OPI

OPI is an American nail-care company based in Calabasas, California, best known for its professional nail lacquers and its long catalogue of named colour shades. The company began not in cosmetics but in dentistry: it grew out of Odontorium Products Inc., a small dental-supply firm that George Schaeffer bought and, together with Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, redirected entirely toward professional nail products. The acronym OPI derives from that original name [7].

Today OPI operates as a subsidiary rather than an independent company. It was acquired by Coty in 2010, and in December 2020 Coty sold its stake in OPI — alongside Wella, Clairol and ghd — to the investment firm KKR, placing OPI under the KKR-controlled Wella Company, where it remains [7].

OPI traces its roots to Odontorium Products Inc., which Schaeffer acquired at the start of the 1980s. Weiss-Fischmann, described in Wikipedia's account as Hungarian-born, joined as an executive and artistic lead, and the two worked with biochemist R. Eric Montgomery to develop an acrylic system for nail salons. After observing that nail technicians were the firm's real customers, the company wound down its dental sales, committed fully to nail products, and took the name OPI Products Inc.

Sources give slightly different founding dates depending on what is being counted. OPI's own about page puts the original incorporation at 1980 and dates the pivot to nail products to 1981 [1], while Wikipedia's infobox records the founding year as 1981 [7]. The 1981 date reflects the shift to nail products and is consistent with the "45 years of color" milestone the brand cited in 2026.

The brand established its colour identity late in the decade: OPI expanded into nail lacquers around 1989, introducing an early range of pigmented shades. In 1999 it launched its original Hollywood Collection, which included "I'm Not Really a Waitress," a chianti red the company presents as a tribute to "anyone labouring for a dream" and one of its signature shades [6]. Tie-in collections followed, including one created for the 2003 film Legally Blonde 2.

In 2007, after pressure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the advocacy group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, OPI reformulated its nail lacquers to remove three chemicals — DBP (dibutyl phthalate), formaldehyde and toluene. The reformulation predated the wider "free-of" positioning that the brand markets today.

OPI's ownership has changed hands several times. Schaeffer ran the company from the early 1980s until it was acquired by Coty in 2010 [7]. A decade later, in December 2020, Coty sold its stake in OPI — together with Wella, Clairol and ghd — to KKR for 2.5 billion dollars while retaining a minority holding, and Coty further reduced that stake through 2021. As a result, OPI now sits within the Wella Company, whose stable of professional hair and beauty brands includes Clairol, Sassoon, Sebastian Professional, Nioxin and Briogeo. OPI's own legal and copyright notices, attributed to Wella Operations US LLC, are consistent with this current ownership [2].

OPI positions itself around self-expression through colour, summed up in its tagline "It's More than Color. It's OPI." Co-founder Weiss-Fischmann has framed the company's aim as helping people "express who you are, and who you want to be" [1]. Much of the range is built around salon-quality formulas intended for at-home use, and the brand markets its products under a "Color Without Compromise" banner that ties colour performance to a list of excluded ingredients.

Editorially, OPI has been characterised by third parties as a long-established mainstream nail brand. In a Bustle feature drawing on professional manicurists, it is called "the iconic nail brand" with "a loyal fanbase of beauty lovers and experts over the decades," and one manicurist credits it with disrupting the market early by offering a broad spectrum of colours "when nobody else was doing it" [8].

OPI's catalogue centres on nail colour and nail care: nail lacquer, the longer-wear Infinite Shine line, chrome powders, gel systems, quick-dry products, press-on nails and treatments, alongside a professional range of gels, dipping powders and acrylics. Individual shades — among them Lincoln Park After Dark and Big Apple Red — recur in manicurist recommendations as cult favourites [8].

The company also holds patents across several product lines. It lists U.S. and European patents covering its Repair Mode bond-building nail serum, built on a proprietary "Ulti-Plex Technology," as well as its gel polishes and salon tools [4]. On formulation, OPI states that its main colour lines carry no animal-derived ingredients and are free of substances including formaldehyde, toluene, camphor, parabens and dibutyl phthalate [3]. The company also reports that, since 2023, it has increased the recycled glass and plastic content of its colour bottles by 15 percent and caps by 11 percent [3].

The most documented episode in OPI's history is its 2007 lacquer reformulation, made under regulatory and advocacy pressure to remove DBP, formaldehyde and toluene [7]. Wikipedia also notes that a 2003 dog nail-polish line, "Pawlish," received mixed reviews.

OPI is not an independent company; it operates as an acquired brand within the Wella Company. It remains commercially active on a global scale, with 2026 marketing campaigns and new collections and a homepage that frames the year as its 45th of nail colour [2].