Trendy Nails

So I had a coupon for Ulta for $5 off.  I went today and they had "Buy Two, Get One Free" on Essie and OPI polishes.  The Essie deal also included a free matte top coat. I also am torn between the two brands constantly.  OPI has better trendy shades, but it's a thicker texture.  I love the thinness of Essie.  Nail polish stays on much better if you do two thin coats.  Their polishes make it easy to do that.

I have been resisting the matte trend since early summer. I myself love perfectly painted GLOSSY nails.  I finally gave in with the free top coat.

So I got all of this for $11.

I have to admit that I am rethinking the Mint Candy Apple (middle.)  It is crazy trendy right now.  I know I seem like I am trendy, but I am definitely not.  I like to keep up with knowing what they are, but I tend to mostly stick with classics or things that at least feel like me.

I used it with the matte top coat. It DOES NOT feel like me.

What do you think??  I think my grandma is going to be appalled.

Nude Nails

So, nude is a hot color this spring. Anything from nude snakeskin to nude lips to nude nails. Two nude things I wanted to embrace are nude pumps (which I've wanted for a while for work) and nude nails.

I happened to be at a beauty supply store that had 50% off of everything, and got a nude polish. Here are the pics. I don't recommend the Nicole by OPI. This is the only polish from that line I've gotten and I'm disappointed with the quality.

I have mixed feelings about the color. On one hand, I feel like it's very matronly. On the other, in my mind I know that it's edgy and forward...but it's not the most exciting shade.

I took these pics where I spent most of the weekend--OUTSIDE!!

Nail Secret

So, I had the most amazing pedicure of my life at a spa last November (part of a spa birthday gift.) That polish also stayed on for FIVE WEEKS, people. That is not the norm for me. I wear heels every workday, and I could not believe it. I mean, I am a huge fan of my normal topcoat that I have written about on here, so couldn't figure out the secret.

It finally occurred to me that it was the OPI Drip Dry drops she used.

I finally bought them last Friday and used them on my toes (a fun OPI bronze from the Australia collection.) Not only did the polish dry so quickly that I could put on Uggs within five minutes, but the jojoba oil is so moisturizing.

Get it!!!

I'll see if this lasts five weeks!

Pale Gray Polish

I'm still loving OPI You Don't Know Jacques, but Rescue Beauty Lounge in Stormy was the original gray that inspired me back last spring. Now, OPI's new Holiday line has a great gray (cheaper than Rescue Beauty, but also including a little shimmer...not usually my thing.) I need to see it in person before I endorse it completely!

OPI Sheer Your Toys

I still love the Rescue Beauty Lounge colors in Stormy and Concrete Jungle, but not sure I'm up for paying $18 for nail polish! I have a hard enough time with full priced OPI. I usually can find it at a beauty supply store for half off.

Concrete Jungle, Stormy

Harmless, Shallow Fun

I know I've talked a bit about my sickness (Chronic Fatigue) that I have battled for the last almost three years. For ten months after I first got the crazy strong virus that caused this whole mess, I didn't work. About six of those months, I could barely get out of bed. Taking a shower consumed an entire day's energy. Not to depress everyone, because I'm SO much better than that now, but getting my nails done was the highlight of my world. The experience of a mani/pedi then wasn't the best part, because even going to a nail salon was so exhausting. It was more because I didn't have the strength to do my own, like I did before I got sick. It brought me such a shallow sense of pleasure to look down, while in bed, and see my freshly painted nails. It somehow made me feel like a normal person, and gave an illusion of control and achievement.

Well, I got my first pedicure at a day spa on Saturday. Let me just say that it was SO different than a regular nail salon. The whole experience was amazing. Everything was better--the foot and leg massage, the smells of lotions and scrubs, the careful application of a mask, the incredibly accurate painting and glossing...

I went for the OPI French collection "Parlez Vous OPI?", a current fave of mine. A twist on lavendar, somehow edgier because of its smokiness.




But, I took a break from OPI "You Don't Know Jacques" that I have written about a couple of times, and as my nails have been growing back, went with one of my favorite pinks--OPI "Pinking of You."

Yoga-Ta Get This Blue

I love the OPI nail collections. I very rarely stray from matte or sheer nail colors and love all classic colors, but once a year, like to branch out and go shimmery/trendy. This season, it is Yoga-ta Get This Blue from the India Collection. It is kind of a rip off of the $17 Dior color that was the all the rage a few months back. (Complete side note, but I have to laugh at myself every time I punctuate my thoughts with phrases like "all the rage." I sound completely ridiculous, but it's MY shallow blog and I can fill it with as much shallowness as I want!)

And I can use my phone to take a picture of my foot while sitting outside reading, and put it up on my blog.



OPI India Collection

Shrine to the Shallow

And so begins my blog. As I sit in front of Real Housewives of New York, I am reminded that I am less shallow than the women on there. And even MORE, uh, less shallow than the Housewives of the OC (because that is correct grammar, kids.) That aside, my first blog is about nail polish. First of all, let me explain my insatiable thirst for all beauty products. Research has always been a hobby of mine. However, over two years ago, I went from being an active person to being a sick person. While I'm on the mend, I have spent intermittent periods of disability and unemployment glued to beauty blogs and forums. On Makeup Alley, my favorite source of user reviews for all makeup and beauty products, reviews include describing things as HG. It took me awhile to discover that it stood for "holy grail." Meaning, there is an HG of each type of product for each person. A few such HG's I have already found, but others...those I spend countless hours online and in Sephora searching for.

One HG is my absolute favorite color of nail polish. It is OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti. A few years ago, I happened upon it in a nail salon. The weeks my toes sported its perfection, people stopped me everywhere raving about the color. How to describe it--violet, magenta, purple--none will come close. I ended up finding it online on a site selling discontinued OPI nail polish. I still love it.

The picture of me very cheesily giving my blog a thumbs up is an edgy, matte purple. It has gotten rave reviews, and even inspired Julia to purchase a purple (and in turn Julia inspired me to get on it and actually start my blog.)

Next up, my quest for the HG mascara...and the joy/agony of the search.