She's Got a Rack...

And I'm not talking about boobies! As many of my friends know - I've got a small addiction to all things that relate to NAILS. I've got it easy. My mom has bins and bins of polish and her sister (my aunt) used to own a nail shop so this little addiction of mine has been growing since I was a young girl.

I've worn acrylics since I was 12 and I've always been all about french/American manicures. Man I miss my acrylics with a gel top finish!

I've been on and off with the acrylics for the last two years and I haven't had a relapse since this past March. I will always love the polished finish of acrylic nails but I realized that (with a lot of work) I actually have really nice natural nails and I could save a few bucks by staying away from my nail technician. I really do miss my Helen though - Sweetest thing ever (look her up at Nail Sculpture in Alexandria). Since I took my acrylics off (I was od'ing on my nail budget with the pink and white fills and gel top finishes), I've gone back to strengtheners, growth treatments, and quick dry polishes. I've never been able to perfect or maintain the homemade french tip so I'm all about neutrals and soft shades for work and then I may dabble into some eye popping colors on the weekends.

Over the past couple of weeks, I went through my polish bin, sifted through the colors that I would never wear again, and started tossing. Then I looked at the colors that I loved but for some odd reason had started to dry out or the polish had started to form around the rim of the bottles and I tossed those too. I cleaned a few bottles and then **ding ding ding** it hit me that my polish bin was the reason that my favorite polishes were drying out. My mom has maintained polishes for years with no serious problems. It never dawned on me that having your bottles sit in different directions in a bin, box, or bag in your closet, drawer, or under your bed is one of the reasons that I was wasting perfectly good product! During my epiphany I started an online search and about a week later here is my new baby - My 60 polish nail rack!


I think I love it... And I think it loves me too!

I sent this pic to my Mom earlier this week and I believe that I made her proud. The top row is still empty but I plan to fill it up. I put the cheapos at the bottom and although they don't look as nice as my OPI & Orly bottles, I'm not tossing them because I still wear some of the colors.

Kisses!

Matted Up

The day before yesterday while getting my nails done, I glanced over at the lady sitting next to me and I noticed that her technician was applying Lincoln Park After Dark by OPI. Nothing new except that it was the Matte version. And I thought to myself hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... that's interesting looking. The Matte polish dries super fast and with an almost chalky but still cool look. Apparently I'm way behind on this trend so I decided to go with Russian Navy just to see what the big deal was. You can either wear the polish out in it's chalky form or have some high gloss applied as a top coat. I personally don't think I'll ever wear the chalky version out but I will admit that it was a cool experience.

Check out this Article at All Lacquered Up that shows several different swatches and gives greater detail on OPI and Orly's matte lines. (I kind of get the feeling that they prefer Orly over OPI - LOL)




Kisses!