Dedicated to: Claire Quinn
The salon buzzed with life and colour. Behind the
reception, a dozen technicians filed, prepped, painted and perfected the nails
of clients. Sat still opposite the artists, unable to turn pages or swipe
screens, women shared their stories, worries and ideas. A woman approached
the reception and leant over, checking there was nobody behind her.
‘Are you still doing The Look now?’ she said, quickly.
‘What look?’
The woman leant in even closer and whispered, ‘men don’t look at nails’.
The receptionist smiled.
‘The Perfect 10
is open for business as usual, so yes, today and always. Wait here and someone
will show you to a room at the back.’
Across town, Verity Carmichael was reading through an
article for the final time, before publishing it. Her colleague walked over.
‘Is that the one about The Perfect 10?’
‘It’s the one about its founder, Penelope Abbott and The Look, yes.’
‘Are you sure it’s not too risky to run?’
Verity laughs, ‘No! That was always the beauty of the
whole ‘Look’ thing! And from what I’m told, Penelope would have loved it.’
For everyone
01.02.2045
Perfect
Penelope
The woman
who built a secret army in plain sight
By Verity
Carmichael
Women all over New
Zealand and beyond are familiar with The
Perfect 10 Nail Lounge, which originated in Christchurch, where the first
branch still hides in plain sight along Papanui Road in Merivale. Now with 25
salons nationwide, the brand has won more awards than any other and is famous
for its vibrant looks, bespoke designs and – crucially –delivery of perfection
every time. However, among thousands of women,
it is also known for what its late founder, Penelope Abbott, dubbed The Look, a design which has, quite
literally, saved lives.
Now, unless you have
been living under a rock (or you are a man, but I’m making the assumption
Penelope’s success relied upon, which is that as soon as you barely looked the
picture of nail art, you didn’t read on), I’m sure you have at least heard of The Look. However, just in case you do in fact live
under a rock, The Look is a nail varnish
which, once dry, changes appearance when pressed for more than five seconds
with the tip of another finger. Available in ten different colours, when
pressed, each one turns bright orange and glows.
The Look’s purpose is simple – when a woman wearing the nail varnish finds
herself in danger, she presses the nail on her middle finger, which then glows
to attract attention. As it’s on her nail, it goes unnoticed by men, but not by
other women. Many women who have their nails painted with The Look also have the signature ‘Penny Heart’ painted on their index
finger nail, by way of letting other women know that she’s an ally.
It was designed,
developed and created by Penelope Abbot herself, who was a biochemist turned
nail technician and is thought to have helped hundreds, if not thousands, of
New Zealand women over the last 30 years. One woman, Rachel*,
shared her story.
“It was fifteen years ago now that The Look changed
my life. I was in a relationship and, well things had gotten really bad. I
didn’t tell anyone, but one of my best friends, I think she could tell.
My partner started controlling all my money, so I
couldn’t buy things. One day, my best friend turned up and said we were going
to get our nails done. I was really worried I couldn’t pay for it, but she said
not to worry. She took me to the The Perfect 10 and told them to give me The
Look. I didn’t know what it meant. They took me to this back room and nobody
asked anything except what colours I liked.
Then a woman did my nails in this beautiful design
and as she was doing them, she explained what they did. I asked how much it was
and she said it was free to anyone who needed it, no questions asked. I said
‘how long does it last?’ and she said about a month but I could go back any
time, or she could give me some free samples so I could do my nails again
myself and couldn’t make it back.
Honestly, the colours were so beautiful and it
looked amazing. At the time they had six colours and she gave me a sample of
every one of them – enough to last me a year.
About three months later, stuff was worse and I
knew I just had to leave one night, but my partner had everything – my phone,
my wallet. I took a massive risk and went without anything except what I was
wearing and $8. He’d fallen asleep, I couldn’t take the car and so I just
walked. It was night. I rubbed my finger the whole way, I’d never done it
before, but it worked, my nail glowed.
I went into the train station, there was a woman
behind the desk and I asked her how far I could go with $8. But she saw my
fingernail glowing and must have known what it meant. She said forget about the
money, where did I need to go? I told her and it would have cost $25. She took
out her debit card and paid for it herself for me. Then she gave me $20 – it
was all she had – from her own purse. I just cried. I couldn’t even say thank
you. But I really hope she’s reading this now. Getting out of that relationship
didn’t end there, but it started there and at the other end of that journey, I
was able to get help from someone I really trusted. So I truly feel that she –
the woman at the station, and my Penny Nails, saved me.
I’ve had my troubles, but things are good for me
right now. Not perfect (except for my nails, which always are!) but good. And
now I can help others. I make sure I always have my Penny Heart done at my
local Perfect 10 salon and now that I can I am more than happy to pay for it,
to help the amazing business that helped me.
Rachel’s story is
just one of many. When the news spread last week that Penelope Abbott had died,
The Perfect 10’s Facebook page was
flooded with stories and tributes. Few were so intense as Rachel’s but hundreds
of women talked about dates turned sour, near misses on public transport and
incidents in bars and nightclubs, when they were saved by other women, who
spotted their subtle distress call. Other women who sport the Penny Heart say
it has just helped them make friends when they see women with the same design.
As Penelope herself once reportedly said, ‘women already help other women all
the time; allies are everywhere, the Penny Heart just helps people find them
quicker.’
And yet, Penelope
herself was notoriously private. Five years ago, she gave her one and only
interview to a young NZ YouTube vlogger, Ana
Aroha. Still nobody is sure how Ana secured the interview, but it was
undoubtedly this which kick-started the huge following she has since amassed,
as thousands watched to learn more about the woman who had helped so many of
them.
In the video,
Penelope explains that she called her design The Look because ‘women give other women “the look” all the time. We
have our own secret language. And it had to be something subtle...I know to you
and me a flashing orange nail might not seem subtle at all, but seriously has a
man ever noticed your nails? [Laughs] What I loved about being a nail artist,
even before I had the idea, was that it was something women did for themselves
and to share with other women. It’s why it works.’(The full interview can be
found at the bottom of this article).
Later today,
hundreds of women are set to attend the memorial service of Penelope Abbot and
say goodbye and thank you in the best
way possible, by giving her the finger.
Editor’s
comment:
Here at What Now we were devastated to hear
about the passing of Penelope. I’ve had my Penny Hearts for years. What I loved
about her whole concept was the way she solved a woman’s problem in a woman’s
way – there is perhaps nothing more feminine than getting one’s nails done and
she recognised that it was high time we started celebrating femininity, not
devaluing it. Yet another amazing woman, using what she’s got to change the
world.
Love, Val
*name has been
changed
Verity added in Val’s comment and hit ‘publish’. In
under an hour, the article had over 1000 hits. Later that day, at 4.00pm, 25 salons across the
country shut their doors an hour early and hundreds women with beautiful nails
took to the streets, raising them in a final salute to Penelope Abbott.
Words: 1503
Lovely story of female solidarity
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