I spent a good portion of the day today with my girlfriend Carrie. We went to to see Christmas With the Kranks**, take a look around the beauty supply store, and to the mall to pick up the shoes I wanted for Lisa & Chris' wedding***.
And let me tell you, I showed AMAZING RESTRAINT at the beauty supply store (and the mall, but that was easier). Technically, only Carrie is "allowed" to shop there because it sells heavily discounted (or minimally marked up, but enough to make a profit) merchandise to members of the beauty industry (you have to become a member and show proper credentials with your application - Carrie's studying to be a nail tech), but I guess they have a little leeway - whenever I've gone in with Carrie, they've let me purchase items under her customer info. It took a lot, but especially aided with the knowledge that it's almost Christmas and I'm broke this week, I managed to NOT buy any OPI nailpolish (my absolute favorite brand), which they sell for $3.75 a bottle (it's $8.00 at the salon). You can hardly get decent nail polish for $3.75 at the drugstore!! And with OPI, not only are the colors themselves gorgeous and rich, the names are SO adorable.
Right now, I'm wearing a blue-y green shade from their new Canadian collection that they call "Glacier Bay Blues" (there's a try-on studio on the website, but this color isn't quite true-to-life on the site). My absolute favorite is called "Chicago Champagne Toast" - it's a shimmery mauvy-brown that is very neutral in comparison with my skin tone - plus, it's not as conspicuous when it chips (I let my polish go way too long after it's started to chip). Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person who could buy 5 different bottles of nail polish in 5 different brands on 5 different shopping trips and wind up with essentially the same shade of polish. I've been trying to branch out, hence the aforementioned "Glacier Bay Blues" and darker shimmery pink (but not "I just got back from vacation and have a tan that is way too dark for me" pink that seems to show up on the 2" long talons of the bleach blonde sun goddess worshippers who will look like a leather handbag by the time they're 35) "Abbey Rose" that I bought a few weeks ago on my first trip to the beauty supply store, and I realized today that out of thier Holiday Harmony collection, there's really only one color I like - "Concerto in Copper" - but I didn't buy anything. I didn't buy Concerto in Copper, or Chocolate Moose, or Route Beer Float, or Java Mauve-A, or anything else that I liked. Yay me!!
Heh, maybe it's also my subconscious telling me that I'd better make an investment in something to help strengthen my soft, flexible, thin, peeling fingernails before I start buying loads of stuff to make them look pretty.
** Christmas With the Kranks was cute, but I dislike slapstick physical comedy, and while it was cute in the book on which the movie was based, it didn't do it for me in the movie.
*** The wedding isn't until July, but I found THE shoes that are black, pretty, dressy enough for the occasion/formalwear combo, and DO NOT HAVE HEELS. In addition to it being an outdoor wedding on the grounds of a botanical garden (read: heels sinking into soft ground), I simply cannot walk on heels.
Posted by beenie at November 27, 2004 12:05 AMI've been taking flax oil supplements everyday for the past year or so and it's been MAGIC for my fingernails. I actually have to clip them now because they're so strong and they actually grow longer than I like them to. I used to be lucky if I could get them to grow past my fingertip without peeling or snapping off, and now I have to clip them!
Flax oil is good for other things too, but the nail help it provides is astounding.
Posted by: Sherri at November 28, 2004 12:40 PMI bought a bottle of that OPI color you like so much. very nice. it's kinda purpley but subtle. it's on my toes as we speak. i also like chocolate shakespeare. nice, neutral color.
Posted by: Malia at December 13, 2004 09:09 AM