Nail Polish That Doesn't Hate Me

Nail polish is not really my thing. As a kid, I used to paint a few sloppy coats of pink all over my fingers. Theoretically, it was meant to go on my nails, but in reality my aim was not so good. I moved onto the gee-I-like-how-it-looks-but-hate-how-it-feels phase, during which I swore off nail polish all together, and in the recent years I've worn it occasionally. My reasons for less frequent wear are simple:

1) While my aim has improved since childhood, my nail polish-applying skills are still sorely lacking.

2) This is not helped by the fact that I am always too impatient to let the nails dry fully before I move on to some other task. This always ruins the polish further, but at least it saves me from spending ten minutes with my hands draped uselessly in the air in front of me.

3) I am not so fond of the smell.

While I'm fairly certain the smell can't be helped, my first two issues have been resolved. How, you ask? Well, meet my new friends Nicole by Opi Nic's Sticks:

Being a fairly low maintenance girl, at least in terms of beauty products, I have no idea who this mysterious "Nicole" is. I'm familiar with Opi, but I've always been too cheap to go for anything but the 99 cent pots of NYC polish. Today, however, on a leisurely stroll through Target, one of these nail polish sticks begged me to buy it. Specifically, Home by Midnight, a black shade that doesn't appear to be available online. Since my old black polish had long since been sacrificed to the cause of costuming in a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I slid the nail polish from the display and bought it.

Long story short, I am a fan. It's super-easy to apply, because it's pretty hard to end up with too much polish on the brush, which just happens to be the perfect width for my nails. It dries in maybe 30 seconds flat, which suits my impatient nature well. Two coats, a total of maybe two minutes, and my nails were completely done. 

Clearly I will be picking up more Nic's Sticks in some other colors. And Nic, whoever you are, if you want to be my best friend, I think that can be arranged.

I Might as Well Fail With Pretty Nails

I'm sitting here, attempting to study for the Medieval Literature midterm that I'm woefully unprepared for, but my brain would much rather talk about fashion.

Sometimes this obsession is a wee bit inconvenient.

If I massacre Dante, Milton, and Boccaccio on Tuesday, I blame Vogue.

Anyway, I thought I'd update you on what I noticed on a Target trip yesterday:

♥ Loeffler Randall for Target = not so great. The bags are super-shiny in a cheap way; the rosette flats (the only L.R. shoes I saw in the store) are in bright, tacky-looking metallics.

♥ N.Y.C. nail polish in tight blue denim is mighty similar to that dark blue Chanel polish that's been big lately. Only it's less than $2.00.

♥ Other people seem to like Boots moisturizer as much as I do; it was clean sold out.

♥ Ditto the Erin Fetherston clearance.

That's pretty much it. Not so exciting, but at least my nails are a deep, glossy blue. If I fail my midterm, I can take comfort in that.

A New Kind of Manicure?

What do you think of this model's nails from the January issue of Glamour?

I'm rather inclined to like it. I think this kind of manicure would only work with a very clean, polished look, as seen in the editorial, because otherwise it would look messy/overly busy. Still, I'm not sure I'm going to be trying it out anytime soon; my nail polish skills leave something to be desired.

Would you rock the look?