see one of these opened with the brush though, I can’t figure out how they would work…
This seems extremely difficult to apply…. it is really heavy to hold the brush with another polish bottle attached to it.
Love Oscar Wilde and Cinder block but Cheap Foundation and the Carabou head ones look awful! Don’t like them at all – I can’t imagine them working with anyone’s skin tone – look forward to seeing your tests! x
“…it feels like a fine writing instrument.” I dont know why I was so amused by this but i just was! the inspiration for them is fascinating and if i was anywhere near a store selling them id definitly get the one with the almond and orange colours.
Wow – I’m pretty excited to check these out!! I’ll probably pick up only one or two because of the higher price, but I’m definitely intrigued. The color descriptions make me smile.
The packaging seems cool, but I’m still skeptical as to how it’ll actually work! I probably get one or two just to have, since I don’t own any SB yet. I like the almond appliance/Matteo Olivieriff and Oscar Wilde/Cinderblock the best.
Those named inspirations are so pretentious and deliberately precious they make me ill.
+1
“An orange turban in a 15th Century Florentine portrait titled Matteo Olivieriff”? Someone wants to be nail polish’s answer to Nigella Lawson.
Hmm, only one of these that doesn’t look good to me is the chartreuse duo. I love that their colors are so odd, though their prices are a bit steep for me generally. I’m a cheap skate, what can I say.
Funky colors…I don’t know how many I would actually wear, but I can’t wait to see your review…that might help me decide if I need to pick some up or not!
At Luckyscent.com they also have duos, and in different pairings. I got “veins in roquefort” and “loden cloth” as a pair from there. So glad to be able to obtain my faves without buying an entire set.
Obsessed, need them all.
Errr.. no, these aren’t for me. Not because I don’t like the colors.. but because I like to keep my polish bottles upright to prevent goop around the tops. These look like a spill waiting to happen.
I like some of the colors, but the packaging, while cool to look it, is utterly impractical. Pass.
i like the Cheap foundation and Verdigris the most
i can’t wait to see the swatches and reviews
Love them. Hmmmnnn…. great inspiration colors.
I love the colors but I just thought about how I’m going to paint with such a heavy brush.. no so well. The packaging isn’t so great. I’d buy most of the them if they were sold in regular bottles.
Not crazy about buying two colors at once, and the colors look very ordinary despite the packaging.
Totally agree with Melissa about the names.
Pass.
I really love your website though!
Bit weird looking and my main concern would be that if you did manage to use half a bottle of them that the brush would be sat out of the polish the majority of the time and may dry out causing application issues, as if having a whole other bottle of polish swinging around on the top wasn’t causing those already! Look a bit style over substance to me so will be interested to see how you get on when you swatch!
I’m curious because some of the sets are barbell shaped and some of them are the same width. I look forward to your review and definitely want to see them in person. I *hope* they will have testers so we can see how the double-ended set up works IRL. As always – thanks for all the great info & reviews!
Not a fan of the packaging and it’s funny that they went from no names (library collections) to these names. I still long for Volume 3 tho’ it was just too hard to justify $80 on polish all at once.
I like some of the colours but also don’t feel comfortable storing polish on its side — I’d worry about leaks/drying around the threads… I really wish Verdigris came with Cinder Block, though. That would be a tempting combo. Cheap Foundation, not so much.
I don’t see any reason to put these ‘amazing colors’ into shapes that aren’t particularly user friendly. It seems more of a gimmick, and a marketing tool to attract attention to the brand than anything else. JMHO
i really love the color combinations! looking forward to your review, though! — i could imagine application might be a little difficult.
Ha ha – I have to totally agree with Melissa: “Those named inspirations are so pretentious and deliberately precious they make me ill.”
I hear that. Such a shame, really. The colours are great but the descriptions and weird packaging are too OTT.
These look really interesting, cool colors and very unique packaging!
Still none of the pairs really woo me, they seem like great color combinatoins for, let’s say, interior designing, but mayby not for nails…
Seems like every pair has a color that I like and a color that I hate (or think is boring as sh*t), although I’m strangely drawn to the dirty almond – orange turban combo. I could defenitely do a funky french manicure with them.
And that Oscar Wilde just cracked me up!
That’s exactly the color that pops into my mind when I think about him. Just the name makes me love that pale lila that I would normally pass without a second thought.
Just thinking I would rather buy minis of the 3 volumes, if they were available.
I love these! I am a bit worried about the functionality of the packaging but “Oscar Wilde and Cinder Block” are 2 colours I’ve been looking for so…The only other thing is the price. OPI bottles are $9.99 or less and these duos are $18.00, but the volume of the individual colours looks like much less. I think maybe $15 is more reasonable for what you get but I’ll have to check them out.
I like some of the colours but also don’t feel comfortable storing polish on its side — I’d worry about leaks/drying around the threads… I really wish Verdigris came with Cinder Block, though. That would be a tempting combo. Cheap Foundation, not so much.
I picked up one of these today (aged chartreuse/caribou head) and they seem pretty substantial–it was difficult for me to choose just one! They are 2-0.25 oz bottles and while the one bottle is a bit heavier to hold than a regular nail polish brush, it doesn’t seem awkward to polish with.
What’s her deal with not being able to buy one color on its own! Stop making us try to buy more than one! These are cool, but not $18 cool.
I like caribou head
they look interesting, and i like some of these colors..but are they made of natural ingredients?