What: From a distance, it looks like someone wore their red nail polish too long and it turned their nails—but if you take a closer look, you’ll see that more and more people are actually painting their nails yellow on purpose. 

The Word: In the January 2008 issue of Oprah magazine, Leatrice Eiseman, author of More Alive with Color and Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, was quoted (and yes, we quoted her) as saying that gray nail polish was the “it” shade. When asked what would be the next trendy shade to follow, she said: “Yellow.”

Our Word: Apparently Eiseman (not to mention Rihanna) knows her colors, ‘cause jaundiced fingernails are for real. OPI has Need Sunglasses?, Essie has Hot Pop and China Glaze is just launching Solar Power; all bright yellow polishes guaranteed to stop traffic. It might sound crazy, but yellow nails actually look pretty cool on darker skinned gals, especially when paired with dark gray clothing. For you fair skinned maidens, though, you might want to sit this trend out.

Photo: Bellasugar.com