Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Minx Manicure #4: Silver and Gold

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For my fourth Minx manicure, I got a mix of silver and gold. I think it’s my favorite Minx look so far.

Shown with my Gravity and Diana rings, and my MacBook Air

I paid for this manicure myself at Fifi Nail Salon. As you might recall, I didn’t pay for Minx #3, which was a barter: I let the Minx people have one of my photos for their publicity kit in exchange for manicures for me (the hand model) and my gorgeous friend Tina (the photographer). That was a one-time deal as far as my fingers went, but thanks to that arrangement, I got to know Janice Miller, the Minx publicist. That’s how I got Minx to send super-manicurists Maisie Dunbar and Tracylee Percival to the Independent Fashion Bloggers conference on February 15. There wasn’t time to do full manicures, but everyone who visited Maisie’s and Tracylee’s station got one or two nails Minxed.

Minx was founded by Janice Jordan and Dawn Lynch-Goodwin. I asked Janice Miller how she wound up working for a start-up consumer beauty company after doing pharmaceutical public relations for large corporations. She said that when Janice J. and Dawn met with her to show their prototype product, they kept flashing their hands around. When she looked closely, she realized they’d taken a picture of Alexander, her new baby boy, and made Minx out of him. Here’s a picture of the Alexander nails.

Custom-made Alexander nails by Minx.

I thought this was a hilarious recruiting technique, and it definitely persuaded Janice Miller. However, I feel compelled to caution you that such nail art is only good if you’re the one who is hiring, not the one trying to get hired. If you walk into a job interview with pictures of your would-be boss’s baby on your fingers, you’re more likely to be presented with a restraining order than a job offer. In fact, unless you’re in the beauty or fashion business, I’d skip the Minx altogether for job interview days. It’s too exciting. Stick to Essie’s Ballet Slippers for serious business.

UPDATED TO ADD: You have to remove Minx slowly and carefully using heat from a hair dryer (though I was once able to do it easily after a very hot shower). If you try to yank them off without heat, you can damage your nails.

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Comments

  2. These are the coolest thing ever! I wish that I could afford them—-they seem so cool—-and they last longer, right?

    Sorry I haven’t been around lately—-wicked lot on my plate lately!

  14. What a great story! It’s ingenious what those girls did with the photo.

    I love the gold and silver. It’s so chrome-y looking!

  19. Is it creepy that the first photo I thought of using was one of my cats? It’s ok, I’ve accepted the crazy cat lady persona. In other news, that minx sounds FAB. I usually end up painting my nails, and letting it slowly chip off for 1-2 months before finally getting motivated to start the process again. Seeing as how I love huge rings as well, you’d think I’d be better about keeping up appearances..

  21. Those look fabulous, Wendy! I love the mixed metals – very rocker chick chic.

    Those babies on the nails totally creep me out.

  22. I love mixing metallics, but the only danger is that it can look accidental and clumsy. Seeing as you probably mix silver and gold all the time with your jewellery, an alternating manicure is SUCH a good idea! xx

  24. This is the coolest thing ever! I need to find this in l.a. stat!!
    *googling now*. you are also cracking me up….again. I love your humor!!

    xxx
    t

    p.s. are u sure it wasn’t the lack of nipples you liked and not just the fact that my hat has a tail?!

  25. Me too, your mixed metal manicure looks v. sharp. I sometimes wear gold toes with a silver open-toed shoe and vice versa. (Summer can’t come too soon.) But clear polish only for my hands. Which makes me such a voyeur, I guess.

  28. Zut alors. That’s a distinct possibility. Maybe the torso could fit on my thumb or on my toe. And the rest of the digits in plain lavender… Well, I have to go finish an article, so I’ll revisit this idea later!!

    But wait – I wonder if this title could inspire a new WB creation: “Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity.” And now I’m thinking “Minx Gargoyles.”
    Check this out http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n04/graham-robb/hugolian-gothic

  29. More Minx nail ideas from the pages of the LRB: “Instead of Satan’s gleeful little torturers, there was a ‘crouching dog with grapes’, a ‘horned demon squashing a toad’ and a sparrow dressed up as an eagle.”

  33. I SO love your short nails. I’m a “shortie” too (they break,and I cannot stand the feeling of any tip, one of my many issues with sensations and textures). Not so common to see them short on Beautiful People, so good for you (then again, I’m sure you could get those very long, wide, thick, faux-French acrylics any time you like…any of us could[shuddering with horror]).