Chanel’s 1994 VAMP color empowered me for years, strengthening my identity and my confidence. I would buy a tube of VAMP lipstick every three months and use it to its nub. The polish was hard for me to afford because I had a poor girl challenge buying both and therefore chose the lipstick because lipstick was always the MVP for me from day one. So I bought an authentic VAMP nail polish for display and then a knock off for the actual application. (GASP). Chrissy Garbo had every variation of VAMP nail polish: Metallic Vamp and Very Vamp, but skipped the lipsticks. I hated Metallic Vamp but bought anyway because I was and am a completist and changed the color with chestnut liner.
Now my Gen X ass is still married to OPI’s Linkin Park in the Dark and I’m not apologizing. I know it’s not Vamp but it’s dark and provides comfort to me. And even when they “revive” Vamp or make a “homage” to it- it can’t compare. Something is just off, so I just paint on the Linkin Park ( or sometimes Black Cherry Chutney) and long for the past as I hear the pleas of my friends begging me to use neutral colors on my little stubby nails. Quiet friends… you knew who I was when we met.
Now what brought Vamp up again for my nostalgic happy hour? Pulp Fiction. It’s 35 this year. Yup. Kelli and I dropped a little look at Mia Wallace’s style and I have always referred to her nails as Vamp’s kick-off. But look again. It’s red, you guys. My eyes were burning trying to get to the bottom of this. I even reached out to Uma’s publicist to get confirmation. (The response was that Uma was too busy to be on Look Behind the Look… umm… that wasn’t the question, but ok…? ). The color that it looks to be (which some video sleuths named) is CHANEL “ROUGE DE COCO COCO RED” Nail Polish , while many others continue to swear it is Vamp. Will we ever know for certain…?
For my little bunnies who love a good rabbit hole, here are some more Vamp love letters- enjoy! …and see you on eBay…
Thowback Lacquer Blog (VERY informative!)
A Medium Post (this one is really good)
Byrdie blurb
And of course one of Erin’s tiktoks: