Health & Beauty: This season, innovation isn't coming on four wheels, tucked into a handbag or teetering on heels-it's in a bottle. With a new take on pigment and a unique approach to accessorizing, Jane Schub has single-handedly revolutionized the way we see nail color.

For as long as anyone can remember, we have seen the same colors marketed by the commercial brands season after season, year after year. It's time for a change, and Jane Schub has brought just that with her new and innovative brand, STRANGEBEAUTIFUL.

As a nail polish fan myself, the line was like nothing I had experienced before. Sold in volumes, not separate bottles, Schub challenges the way we look at the polish right from the start. A bold, Lucite box contains all eight bottles, with no interrupting labels or stickers, allowing the colors to represent themselves.

And the colors: what the brand is all about and where STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Library of Color truly strays from what is known and expected of a line of varnish. Each color stands as representation of a real world pigment, something seen, remembered or experienced.

Her innovation lies in her inspiration; where Schub has collected these pigments, and the source that started it all was Olivetti's Valentine typewriter. Its bright, exciting red became the backbone for Volume One.

Now, Volume Three is pending release, featuring eight new stunning colors. Among them are colors that spark interest in their origin as well as elevate your look to a new level of sophistication. All are colors that are recognizable and distinctive: pigeon's belly gray and warm, aged Armagnac as well as the rich teal found in a fine Roquefort and the unmistakable rust color of Redrope files.

Jane Schub took her diverse art background and applied it to something every woman is familiar with: "I wanted to do something that was different in the nail polish world. I wanted to take it out of context a little bit." When looking at handmade Lucite case with the stoic STRANGEBEAUTIFUL name etched in the corner, it is easy to say that she has accomplished just what she has set out to achieve.

A relatively new concept, STRANGEBEAUTIFUL has already seen overwhelming support and acclaim from its fan base, which spans the country, since its launch in December of 2008. In addition to the volumes, the brand has also produced a color cube that contains two different polishes of interacting shades.

The volumes can be found at Bergdorf Goodman and are available at LuckyScent.com, exclusive retailers who have worked closely with STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Library of Color since their debut. In the coming months, keep your eye out for a project Jane Schub is currently working on in partnership with Anthropologie.

It's time us ladies started accenting our day-to-day looks with accessories that never leave us: our nails. Lucky for us, the talented Jane Schub has given us just the right tools to do so, reminding us: "to be strange is to be beautiful."

For JustLuxe Kate Prihoda

Posted On: Monday Aug. 31st, 2009