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It all started with a bottle of Essie nail polish in the shade LOrangerie.
Collage: Bella Geraci. Source Images: Getty Images, Courtesy of Subject
Upon closer inspection, she realized it was unlike the modern Essie bottles shed been using.
It didnt have the current embossment; it had a different label, Eichenberg tellsAllure.
When she attempted to find basic information about the color online, her efforts were futile.
The Essie L’Orangerie polish that inspired Shana Eichenberg to start @vintage_dusties.
There were absolutely no swatches of [LOrangerie] online, she says.
That lack of intel inspired her to start documenting the history of other possibly-forgottennail polishes.
I wanted to give that color, and others, a little footprint on the internet.
A ’90s-era Urban Decay polish, which Eichenberg says is one of the hardest types to find.
Four years later, Eichenbergs become something of a noted archivist in the vintage nail polish space.
Even her youngest polishes are more than a decade old.
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A small sampling of Eichenberg’s collection.
As an introvert, I thrive online, she says.
I dont have to be vulnerable.
I can put what I want out there.
But also keep what I want to keep.
Its been really fun.
“Millennials are nostalgic for their younger years, Eichenberg says.
Then there’s Gen Z, who are nostalgic for times they didn’t even live in.”
The episode, as Eichenberg calls it, delighted her viewers.
Its not only the hard-hitting investigations of polish history that entrance viewers.
LOrangerie was her entry into the world of vintage nail polish collections.
“I have stacks and stacks of industry magazines from the 80s through 2000, she says.
Those magazines published full-page collection ads!
So Im able to see what was released when.”
It was these full collection ads that led her to discover LOrangeriesapproximate yearof provenance.
Before LOrangerie, Essie released its perpetual best-seller Wicked (249) in 1995.
All these clues made it reasonable for her to assume that 260 was launched in the mid-90s as well.
The Essie L’Orangerie polish that inspired Shana Eichenberg to start @vintage_dusties.
I was so sick of the filing!
she remembers with exasperation.
So, I just clipped them into the shape I have now, with some filing for rough edges.
Eichenberg had no idea that what would become her signature nail shape had any historical relevance.
It was serendipitous that I chose a 1930s shape, she says.
A ’90s-era Urban Decay polish, which Eichenberg says is one of the hardest types to find.
Shes grown her audience the most on TikTok, despite Vintage Dusties starting onInstagramin June 2022.
So many people were interested from the start, Eichenberg says.
It snowballed from there, she says.
TikTok is also where she showcases her abundantcollection.
Eichenberg says ’90s Urban Decay polishes are some of the hardest to track down.
A small sampling of Eichenberg’s collection.
Its the best fast-drying, shiny formula, she says of the Dura-Gloss set.
They dont make polishes like they used to!
Then theres her treasured batch of Shiseido polishes from 1982.
She picked them up during a trip toJapanthis past spring and still cannot fathom her luck.
They had matte formulas andglitterembedded, she says.
Stuff that other brands just werent doing until the mid to late 90s or even 2000s.
Viewers have also sent her items.
She primarily relies onSeche Restore, a thinner that she says many in the vintage community use for reviving.
For older, antique stuff, I mainly trust my instincts, Eichenberg says.
There arent many others experimenting with reviving antique polish.
In those situations, additional tools come in handy.
For instance, when she reawakened Juliette Marglen polishesfrom 1960, she both hand-stirred and used a vortex mixer.
Eichenberg is willing to do whatever it takes to use the quality products of the past.
She laments that, in her opinion, theclean beauty movementhas affected the consistency of polishes.
Its part of the reason her current collection doesnt include polishes that are any more recent than the mid-2010s.
She finds newer, mainstream launches a bit of a snooze.
Like, wheres the fun?
Theyre letting the indie companies eat, which is great!
But I would like to get something fun without a topper.
Peggy Sage had yellow polish in 1927, Eichenberg says.
Weve always had options.
We just see black and white photos, but women werent living in black and white.
They were living in color.
