New York Magazine’s Nail Polish Shop-A-Matic Featuring ALU’s Summer Faves
Fanatics I have some fun news to share. Last year I raved about New York Magazine’s Shop-A-Matic feature and how much I loved that they did one focusing on nail polish. Well this year, Editor Diana Tsui invited me to be a guest editor selecting my favorite colors of the season to be included in their comprehensive listing. Talk about a thrill and a challenge. Narrowing down my top picks for Summer 2010 to a short list of 19 was no small feat.
If you haven’t browsed the NY Mag Shop-A-Matic in the past you’re missing out. Each polish is shown in the bottle, on the nail and as a color blob. They also include shopping information for the NYC area and online availability.
All the polishes are categorized by color and can be sorted by price but if you want to see my picks, select that option from the “Color” drop down menu.
Of the 19 polishes I selected, Diana asked me to share with her my Top 3. Find out my choices later today on The Cut.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Great tool, but have you seen the nail models??? I can hardly bear to look at some of them. There is polish on overgrown cuticles, and horribly shaped nails, uneven application, etc. So unprofessional for their website. What were they thinking? They should have had you swatch everything. LOL
Before I went to the page, I honestly thought that the models couldn’t be that bad. I don’t know you Danielle but, I have to apologize for thinking you were possibly being too harsh. You are 100% right. I’m really surprised that they used those hands. I cannot imagine the manufacturers would want their polishes being displayed that way.
They definitely should’ve used All Lacquered Up’s great pics.
Danielle I was just about to write the same thing! that’s one of the reasons I love ALU because her swatches are great and her nails aren’t -eeerrr, for the lack of a better word *gross* looking. The uneven crappy coverage on that website make my eyes hurt!
oh yeah and Michelle great job!
That is a cool site! I’m not sure if we’ve been spoiled by your gorgeous nails though, Michelle, but the swatches they have on the site are so gnarly that they gross me out. Looking forward to your top picks!
Just checked out what Danielle said. OMG the swatches are terrible.
What a great feature on NY Mag!!!! But I have to agree about the nail “models.” Most of the fingers look like busted toes
This is an awesome feature, but I was just going to say the same thing as Danielle about the nail models. EW. Don’t they even have an intern with nice cuticles that could’ve done the job? You totally should have been allowed to swatch them yourself! (and compensated by the hour, of course)
This is off topic from your post today, but can you please recommend me a good brick red colour? Preferrably in OPI, Essie or China Glaze (that’s what’s available nearby.)
Thanks a ton!
I agree with Danielle… On the 100 list, some of those np swatches were super streaky and some of the fingers were dried out and crusty-looking – ick!
I agree with Danielle. I was not pleased with the “on the nail” photos. Why are they so so awful????? I can’t believe they did that!!
i luv it!!! u and new york mag rocks!!!
You’re right, the swatches aren’t ideal. Though if you consider that they were all shot under the same lighting, it does give you a good reference as to the differences between polishes in the same color family.
To be fair to the hand model, they only have 1-2 days to photograph and swatch everything and I can bet that under that tight of a deadline, my nails would be looking pretty wrecked after that much swatching. A little cuticle oil wouldn’t hurt though.
Also, seems like they were in a hurry and used only one coat of each polish. That doesn’t really give the right impression of the colors.
Still, it’s a BIG improvement to have all these pics. Most webstores just put a gritty photo of the bottle, if that.
Anywho, congratulations Michelle! That must have been a tough decision, to pick those 19 winners. I think you did a great job. I was so happy when I saw that I already own two of them.
Congrats on this opportunity, and great picks!! I think I will try Funky Dunkey for my next mani. It is in my untrieds pile and I LOVE purples, especially for summer!
now i am a shop-a-matic addict, lol, thanks alu for getting me hooked…
I don’t understand why they couldn’t have nabbed some cosmetology students and student models to do some appropriate hand modeling.
It wasn’t just an unprofessional application but the less-than-attractive hands.
Some of the swatches look like they only used one coat!
love your picks, they are very you (lots of greens)! I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world they allowed such terrible fingers and awful application to represent those pretty colors. I can’t help but think that many people might be put off from purchasing some of the colors just because the swatches were done so poorly. It looked like all the swatches were done with only one messy coat. :s
Lookin’ good!
Nice layout and opportunity to see different colors and brands.
(Running quickly for Lemony Flutter to spiff up my own nails!!!)
I loved it! The nail swatches were terrible, true, but I was just happy I had the top two colors! I think it’s time for the nails to be Flyin’ High!
Having the nail swatches is so great in theory, but they certainly did not execute it well. I came to comment, wondering if anyone had said anything.
It feels so mean to say, but it really did gross me out a little and it doesn’t help sell the polish. Bummer. They should have had a professional helping.
Oh my gosh, everyone complaining should have seen last year’s Nail Polish Shop-A-Matic! This year’s swatches are miles better.
The swatches last year were really pretty grotesque by any standard – polish sloshed all over the cuticles, crusted into corners, lumpy and clumpy coverage, and even gnarlier nails – it did really gross me out.
I too thought it would be better just to skip the swatches entirely rather than do such a cruddy job. Some of you don’t even know how much worse it was last year…you should be thankful for the improvement!
Totally agree with Danielle! Their website featured some of my favourite go-to shades but the nail models were such a put off, I can imagine buyers not wanting the colours featured just from seeing those nails… Shame.
Great selection of polish, but I think the model for Commander in Chic’s swatch needs prompt medical attention for what must be a serious condition that is causing her nails to ridge like that! That was really the best they could do for nail models? The comment about how they look like toes cracked me up. Unfortunately after looking at the swatches, the images of toe fingers may be permanently etched into my brain…shudder.