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Nail The Look – The Women of Star Trek Into Darkness

In spite of having a boyfriend who is a major Star Trek fan, he even owns Shatner’s CDs, I never got on board. That is, until JJ Abrams became involved with the franchise. I’m a fan of his work from back in the Felicity and Alias days so when he took over the helm, I paid attention. Even though the boyfriend feels the first film “wasn’t a Star Trek movie” (I loved it!), he gave his approval when we saw the second installment, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Star Trek Into Darkness Nail Polish Looks for Uhura and Carol Marcus

Affiliate Link|I Bought This|Press Sample

As with the first film, I couldn’t help but notice the nail polish on the two female leads, Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Alice Eve as Carol Marcus. Fortunately, I was able to get the scoop on their looks and the rest of the women of Star Trek Into Darkness straight from Assistant Make-up Department Head Deborah Patino Rutherford who worked alongside Make-up Department Head David Anderson. So if you plan to dress as your favorite character you can finish off your look with the proper polish.

According to Deborah, “Nails were an important element to our make-up design as we wanted our Starfleet woman to be groomed, serious and pretty. This film is set in the future  so we decided no fake nails or French tips as this could possibly date us.”

Keeping a consistent look from the last movie, Zoe Saldana’s makeup artist Vera Steimberg used Essie Wicked on Uhura. A short, vampy nail makes perfect sense for this strong, yet feminine woman.

Star Trek Into Darkness Uhura nail polish color

Star Trek Into Darkness - Zoe Saldana as Uhura

Star Trek Uhura nail polish Essie Wicked swatch

Uhura wear Essie Wicked

For newcomer Alice Eve, Deborah opted for Essie Fair Game. “We wanted her character to be serious and classy.” The slate blue pearl has a futuristic, clean yet industrial feel that compliments the color of Carol Marcus’ uniform.

Star Trek Into Darkness Carol Marcus nail polish

Star Trek Into Darkness - Alice Eve as Carol Marcus

Essie Fair Game nail polish swatch. Star Trek Carol Marcus nails

Carol Marcus wears Essie Fair Game

On the other Starfleet women the nails were mostly Urban Decay, OPI and MAC Cosmetics nail polish in nude and earth tones with a few distinct colors in dark burgundy, gray, black, blue and yellow to pop it.

Civilian and Alien women wore a variety of colors by OPI, MAC, butter LONDON and Urban Decay in grays, silver, golds, teals, wines, violets and greens.  Some matte, some shimmery or sparkly. The UK nurses wore Sephora by OPI White Hot and Lady V (played by Colleen Harris) wore Urban Decay Barlust.

Some of the specific shades include: MAC Hyperion, OPI Nomad’s Dream, MAC Nocturnelle and OPI Blue My Mind.

Star Trek Into Darkness Starfleet Women nail polish

SOPI White Hot, MAC Hyperion, OPI Nomad's Dream, MAC Nocturnelle, OPI Blue My Mind

Three shades came from the Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail KitBarlust, Wrecked and Gunmetal. They’re all edgy and dark. Scrangie has great swatches of them HERE.

urban-decay-holiday-2011-nail-polish-star-trek-into-darkness

Urban Decay Barlust, Wrecked and Gunmetal from Holiday 2011

Other Starfleet women were kept more classic with neutral shades like OPI It’s Totally Fort Worth It (Texas collection) and OPI Moon Over Mumbai (India collection).

OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It nail polish swatch on the Starfleet Women

OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It

opi-moon-over-mumbai-star-trek-into-darkness-nails

OPI Moon Over Mumbai

Essie Wicked ($8) is currently available at salons and mass retailers nationwide including Essie.com and even though Essie Fair Game was a limited edition shade, I was able to easily score a bottle on eBay and found more on Amazon. All the OPI shades ($9) are currently available, find a salon at OPI.com, as is MAC Nocturnelle ($16) at MACCosmetics.com.

Did you see Star Trek Into Darkness? Were you distracted by Alice Eve’s nails too? What do you think of the color choices for each character? Will you pick up any of these shades for a potential Halloween costume?

Disclosure: I purchased Essie Fair Game and Wicked. Reps for OPI provided product samples. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

image credits: All Lacquered Up & Paramount Pictures

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There Are 10 Brilliant Comments

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  1. Shena says:

    i just ordered Essie Fair Game. I’m happy you’re back from hiatus. I missed your posts and no other blog compares to yours. Have a beautiful day!

  2. Essie Wicked is an all-time fave of mine!

  3. Lesley says:

    I really like the choices they made for nail polish. I don’t know how they got Essie Wicked to look that red though. It always looks more blackened when I apply it. Maybe I’m using too many coats.

  4. mariamarvel says:

    Awesome post!! I always wonder what polishes were used in movies and series and it’s so great to read about the actual shades) Please, do more posts like this one!)
    P.S. now I need Essie Fair Game:)

  5. Hannah says:

    Despite being a professed nail fanatic, I have to admit that I actually didn’t notice the women’s nails. I feel guilty lol. I was way too distracted by the MEN of Star Trek but it’s awesome to kknow that they’ve paid attention to all of the little details.

  6. Bunny says:

    While I love all of these colors, and actually own most if not all of them, I’m disappointed with the choices. I would hope that in the future they would be using more holo colors, as well as special color shift and flop pigments. Even if they couldn’t find polishes like that, they could have at least manufactures them digitally in post-production. Even a bright neon would have been nice. This is science fiction; it should extend to beauty products too.

  7. girlygirl says:

    Thank you for researching this and providing links! I just purchased Fair Game and look forward to wearing it soon.

    I love reading what polishes actresses are wearing in films and television!

  8. Linna J says:

    Such a funny post! Want more of this sort!
    But now I need Fair Game …

  9. fishgirl182 says:

    thanks for this info. i totally noticed the nails while watching the film, too. :)

  10. Lexi says:

    Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t notice their nails! I was too into the movie! (lil cuz got me into Star Trek hehe #^.^) But I love the choices! Haha my lil sis only wanted to see Star Trek because of ‘Jim Kirk’ and I wanted to see it because I’m a geek (and….I like Spock *ducks head blushing*) Great post! Yay! Nails and Fandom!

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