LITTLE ROCK — A Bentonville woman who created a brand of nail lacquer for little girls has hit the retail jackpot: She has gotten her line in Wal-Mart.
Piggy Paint is a nontoxic, low-odor, hypo-allergenic, nonflammable, water-based line of nail polishes and the brainchild of Melanie Hurley, a former elementary school teacher. Bearing the motto “Natural as Mud,” the lacquers — $3.98 and up — come in bottles and paint pens. Included are more than 40 colors with names such as Sea-quin (shiny turquoise), Glass Slipper (clear sparkle), Sleepover (glam black), Mac And Cheese Please (orange) and Girls Rule (bright, shimmery lilac). Piggy Paint also makes a Refined collection with a “grown-up” color palette. Additional products include primer coat and topcoat; a polish remover that’s also low-odor, acetone-free, hypoallergenic and biodegradable; Puppy Paint (nontoxic polish for dogs); Spirit Paint, offered in the official colors of selected colleges; and Project Earth, a line of neon colors.
“To go into that first Wal-Mart store and to see my baby on the shelf was just really neat,” Hurley says.
The line was a way for Hurley’s children to safely engage in a pop- ular ritual. “I have two little girls that love to have their nails painted,” she says.
At the time Hurley began the company, the girls — whose names she declines to share — were ages 4 and 2. The eldest had allergies and asthma and was “extremely sensitive to things,” Hurley says, adding that she herself, in order to avoid migraines, would have to have a fan on and windows open whenever she used nail polish. She remembers the fateful day she was painting the older girl’s nails, using a Styrofoam plate as a spill catcher. Sure enough, a drop of polish fell on the plate. “Very quickly, it just started bubbling and ate through the Styrofoam.”
That got Hurley thinking about an Oprah show she’d seen about “mompreneurs” — mothers who operate their own businesses and are also full-time parents. If she wanted a safe polish for her children, other mothers did as well, she figured. So she found a chemist who came up with a formula for her. She had no business experience, but she did have friends in the business world to give her guidance. And “as a momconsumer [I] knew what my girls would like, and what other moms would buy.”
Why the name Piggy Paint?
“At the very beginning when I was brainstorming names for our brand, I kept coming back to ‘Piggy’ because my girls and I always call their fingers ‘piggies,’” Hurley says. “Staring at my daughters’ whimsical pink piggy bank on their dresser day after day” was the inspiration behind the “Queen Piggy” image in the company logo.
Hurley selected the colors she wanted to start with, and sent out an e-mail blast describing the colors and gathering name suggestions, “a really fun process,” she says.
Piggy Paint made its debut in September 2008. For about a year, Hurley ran her operation out of her basement and attended trade shows to drum up retailers. In 2009, business began to pick up.
“That was really exciting — to pick up our first stores,” Hurley says.
What’s more, Piggy Paint has a celebrity following, including actresses Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling, Marcia Cross and Allison Hanigan.
Now 7 and 5, Hurley’s daughters are ambassadors for the line, and have helped her out at craft fairs. “It’s funny to listen to them, because they know all about it,” she says. “They’re pretty proud. They think it’s fun to make up some gift sets.” And they’re willing product testers, too, she adds.
Select Wal-Marts carrying the line include stores in Rogers, Van Buren, Russellville, Blytheville, Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Greenwood, Jonesboro, Conway, Cabot, Bryant, and the Little Rock Shackleford Road store. In addition, Piggy Paint can be found in specialty boutiques nationwide. And at piggypaint. com, parents can not only buy the product and find retailers, but also learn how to use the product to teach their children about colors and patterns, help them sharpen their fine motor skills, and in general, make polish application more of a learning tool as well as a way to bond.
“I just feel like God has really opened up the doors,” Hurley says. “It’s just really exciting for me to see where it’s come.”
NAIL LACQUER, PART TWO
LcB Nail Lacquer — founded by LaKhiva Blann of Little Rock — has been going places since its Feb. 12, 2011, debut and its mention in Dressing Room eight days later.
The line has made the rounds in statewide and regional newspapers and magazines, as well as a number of national and industry publications. LcB has also been represented at the Bronner Brothers Hair Show and at New York Fashion Week alongside the creations of Arkansas designer Korto Momolu.
Currently, LcB ($8 at lcbnaillacquer.com) consists of 12 fragrance-free, water-resistant, fast drying, and longlasting shades, but three new colors will make their debut March 10. LcB can be found at Drug Emporium in Little Rock and Dallas, and Little Rock boutiques Jeante and Box Turtle. It will also be featured at the Mid South Summit Black Expo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at The Metroplex, 10800 Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock.
LRFW CALLING
Sponsors, advertisers, interns and volunteers are being sought for Little Rock Fashion Week 2012, to be held July 16-21 at various locations in Little Rock, according to creator and producer Brandon D. Campbell. Visit littlerockfashionweek.com for more details.
In its fourth year, Little Rock Fashion Week is billed as “the fastest growing fashion week in the United States.”
FOR YOUR DELICATES
As we know, even plain old laundry detergent has gotten in on the eco-friendly/aromatherapy movement.
Among these is Roux Maison, a new collection of home laundry products designed for the cleaning of lingerie. It comes in an array of fragrances such as Ambrosia and Sweet Tea, and boasts all-natural ingredients blended with essential oils that are synthetic and preservative free. No, you don’t have to hand-wash your lingerie, hosiery, shapewear and specialty-fabric items with it; it’s good in the machine too, and is designed to break down and remove stains common to fragile garments.
Roux Maison costs $15.99 for a 16-ounce bottle, $14.25 for a set of three 1-ounce bottles. Visit rouxmaison.com.
TRUE COLOR, SHINING
THROUGH
Seeing a lot of orange popping up in spring fashion collections? That’s because Pantone, provider of professional color standards for the design industries, chose Tangerine Tango as the color of the year for 2012. This reddish-orange hue is described by Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone executive director, as “sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive,” and, according to a Pantone news release, it “provides the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.” The color has been used in the spring collections of such designers as Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittadini.
Pantone has also partnered with Sephora, the beauty specialty retailer, to bring forth Sephora + Pantone Universe for projects that will include a Color of the Year beauty collection. The limited-edition collection hits Sephora stores in March and will include eye shadow, lipstick, lip gloss, nail polish and accessories.
Dressing Room is published biweekly. Got fashion and beauty news? Contact Helaine R. Williams, Dressing Room, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail:
hwilliams@arkansasonline.com
High Profile, Pages 35 on 02/19/2012