$50 Nail Polish Sets a New Record
$50. For a new pair of shoes or jeans, it’s a reasonable amount – a bargain, even, depending on the quality and brand. For nail polish though, it’s unheard of.
You’re looking at $250 worth of nail color
Christian Louboutin will be launching a full, 30-color range of nail polishes on August 31st, but kicked things off with Rouge Louboutin, a red that closely matches the signature soles of the designer’s shoes.
The bottle is pretty striking. The Rouge Louboutin cap measures in at an impressive eight inches, the same length of the heel on the Louboutin Ballerina Ultima shoe, which was featured in a David Lynch collaboration. {Fashionista}
The glass bottle is definitely closer in appearance to a perfume bottle, where $50 wouldn’t get a second look, but at $50, everything about the polish should be striking. Since it’s a recent release, there’s no word on the staying power, but the Nordstrom product page claims that two coats will give the finish of 20. The polish also claims to be “long wearing,” though there’s no specific timeframe included.
Most luxury products aren’t entirely about the quality or value of a product though, so leaving any questions around those two things aside, the price is still attention grabbing when you compare it to other luxury beauty brands. Tom Ford previously had one of the most expensive nail polish lines on the market, and even those shades topped out at $32. Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent all hover in the $25-27 range.
Entirely nail focused brands, including salon favorites OPI and Essie, are usually $8-9.
Louboutin’s shoe customers can easily drop 20 times as much on a pair of shoes, so despite the high price tag, we can see a few people buying a bottle. While it’s not what we’d classify as affordable, it is something that fans who can’t buy into $1000 shoes will be able to afford.
Only success and time will tell if this is the first sign of nail polish prices following the upward trend of other luxury items.
