Essie’s new 'Cheeky Luxury' campaign captures the storied brand’s unique position that straddles accessibility and prestige, and their latest products continue that legacy.
Celia Shatzman writes about fashion, beauty and grooming.When you can boast about having practically the most popular nail polish in the world on your roster—that would be essie “,” of course—it seems like your spot in the lacquer world is secure.
But essie isn’t taking their success for granted and is launching a rebrand, dubbed the "Cheeky Luxury" new creative platform, that aims to appeal to younger customers while celebrating their history.has a lot of heritage that's very connected to culture and the consumer landscape, but with the evolution of the market today, it's important for these heritage brands to future-proof themselves,” says Melanie Ioanna, Global Brand Senior Vice President ofworldwide. “Today's younger consumers are all about emotional connection, and when they feel something, they do something. We wanted to nod to our heritage but show up in a more fresh and modern way to build that emotional connection with the consumer. Having the opportunity to rebrand is always an amazing thing.”“Cheeky Luxury” is meant to convey essie’s unique position as a brand that straddles accessibility and prestige. “We see Cheeky Luxury as the blend of sophistication and witty provocation,” Ioanna says. “What we mean by that is we take our craft seriously at essie; we take nail color very seriously, but ourselves not so much. It's this mindset, attitude, visual world and tone of voice that essie brings to life, and it's also about having fun. We take our inspiration from fashion and luxury, but it's about bringing that to the everyday lives of the consumers with salon level quality, but for the at-home routine. We've always been inspired by luxury; we continue to offer very high-quality products, formulas and shades, but it's important that they're democratized, so that they're appealing and usable at home.” In fact, afound that 96% of US women say they regularly polish their nails either at a salon or at home. Essie is kicking off Cheeky Luxury with a campaign called “Color with a Reputation.” “It’s bringing our iconic shades from our original franchise to life as these fun characters that have their own story,” Ioanna says. “One of my favorite things is we're pushing feet in a big way for the first time. We know that 92% of women do their toes with regular nail polish, so it's a huge market segment. It was important for us to tap into that and show through striking visuals from this campaign not only beautifully manicured hands, but also beautifully manicured toes.”One of the shades being spotlit is “Ballet Slippers,” which was even a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II, with a visual of a ballet shoe with a pedicured foot. “There are playful ways to bring to life these iconic shades that have been so present across pop culture and the zeitgeist throughout the years, so we're celebrating the icons,” Ioanna says. “We're celebrating color. We're bringing this witty provocation through and debuting Cheeky Luxury in a big way through this campaign.” The global campaign will explore the Cheeky Luxury concept in stores and across social media. “It's super important that we maintain an elevated look and feel—our positioning is elevated nail color with a twist,” Ioanna says. “That means having the highest standards with our product, but also how we show up visually. Our content is very beautiful and elevated, but always with that unexpected twist, which is the essie signature—super approachable, super attainable for the average consumer. We are a mass market nail brand. We know the consumer is doing their nails at home, and so it's that luxury inspiration, but with that approachability as well.”Essie excels at democratizing trends from the salon. Any new kind of finish or effect that is trending in salons is captured for the consumer to be able to recreate it themselves. For example, this summer essie is launching a new range called Glass Nails, inspired by the Korean glass jelly nail trend. “In just one simple product, you're able to get that look,” Ioanna says. Their newest product launches and marketing will target younger customers. “Our new products are all very attuned to them; they're all very consumer centric, so they answer pain points or tension that the modern consumer is facing,” Ioanna says. Take, a new product that is a liquid nail patch to temporarily mend broken nails. “It's a huge pain point for consumers—you never know when you're going to break your nail, and the solutions that were available were extremely complicated. It was glues or meshes—multi-step things that are messy and take forever. We saw an opportunity to solve that with one simple product, and it's this very innovative liquid nail patch, first to market. That's an example of how we are responding to today's consumers through product. The other way is with our color ranges, whether it's these new effects and finishes from the salon, or beautiful new shade ranges that are inspired by trending fashion collections, like cultural color moments.”To celebrate these innovations, their content illustrates their social relevance. “We are really modern in our aesthetic,” Ioanna says. “We just launched a range called Gourmet Grocery, a shade range inspired by food and grocery produce. The content is very ASMR focused. We have a shade called ‘Crunch,’ like the crunch of lettuce. This is the kind of marketing and content that today's consumer wants to interact with. It's thumb stopping, it's yummy.” Essie’s voice has always been distinct, which Ioanna describes as “cheeky, playful, a little bit provocative.” They’re coming back to that ensuring it’s updated it for today's modern age. “Cheeky Luxury applies not only visually and aesthetically, but also with our tone of voice, and how we speak to and communicate to the consumer,” she says.For the rebrand process, essie did a lot of digging on consumer insights. “What's so interesting is nail is the only makeup category that you actually see on yourself without looking at the mirror,” Ioanna says. “You're constantly looking at your hands. We discovered this consumer insight that's basically summed up telling someone's mood just by looking at their nails. Someone said, ‘no matter what, I'll get my nails done.’ Another said, ‘when I don't have my nails done, I feel like I'm not wearing underwear.’ Everyone has a different way of saying it, but it shows the strong emotional attachment to your nails. That's why it was so important for essie to be that companion and be that brand that's going to be with you and lift your mood, allow you to express yourself and be the person you want to be on any given day.” Ultimately, Ioanna hopes Cheeky Luxury will lead consumers to see essie in a new light. “We want consumers to view essie as the unapologetic authority in nail color, which is how we define ourselves,” she says. “We're fully committed to the best manicure experience. We want essie color and care in everyone's homes. We want to be the brand that everyone reach will reach for. We're shaking up the category, both visually through our content and our new innovations. This is such a jewel brand, a beautiful brand with a strong heritage, so we are digging into the storytelling, all these huge cultural associations that the brand has, like the queen and all its celebrity fans, and challenging ourselves to maintain that essence, but bring it into the modern era and create that emotional connection. That's been such an exciting process.”
Essie Rebrand Essie Cheeky Luxury Essie Ballet Slippers Melanie Ioanna Essie Break Fix Glass Nails
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