ORLY Builds Creator Partnerships Into Products and Brand Experiences
ORLY’s creator strategy goes beyond sending products to influencers for promotion. The nail-care company has involved creators in product development, invited customers to make custom polish, and built partnerships that connect nail culture with communities including professional basketball fans.
The approach reflects a tension in the brand’s own history. Jeff Pink created the French manicure in 1976 for Hollywood performers who needed a versatile nail look between costume changes. An ORLY-commissioned survey of 1,037 U.S. women found that 68% did not know who invented the style. Nail artists, however, helped make it widely adopted by adapting it in countless ways. ORLY’s more recent collaborations similarly give other people a role in shaping how its products and ideas are expressed.
Creators influence what ORLY makes
One example is the company’s work with nail creator Kelli Marissa, whose online content includes polish reviews, swatches and nail art. ORLY’s 2022 Witching Hour collection was built around her established interest in jelly polishes, glitter toppers and Halloween designs. The six-polish assortment included three translucent jelly shades and three confetti toppers, among them Wing It, featuring bat-shaped glitter.
The collaboration continued with Galaxy-themed collections and Kelli’s Haunted House Advent Calendar. The calendar included three new full-size colors created by Kelli, five smaller versions of ORLY favorites with personalized twists, and nail-art tools and decals. The products gave her audience ways to recreate looks connected to the content that had already established her creative identity.
ORLY has also partnered with people whose primary work is outside beauty. In March 2022, it released a three-shade collection with chef Kwame Onwuachi, who wore nail polish as part of his personal style. Tal Pink told Glossy that the collection exceeded sales forecasts, with more than half of its inventory selling in the first two weeks. ORLY began arranging additional inventory and was developing three more shades with Onwuachi, according to the account. Other collaborations included Laverne Cox’s Celebrate Yourself collection and Adam Lambert’s High Drama nail collection.
Color Labs turns customization into content
ORLY’s co-creation model also extends to customers without established creator followings. In 2017, creative director Shanee Pink described taking custom-color carts to events at Coachella, SoulCycle and The Zoe Report headquarters. Guests could select shades and finishes, then name their personalized polish.
In 2019, ORLY developed the concept into Color Labs, a Los Angeles location where customers could use an app to create custom shades and watch them being mixed. The space also hosted nail-art classes, artist residencies and educational activities. The experience created a story as well as a product: participants could document the choices and experiments behind a color, rather than simply show a finished bottle.
Creators Safiya Nygaard and Cristine Rotenberg visited Color Labs in November 2019 to make individual shades and experiment with combining polishes. In their video, the creative process itself supplied the material: ORLY provided the setting and ingredients, while the creators brought their preferences and reactions. The company also partnered with Los Angeles nail studio Dime Nails on a 2019 charitable event at the venue.
Partnerships connect nail culture to wider audiences
In August 2025, ORLY announced a three-year partnership with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, becoming the team’s first official nail partner. Activities included custom player manicures, behind-the-scenes content, a Nail Check Cam intended to spotlight players’ nail looks at games, and Game Day Glam kits for fans. The partnership continued into the 2026 season, linking ORLY products with a team community rather than relying only on a conventional sponsorship presence.
Other collaborations have drawn on entertainment and nostalgia. ORLY partnered with Lisa Frank in 2021 on a collection exclusive to Ulta Beauty, featuring character-inspired products, including nail wraps—a new category for the company. ORLY said the original collection repeatedly sold out; in October 2022, it expanded the partnership with glitter toppers and gel nail strips. A 2026 collaboration with Yo Gabba GabbaLand introduced six mystery-bag combinations pairing character-inspired polish with a coordinating topper, alongside a planned Color Labs event.
A broad creator community adds another layer
Formal collaborations sit alongside posts from nail enthusiasts who discuss or use ORLY products without a clearly defined campaign. HypeAuditor’s analysis of Instagram activity over a six-month period identified 174 influencers and 488 posts mentioning ORLY. It estimated $520,400 in earned media value and reach of 1.9 million. HypeAuditor classified 92.6% of mentions as organic and 7.4% as likely sponsored, with none definitively classified as sponsored. Nano influencers represented 67.6% of accounts with an identified size category.
Some posts put products to unexpected uses. One creator tested ORLY crackle polish on glass for a macro-photography experiment; another collector made a TikTok video about discontinued 1990s shades they wanted the company to bring back. These examples show how a product can become a material for creative work or a prompt for customer feedback, even when a brand is not the central subject.
ORLY also uses product gifting. Creators have received collections including Nail Retouch and pH Perfector, and some have connected products to personal routines rather than focusing only on features. In a May 2026 interview with Glossy, Elina Gitig said Nail Retouch sold 10,000 units in its first three weeks, followed by another 6,000 shortly afterward. She also reported two stock sellouts and sales of about 2,000 units per week across ORLY’s direct-to-consumer site and Amazon.
Across these efforts, the common thread is participation. Product collaborations, custom-color experiences, team partnerships and independent creator posts each serve different purposes, but all give people opportunities to interpret or shape the brand. For ORLY, creators are not only a route for distributing product messages; they can also help create the products and experiences those messages describe.
