j.hannah
Photo Credit: @jhannah on Instagram

I love a polarizing concept, a hot take, an unpopular opinion. I would express some of them here, but my editor is reading this and I enjoy having a job, so let’s just talk about ugly colors for a second instead. One of my favorite games to play is “What Color Is That????” where you get out your inner Sherwin-Williams and debate color names with your friends. “Dirty Puce”? Sure. “Flamingo Green?” Absolutely. It’s all about coming up with the perfect description for this color. Clearly, jewelry and nail polish brand J.Hannah enjoys this game too, because their latest shade, “Compost,” an olive-green-brown shade, is based on Pantone’s 448C, a shade that has been described by market researchers as the “ugliest color in the world.”

“Compost” is roughly the same color as what greets my friend Katherine, who has a newborn, in the morning. You would avoid “Compost” if you saw it spilled on the sidewalk. “Compost”…. looks like its name. And according to J.Hannah, that’s the point. In their Instagram announcement for the new colorway, the brand shared: “A study in Jolie-Laide, ‘Compost’ is a statement in the nuanced line between the revolting and the luxurious, between the hideous and the refined. A reminder to not flatten beauty’s complexity into a single note. (In other words, if you know, you know.)” Oh, J.Hannah, you have no idea how much I know.

For those who love brown nail polishes, we’ve got a color that will make your mother scream at the holidays. All of J.Hannah’s polishes are non-toxic, cruelty-free, and made in the United States — you can pick up “Compost” for $19 at the J.Hannah website and start every conversation by shoving your hands in someone’s face and asking, “What color is this?” It’ll spark a discourse, that’s for sure — it’s bound to get the people going.