Nail Polish Index

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Forget the lipstick index, the Times reports that the new beauty-based economic indicator is nail polish sales. "Nail-polish sales now seem to reflect the economy very clearly (albeit inversely). A rise in nail-polish sales indicates that we’re searching for bargain luxuries as the economy craters — and sales of nail polish are way up right now." That explains the flood of manicure DIYs we've been seeing recently. [NYT]