The nail color rainbow is here to stay

A few of the shades found in this fashionista's medicine cabinet.

I’ve been chewing on a New York Times article for a while. In early April, it declared nail polish a new fashion accessory. Officially.

At first, I balked—wasn’t nail polish always popular? Haven’t women been visiting nail salons since the dawn of nail salons?

Nail polish has always been popular, but now it has cultural pull. Now I’m a believer.

One important aspect of the new nail color culture is the decline of acrylic nails. They still exist, but I’m hard-pressed to find more than a few style bloggers in the DC area that wear fake nails. Everyone I see is wearing natural nails, with colors that change as often as a few times a week. There’s no need to wait for your next trip to the salon to try something new.

When it comes to a style splurge, a new nail color is one of the least risky couple of bucks you can spend. Nail color bottles range from $2 to $12 and sometimes more, meaning both that there’s a color out there for every budget and also that there’s room for endless experimentation for minimal style investment.

And, as one Chanel creative told the New York Times, “Nail polish is just makeup. “If it doesn’t work out, you can wipe it off.”

There’s also a valid argument that nail polish is taking off because our work and social environments have changed. Many office dress codes of the past prohibited nail color all-together; some limited women to wearing only pink or red colors. Now, the rainbow of shades (including neon) is appropriate for today’s start-up, entrepreneurial, and telecommuting professions. As long as it’s neatly done, any color seems to be appropriate.

When it comes to cheap thrills in the fashion world, you’ll rarely see me picking up a new bangle or pair of earrings. But all it takes is a lap through the drug store to find me pondering a new nail color on a weekly basis. Nail color is easy to find, easy to experiment, and lasts longer than ever thanks to some fancy technology. Oh, and there are fewer harmful chemicals in the mix.

I have a million little reasons to love nail polish as my favorite accessory. Now if only I could stop biting my nails in between color changes!

Related: Racked National reveals why none of that neon nail polish you love is made in America. That’s right. It’s not exactly legal! A quick, worthy read for neon-lovers.