I Wanted to Name Nail Polish...

When I was younger, I had a very specific dream job.

I wanted to name nail polish.

Back then, if I had a little extra money, one of my favorite things to do was go to Bloomingdale’s and buy some kind of makeup. This was when Hard Candy was a luxury makeup brand, and I loved everything about it. The glittery eyeliners. The fun colors. But especially the nail polish.

The colors were so good, the bottles came with these little plastic rings, and somehow the whole thing just felt special.

But what I really loved were the names.

I remember actually making lists of nail polish names I had come up with, thinking that someday it would be the coolest job in the world to sit around dreaming up the perfect name for a new shade.

And apparently, I held onto that dream for a while.

In 2020, I was incredibly honored to be named one of design’s 40 Under 40. As part of the feature, they asked about my dream job.

My answer?

Nail polish namer.

There it is, in print.

At 37 years old, after building an entire career in design, I still thought there was something pretty magical about getting to dream up names for colors.

Flash forward six years, and I recently realized something.

I kind of got the job.

Obviously, I did not grow up to become a professional nail polish namer. But every time I create a new Door Detail Strip or work on a new pattern, eventually I get to one of my favorite parts: I have to name it.

And suddenly I’m sitting there thinking about whether a soft, neutral animal print feels like Cashmere. Whether a rich, graphic pattern feels like Contour. Whether a classic blue and ivory print feels like Blue Manor.

I’m looking at colors and patterns and thinking about the feeling they give me. I’m trying to find a few words that capture a whole mood.

Sound familiar?

Somewhere along the way, without even realizing I was doing it, I kind of manifested the job I always wanted.

It just looks completely different than I thought it would.

I didn’t end up naming bottles of nail polish for a makeup company. Instead, I created something of my own where I get to make patterns, play with color, pull inspiration from interiors and fashion, and then give all of those little creations names.

And I love that.

Because I think sometimes we have a very specific picture of what a dream is supposed to look like. A certain job. A certain path. A certain version of success.

But maybe the things we’ve always been drawn to are less of a roadmap and more like little clues.

I don’t think younger me actually knew that she wanted to name nail polish.

I think she loved color. Words. Creativity. Fashion. Pretty things. The feeling of finding exactly the right name for something.

And apparently, she still does.

It just took me a while to figure out where all of those things belonged.

So maybe not every dream has to come true exactly the way we imagined it.

Sometimes it becomes something else entirely.

And sometimes, years later, you look around at the life you’ve created and realize that little pieces of who you’ve always been were quietly finding their way there all along.

Turns out, I did get to name the colors and patterns.

They’re just going on doors instead of fingernails.

And I think 37 year old me would be pretty happy about that.