Have the Color of the Year at Your Fingertips Try out the “Radiant Orchid” trend with one of these nail polishesAs you fashionistas already know, every year “color authority” Pantone selects a shade that it believes will be hot—in home décor, fashion and beauty—for the coming year. For 2014, the company has announced that a pinky-plummy-lavender shade it calls Radiant Orchid will replace Emerald (so last year!) as the new “It” color. Not sure the color suits you? A mani-pedi is an easy, commitment-free way to dip your toe in the trend. The Pantone-branded “Radiant Orchid” cosmetics collection produced in collaboration with Sephora isn’t in stores yet, but we chose three already-available pol
HOOPLA's "Ocean Breeze" Polish Set Helps You Go Green A fresh manicure looks great, but some of the chemicals used in nail polishes don’t paint such a pretty picture.Luckily, it’s easy to get your hands on a line of nontoxic lacquers thanks to Hoopla. The Kansas City-based company’s polishes are all free of the nastiest chemicals—toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl, phthalate and camphor—found in many other brands. Even cooler?Right now, when you buy Hoopla’s “Ocean Breeze” trio of polishes ($22.50), 20 percent of the price goes to Oceana, a nonprofit that aims to keep our oceans clean and safeguard marine wildlife.The set is available from Hoopla’s website, or pick it up in person when you pop i
Kansas SalonDoes Things Its Own Way With its own brand of polish, complimentary products, and parties, Fairway, Kan.-based Hoopla offers a twist on the traditional salon experience. The concept for Hoopla was dreamed up on a playground, where co-owners Megan Thornberry and Molly Maxwell met three years ago. They’d sat side-by-side watching their young sons play for weeks before bonding over a love for nail services. Thornberry was a trial lawyer for 15 years and Maxwell had worked in New York as a clinical social worker. Both frequented salons but soon grew tired of what they knew and were sparked to change the market. “We decided to open a salon that we’d personally like to go to; one that
