For the better part of the past five years, nails has been trapped in a beige, soap nail prison.
Every trend arrived dipped in soft pink or beige oat milk tones and marketed with the emotional intensity of a Scandinavian meditation app.
Nails became “clean girl” nails. Makeup became “your skin but better”. Even lipstick started apologising for existing and shifted to clear glosses.
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Then, suddenly, here comes OPI’s new SUPERGIRL collection crashing through the wall in thigh-high red boots.
The limited-edition collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Studios, launching exclusively at Myer, is loud in the best way.
It is glossy, glittery, unapologetically feminine and entirely uninterested in pretending women only want neutral pink manicures that “go with everything”.
Frankly, sign me up for bright red tones and all the glittery pink shades.
Leading the campaign is Australia’s own Milly Alcock, stepping into the role of Supergirl with exactly the sort of energy the beauty has been missing lately.
Milly has that slightly dangerous charisma beauty brands spend millions trying to manufacture.
She looks like the type of woman who would text “on my way” while still in a towel, somehow arrive looking perfect and accidentally become the coolest person at the party without appearing to notice.
Which makes her the ideal face of a collection built around alter egos.
Because that is really what nails have become, tiny emotional support identities, little glossy mood boards for the version of yourself you are trying to manifest. Corporate nails, revenge nails, holiday nails.
OPI gets it, every time they collab with a major motion picture, from Barbie, to Wicked, Wuthering Heights and more.
The collection includes six Nail Lacquer shades exclusive to Myer, and every single one feels engineered for a different flavour of feminine feelings.
The standout red polish is impossible to discuss normally because it activates something primal in the female brain.
It is not merely red. OPI describes it as “a shade as bold as your alter ego”, but honestly, this shade does not feel like an alter ego. It feels like the fully realised version of yourself who has finally stopped overthinking.
Then there is the sparkly pink glitter shade, which deserves immediate super it-girl status. It looks like what would happen if a pop anthem became nail polish. Joyful, sparkly and impossible to ignore.
Somewhere between Barbie nostalgia and comic-book glamour, it taps into the very specific female desire to feel emotionally invincible while holding a latte.
The blue, gold, silver and orange shades lean further into the superhero fantasy. Not subtle, not minimalist, tese shades want attention. They want compliments from strangers in bathroom mirrors. They want to be seen gripping a martini glass under mood lighting.
And perhaps that is what makes this collaboration feel unexpectedly smart and bold.
Beauty has spent years trying to convince women that the ultimate aspiration is effortlessness and laid back, muted.
The fantasy woman of the 2020s apparently wakes up glowing, drinks chlorophyll water and owns 14 matching activewear sets in shades of tan to chocolate brown.
Meanwhile, OPI’s SUPERGIRL collection arrives with glitter and comic-book energy saying: what if beauty was allowed to be fun again? What if women were allowed to want a little drama in the shade or red or blue?
What if a manicure did not need to whisper wealth or wellness or restraint? What if it simply looked fabulous?
Beyond the aesthetics, the formula still delivers what OPI fans expect.
The Nail Lacquers promise up to seven days of wear when used as part of the brand’s three-step system, along with glossy shine, quick drying and smudge resistance.
Each bottle retails for $22.95 at Myer, and a great form of escapism, which feels necessary right now, in any form we can take it.
Sometimes, a glitter manicure is not just a glitter manicure. Sometimes it is emotional armour.
A tiny, sparkling reminder that even in the middle of deadlines, rising rents, unread emails and existential exhaustion, there is still pleasure in becoming the most powerful version of yourself for absolutely no reason at all.
Superhero cape optional.
