GREASE

While we'd never advocate oil spills, they do produce beautiful arrays of color - ever notice how shimmery gas station concrete is? That unnatural sheen of shifting greens, blues, golds, and purples is an odd, but apparently powerful, source of inspiration. Oil slicks showed up on several Fall 2012 runways: See the iridescent-sleeved coats and shiny dresses at Prabal Gurung, wavy metallic fabrics at Christopher Kane, pops of slick black leather at Alex Wang, and perhaps most extreme, the chemically colored velvet at Gucci. And while you won't be able to wear oil-inspired clothes for another few months, you can slick your nails with some fuel-toned polish right now thanks to a new Sephora collaboration. Ciaté, the brand by UK nail artist Charlotte Knight, comes to the beauty megastore this month with a handful of bright and shiny hues, including the shade-shifting, greenish-gold Oil Slick. The pearlescent polish is vaguely reminiscent of last year's Chanel favorite, Black Pearl, but with slightly more gold and touches of blue - think less evil mermaid and more fast & furious. The shade debuts this month in American stores and online (you can already buy it in the UK), and we can't wait to get our hands on it (or it on our hands?).

$15 at Sephora, coming early April.

Prabal Gurung

Alexander Wang

Gucci (left) and Christopher Kane (right)