1. Introduction
Neutral. Like the name suggests, this is a phrase which will be used by those that oppose opi, and those that support it.
The term “neutral” was rarely used in the past, but now it is becoming more common. Some people prefer to use the word “opinionated” instead of neutral because it sounds less tech-centric. (In fact, many of us prefer that word because of its associations with an organic lifestyle.)
The terms “opinionated” and “neutral” are often used to describe different things: some people think they want something but they don’t understand why, while others think they have a good idea but they don’t know how to implement it in their own lives or businesses. The terms are clearly not mutually exclusive; both can apply to the same person at once – just as long as you can say what you mean!
2. History of Opi Nail Polish
Opi is an interesting case. It’s been around since the 1970s, but it didn’t really start gaining traction until the end of that decade — where it was a niche product targeted to people with strong nail-biting habits. The brand grew and became quite popular, but at first nobody knew what it was about.
It wasn’t until the early 2000s that Opi opened up its bottle, showing us why this is such a good brand (and a perfect example of how to do branding on any sort of product). The bottle itself is beautiful, and I can imagine many people were initially surprised at how much color there was in the bottle — which made me think: “How many different shades are there?”
Opi has always been pretty conservative with its packaging: no crazy colors, just a lovely neutral palette. And while there has been some wackiness with their packaging over the years, I never expected anything like this:
The Opi nail polish collection, Opi Nail Polish Collection (Photos by Gabriel Saldaña)
This collection of twelve sturdy white bottles display a rainbow-colored full spectrum of hues in the bottle. This is because each color represents one-hundred percent pure opi natural nail polish; each color is made using only natural ingredients (natural pigments) and no artificial dyes or other synthetic preservatives. The collection includes Purple Haze, Blue Haze and Green Haze collections, which are all inspired by nature’s wonders — from fields to forests to oceans — toward making these incredible natural colors as transparent as possible for you to enjoy every day. These seven-free nail polishes are free from all artificial dyes including blue #1 triarylmethane Dichloroethene Dihydrochloride (DCC), blue #2 triarylmethane DCC Dichloroethene Dihydrochloride (DCHC), yellow #5 triarylmethane Ethylhexylglycerin Pentaerythritol Tetrastearate (EtG), red #6 triarylmethane Ethylhexylglycerin Tetrastearate (EtG), yellow #7 triarylmethane Hexylene Glycol Monostearate(HGM), red #8 triarylmethane Hexylene Glycol Monostearate(HGM), yellow #9 Tri
3. Ingredients
Opi is the brand name of an herbal supplement called ciclosporin and it has been around for decades. The original ingredient was not ciclosporin at all, but an extract from a large herbaceous plant called Capparis spinosa (or “spinach”). This herb has been a staple in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries.
A few decades ago, a company named Ambrosia started marketing ciclosporin as an anti-androgen and noted that it worked well with testosterone replacement therapy. In order to meet the rising demand for this product, they began selling it under the brand Opi (which, in Chinese, means “pencil”). They also offered several other formulations that contained various types of herbs and botanicals. To provide consistency to their products and make sure that nobody could claim their product was different from Opi’s, they started calling their company OPI (one of their first slogans when they launched was: “Drugs are people are plants”).
Over time the OPI formula evolved into something that was essentially a skin condition treatment:
The compound found in Capparis spinosa is actually not soluble in water but insoluble in alcohol because, as you know from chemistry class, alcohol binds strongly to water molecules…but it does not bind strongly with ciclosporin so you can use any amount of alcohol you want to dilute it.
Eventually the initial formulation from Ambrosia became too expensive for anyone except professional athletes so OPI began advertising vitamin C (as opposed to the chemical compound) instead. There are some interesting details about this marketing strategy here . The point I want to make is that if you have a strong value proposition (like Opi does), and your competitor doesn’t have one, then promise me something — even if what you say is true and your competitor isn’t — will never work. You will just be repeating yourself endlessly until someone figures out how to beat your game or at least get a little more bang for their buck than you do. Don’t bother trying anything else; do whatever it takes to convince your target market that they need your solution and by doing so drive them towards your solution instead of towards someone else — even if what you say is true and theirs isn’t — until they go away completely.
Just like anything else I explore here on my blog , this strategy is
4. Colors and Polish Names
In the long run, an opi neutral name is a good thing. But in the short term, it is probably not what you want to hear.
The problem is this: most OPI brands have a significant history of using one name for all their products. The brand may have been around for many years, but that brand name will still be used by some people and not others. That will create confusion when a new product comes out and they are asked to pick one name, or even know the company name they are confused by; because they don’t know if it’s the same product as before.
This needs to change, but how?
It’s tempting to use an existing name such as “Opipink” or “Opium Jelly” but there are two problems with that:
• They probably don’t work if you want your brand to be recognizable in general (although I know there are people who do, and I would argue that the best way to do this is through strategy and design, which you should read about here ).
• It means that your new brand must be designed for all users of that brand — which may not be what you want. There are also plenty of other names such as “Opium-Lime” or “Rodeo-Pie” available (which worked well enough for me when I was launching my first product — using a nickname from my first job).
So what can we do? We need to solve both problems at once:
Avoid naming conventions based on existing brands There are too many examples which demonstrate this point: Opipink = Opi Pink = pink Opium Jelly = Opium Jelly — Q&A | Reddit Twitter Linkedin Facebook Instagram Kickstarter Linkedin Facebook Instagram Kickstarter Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Twitter Google+ Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Twitter Google+ Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Twitter Facebook Instagram Kickstarter LinkedIn Kickstarter Facebook Instagram Kickstarter Facebook Facebook Linkedin Kickstarter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Amazon Amazon Amazon Amazon Amazon Amazon .com .co .uk .ca .in .jp .pl .ru 10 Best Products → 2 Years Ago Today 2 Years Ago Today 2 Years ago today 5 years ago today 8 years ago today 5 years ago today 1 day ago today 5 days ago today 13 days ago Today 13 Days Ago Today 13 Days Ago Today 13 Days Ago Today 1 day ago tomorrow 3 months ago tomorrow 3 months ago tomorrow 6 months ago tomorrow 6 Months Ago Tomorrow
5. Health Concerns
You’ve probably heard about the recent controversy surrounding the opi drug. You may have even experienced its effects yourself. But how much do you know about it? What is opi and what are its dangers? And what can you do if you have taken it?
Opium, the specific chemical compound of which opiates are made, was first isolated by Chinese scientists in ancient times, but was not widely used until after the Chinese revolution of 1949. It is a powerful central nervous system depressant (central nervous system), with some very serious side effects.
Its main active ingredient is morphine, which is commonly known as heroin or pure morphine (a strong painkiller). When taken in large doses, it can cause extreme nausea, respiratory depression and death. The effects depend on your individual body chemistry, but they tend to last several hours to days.
Opium addiction has been known since antiquity; there were people in China who were addicted to opium at least 2000 years ago . In China today, opium dependence is estimated to be around 1% of the population (up from 0.4% in 1980). You may be one of them.
6. Price Comparison: OPI vs Essie
OPI is a well-known brand, and one of the most popular nail polishes on the market. It’s easy to see why: OPI nail polish is a very rich, beautifully saturated color that absorbs into the skin, and it lasts for hours.
The brand name itself is a marketing tool for OPI; but are we able to has some effect on this? Well, no. Opi has never been afraid of putting out a product that it knows will sell, and it’s not afraid to charge high prices for it. But as soon as you start reaching out to people with more specific needs — like someone who wants OPI as an alternative to expensive Nail Envy nail products — you have just opened yourself up to being priced out of the market by other brands that are more accessible and cheaper.
There’s nothing wrong with charging high prices if you can get them — but if your goal is to create a $30 bottle of polish, you shouldn’t expect low prices from everyone in your industry.
We (as an industry) tend to be very price sensitive; today’s “good enough” products tend to be priced higher than ever before because there are so many new products coming out in our space that we really don’t know what “good enough” really means anymore (and even if we do, we don’t have time for research). This creates an enormous amount of pressure on us not just economically but also psychologically: how do I justify my price point? How do I differentiate myself from all those other brands with fancy packaging trying to squeeze in additional features at all costs?
The press release is your best friend here; make sure your headline contains clear messaging about your product so that people know exactly what they are getting into when they give you money – something they may be eager to spend on! You should also spend some time talking about the benefits of your product before actually releasing anything: think how much time you could potentially save by doing so!
7. Buyer’s Guide: Choosing Your Color
Opi is a popular and widespread brand. It’s an expensive brand, too; the price of one bottle of scent can run you $50 or more. Just like with any product, you have to decide what counts as quality. In this case, it’s very subjective — do you want something very subtle, or something with more staying power?
What are some practical steps to take when choosing your color? Here’s a list of things to consider:
• Colors that will be visible from all angles (that is, the natural light will not affect them)
• Colors that are close in hue and saturation to your skin tone
• Colors that will work for people who share most of your skin tone (that is, for people who are not pale or dark)
• Colors that won’t clash with other colors in the store or on social media. This is true especially if you don’t have a lot of reds/pinks/violets in your wardrobe; these colors tend to be seen as high-end only. For example, if you buy red lipstick, it doesn’t matter if it clashes with your favorite red shoes — but if you buy the same shade of red lipstick on another website and then put it on a different pair of shoes in another store, there may be too much contrast between the two shades and they’ll look garish together! You can solve this by switching up how the lipstick looks (maybe using two shades for each shoe); or by mixing up the color palette altogether (perhaps sand-colored lipstick matches sand-colored shoes). If there are very specific colors out there that would look great together in a way that no other color combinations do (pink nail polish + white dress), go ahead and use those! Just make sure they don’t clash with black clothes; otherwise it may look like someone else has imported a copycat!
You should also be aware of how certain brands look when worn by other brands who use them as well (for example: men’s cologne smells similar to women’s perfume). The most common way to avoid this problem is simply by making sure your brand doesn’t use those same scents on many other brands as well! For example: instead of using “men’s cologne” on men’s cologne websites like Nordstrom.com , use “men’s fragrance” . For women’s perfume, instead use
8. Conclusion
Opi Neutral is a simple, fun and creative way to introduce a business idea or artist. I’ve been using this concept for the past few years and just love the way it makes people think about the product itself.
If you have an idea, have a look at our website and if it interests you, drop us a line!
We’re trying to create something that everyone is able to use, no matter what background they come from: whether they are artists, architects or engineers. We believe that there should be a way to get your message out there in a more efficient and effective way than traditional media (TV, radio, publications) and we are trying to do this with Opi Neutral.