Outlaw Models (and their fingernails)

"Use nail polish remover. Her fingernails are chipped." - Periodic Comments on this photo (paraphrased)

"That photo of the woman with the chipped fingernails: Hot. I wish more women did that." - A personal email I received (almost direct quote)

If you wear nail polish, please humor me for a little experiment: Describe the condition of your fingernail polish.

I'll start: If I went to a nail salon, the technician would probably ask if a child painted my finger nails.

When freshly applied, my hot pink nail polish was barely contained to my nails. It looked like maybe I applied it with a paintbrush, or perhaps I was applying nail polish in my sleep.

Now that we're a week(ish?) into the polish, they look better. Much better.

Now, the 5-year-old's impressionistic painting of "LADY'S FINGERNAILS" has given way to the "best they'll ever look": They're only chipping at the edges. In a few days (and after a few hours doing some light remodeling in the house), they'll look closer to the fingernails in this photo.

A few days after that, I'll start to wonder if it's quicker to file the remainder of the polish off rather than going to the trouble of finding the nail polish remover. By the end of the week, they'll be back to "PRETTY LADY FINGERNAILS," and the cycle will start again.

So, Outlaws, tell me about your nails.

Real People, Not Perfection

Our industry (personal care) is filled with hand models with perfect skin and perfect nails. Everything is clean, bright, tidy... and unreal.

When we started Outlaw, I wanted to CELEBRATE reality. I wanted to celebrate real scents and real people. I wanted to have all the photos be -- not models, but -- REAL PEOPLE looking like the most awesome version of themselves: Out in nature, at a farm, getting ready to go out, etc.

I want it to feel like we, the people looking at the photos, are participants in these awesome lives, not spectators.

So the models have to look like us (more or less... models and photos are expensive, so we can only afford so many looks). Sure, if we were standing side-by-side, they'd look like my hot, younger friends... but we'd belong in the same world.

They don't have to buy costumes, they just wear their regular clothes.

Hannah (the woman in this particular photo) is Nick's real-life wife. (Nick's our main photographer and model. He's a one-man-show).

I know this means that once again, we find ourselves in the Outlaw zone: We wandered outside of the rules, not in opposition to the rules, but in search of something that suits us better.

The Outlaw Zone suits us just fine, though. What about you?