The New Black Ombre 5-Piece Nail Polish Set in Waves

I wished for The New Black Ombre 5-Piece Nail Polish Set in Waves ($22), and the wonderful ladies who own the company made my wish come true. Wow! These shades are gorgeous.

This five-piece set of expertly curated colors offers a range of complementary nail tones. It allows us to paint our nails with progressive colors, one for each nail (but a little too unconventional for me), or just select one of the gorgeous seaside shades for each week. The colors in this set delight me. I love shades of blue-green. When I first tried the Waves, I sighed.

The formulations are long-wearing, ultra-glossy, fast-drying, chip-resistant, non-toxic, and vegan. The colors glide on evenly and effortlessly (as promised) for a truly professional-looking finish.

Nicole Ostoya and Robin Coe-Hutshing founded The New Black (after Ultraflesh) to create high-quality color stories that make it possible to try all the latest nail trends at an affordable price. Featuring limited-edition sets of curated, compatible colors inspired by the runway, The New Black’s range of shades is innovative. I have a selection of sets to show you, and I can't wait.

Aren't these gorgeous? The shades, actually called Bank Holiday Weekend on the box, are all tones of the Mediterranean sea. The photo above shows them in reverse order from my swatch photos, which were taken in late-afternoon sun. I applied two coats of each, with the exception of the shade on the far right, It's sheer, so I applied a quick third coat. They don't have names, and all share the number 2089 on the bottom of the bottle.

The little 0.125-ounce bottles, with enough polish for many applications, contain, from left to right, shades of sea blue, shimmering teal, medium summer green, seafoam blue, and seafoam green. Every one of them is exquisite.

I'm ready to go dip my toes in the sea and sand, looking colorful and elegant. You can too. The New Black can be found at many online sources, including Sephora. I'll be showing you more in the days and weeks to come. The New Black sets are amazingly affordable and offer fashionable shades. You can't go wrong.

Photo at top courtesy of Sephora; other photos by Best Things in Beauty

The New Black - Innovations in Nail Color and the Successor to Ultraflesh

I know some of you have been wondering what happened to Ultraflesh, a hot new brand exclusive to Sephora that left us all begging for more! Actually, we were waiting for a promised collection. Some of us were checking almost every day waiting for Sephora to post it.

The sad fact is that the founders of Ultraflesh, Nicole Ostoya and Robin Coe-Hutshing, found themselves in a position of selling their company. They told me that the company that bought Ultraflesh had decided to do other things with it. Oddly, that appears to be nothing, since the items have been selling down and disappearing at Sephora. Only two remain. I'm still mourning the loss of Ultraflesh. Nicole and Robin created innovative products that I adored, and I'm sad I didn't stock up. I even gave one away as a giveaway, not realizing it was irreplaceable.

You may be happy to know that Nicole and Robin haven't left the beauty business, although they have gone in a different direction. The two have founded The New Black, affordable, high-quality color stories for customers to jump on the latest trends in the nail category - without having to invest in multiple full-size bottles. The result? Lustrous, fashion-forward nail colors at wallet-conscious prices. Plus, their formulas are vegan-friendly and environmentally friendly too, free of toluene, formaldehyde, camphor, and DBP.

The New Black always stays ahead of trends, as they constantly monitor the pulse of design. Their color offerings are continually updated and hot-off-the-runway, with limited editions released on an as-needed "fashion emergency" basis.

Check out The New Black at Beauty.com, the only source I know. Two-, three-, and five-piece sets are available for extremely reasonable prices. I've got my eyes on a five-piece set called Rover. It's only $22.

I wish them all the success in the world and hope that some day they will find a way to recreate Ultraflesh in a way that doesn't violate any agreements they made when they sold it.

Update: Laci just told us we can find The New Black at Sephora too. She's right, of course! Check this link. Now I want Wave too. The gals must have arranged for the Sephora connection after we last communicated. Good for them! Now, Evelyn has pointed us toward Nordies. You gals are serious beauty lovers! Definitely read the comments.

Photo courtesy of Beauty.com