Remember when back in 1994 there was a waiting list for the notorious dark red shade “Rouge Noir” from Chanel? A hype was born and we still don’t know a single fashionista without an extensive selection of colourful bottles on her beauty shelf. One of our favourite cruelty-free and animal-friendly nail lacquer labels has caused some hype after a successful launch last year – but INTENSAE is here to stay. We’ve talked to the two men behind the brand.
Would you be so kind and introduce yourselves.
Hello! I am James Samuel! ..and I am Christian Roman. We are the co-founders of INTENSAE The 5-Free Nail Lacquer.
Where did you meet and how did you come up with the idea for a nail lacquer company?
We met in London before relocating to Germany where we launched INTENSAE. Christian is a photographer and art director and I am a colourist. The brand was a gift to a very dear friend. She needed a luxurious and hip line of nail lacquer without the nasties. At the time there wasn’t really anything in Europe of the right quality. And we like a challenge.
What was the first INTENSAE colour?
We started with the perfect red and built it around that. Now we have 5 perfect reds that we struggle to keep in stock.
I do not feel fully dressed without nail polish – why do you think women love to paint their nails?
Because colour makes us feel something and every time you look down at your nails you feel whatever it is that particular colour gives you. It’s that satisfying piece of grooming that makes you feel good and ‘polished’.
What makes INTENSAE so special (It is very special since Vogue & Harper’s Bazaar already featured the brand in their German issues)?
Our customers love the colours we create they tell us all the time and this makes us super happy. There is no compromise with INTENSAE the performance is unbeatable the formula is clean AND we don’t test on animals. Plus the bottles look super sexy in your bathroom.
What inspires you?
Ultimately women inspire us, you are what INTENSAE is about. Each shade is in reference to the iconic women who inspired it. So far we have referenced Brooke Shields, Vanessa Paradis, Grace Coddington and Yayoi Kusama to name a few.
The boys choose their seven favourite shades for summer
Emmeline and Ophelie from our new SS collection are the perfect pre-summer treat. Broken Flowers has become our cult nude shade and Youthquaker is the prettiest cherry blossom pink. You should also look out for the natural sheers Cellini and L’Amoureuse plus our über red Marnie. Enjoy!
The whole range of the beautiful and vegan INTENSAE nail lacquers is available at Content Beauty & Wellbeing in London and in the brand’s own online store.
