Yet more girly stuff

[justalurkr]

A million billion years ago (or 1985,) the other skirted-suit and bow-tie wearing women and I had a pink shirt on Friday deal going on, mainly to see if the men would dare. Today, I honor that tradition with pink nail polish on Fridays.

Today's polish is Kiss Me, I'm Brazilian, from the aforementioned OPI 2014 Spring/Summer Collection. In the amazon.com link, it looks like a pretty standard pink, doesn't it? Yet another reason I'm glad I got the mini (see aforementioned link) set to try out the colors! In person, it looks like electric strawberry sorbet, which will be perfect for high summer...but looks a little garish at the moment.

I may have to shop for a pink shirt to match it so it doesn't stand out too much and feel lonely. Oh, the humanity.

Settle a bet with my mom*, please?

When justalurkr talks about girly stuff:
(a) I feel patronized, because what's wrong with girly?
(b) I totally get that justalurkr doesn't think there's anything wrong with girly, she just doesn't see herself that way.

For everyone who answered (a,) please see (b.) I salute anyone who can unironically rock pink lipstick, skirts, heels and a one inch manicure. Or who understands lingerie that doesn't come in cotton and sixpacks. Or who can do her own hair in under 10 minutes. Or who takes an hour to get ready in the morning. Or who has never even once in her life been considered "one of the guys."

That person has simply never been me, and the taking seriously of nail polish and eyeshadow at midlife has been a bit of a shock. Of course, had I known that mani/pedis contained as much hand and foot rubbing as they do, it might not have taken me so long. ;)
_____
*here is where I, loving my mother above all other women as I do, still gripe about "pot/kettle" and "apple/tree," given that (a) she is only slightly more girly in the make up department (largely from having been raised in the South with no choice in the matter,) and (b) only one of us can cook a meal in under three hours without dirtying every pot and fraying every nerve in the kitchen, and I learned that from my dad, so :P

Comments

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty pink but I've decided I'm really a blue nail polish girl. I just can't stop myself. ;)

I remember becoming addicted in high school, I somewhere got my hands on a bottle of electric blue glitter nail polish. Mind you, this was WAY before anyone had even thought of wearing this color in Westchester, NY - it was probably a color that had only ever adorned the nails of strippers and the like. Well, I came to school rocking my electric blue nails and everyone loved them. I was even followed into the bathroom so jealous girls could study my sapphire manicure!

I answered B

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

Yay, B!

I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for the perfect TARDIS blue nail polish, then saw a picture of all the TARDISes together and realized there was quite a range that would fit. The one I like best is OPI's Keeping Suzi At Bay (http://www.amazon.com/OPI-Fall-Francisco-Collection-Keeping/dp/B00FCMB014/ref=sr_1_4?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1391868959&sr=1-4&keywords=opi+keeping+suzi+at+bay) from the San Francisco collection, which also has a silvery blue Dining Al Frisco (http://www.amazon.com/OPI-Francisco-Collection-Dining-Frisco/dp/B00FCMB00K/ref=sr_1_3?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1391869016&sr=1-3&keywords=opi+dining+al+frisco).

Two, TWO wonderful sapphire shades!

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

Plus, the name Suzi reminds me of Suzi from Torchwood - extra Win! :D

One cannot have enough blue nail polishes. ;)

[superbadgirl]

I like polish on toes only, and the brighter the better. I have some Orly yellow and a lovely orangeish-red that I love, but a nice, sweet pink is also a great option.

I'm, mentally, about as ungirly as a girl can get, but I do love a good stylish outfit and a rocking pair of shoes, sooo...I'm not sure what my point is.

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

I think nialla42 called it when she said girly means uncomfortable. I think it's the label we slap on the parts of femininity that make us roll our eyes or feel oppressed or that just don't make sense. (Or that literally make us uncomfortable, like justalurkr + any heel over an inch.)

Makeup and nail polish didn't make sense to me until (a) I saw what a low-key smoky eye does for my best feature and (b) some blog post referred to nails as "ten little canvases." Then makeup and nail polish stopped being about looking good for other people (I have an extremely deep-seated "screw all y'all" reaction to the societal drive to look good for other people) and started being about how much fun I could have without going clownish.

[khek.livejournal.com]

I love pedicures, and having my toenails be all colorful and pretty.

I've discovered lip stains in the past couple years, so I have started coloring my lips. :) I actually enjoy a manicure when someone else does it, but I can't be bothered to do it myself. I'm very hard on my hands, and I always either make the polish ripple or start chipping it within an hour. Plus I have ugly nails that are way wider at the top than anywhere else, so I think it calls too much attention to them to put colors on them.

My mother was so adamant about not going out of the house without lipstick and nail polish on though that I resisted using either for 30 years. :) I've used other makeup for years, but these final touches are recent. So I completely understand where you are coming from!

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

I'm pondering an eyelash tint today. Last time I was in for a facial, I was advised what all goes into that and it sounded harmless if I keep still and don't blink.

OMG WEEPING ANGEL IN THE SALON.

:D

[nialla]

I've always been light on the makeup, but wear it for work and the like. Generally powder, eyeshadow, and lipstick, so I'm not just a shiny, pale blob. Refuse to wear mascara though, as the ingredients irritate my eyes horribly.

Recently I've discovered you really do get what you pay for, and instead of buying cheap eyeshadow that all but disappears by noon, I can use Urban Decay and get it to last all day, and use their eyeshadow primer (which I didn't know existed until recently) and it will last until I take it off at night. I buy a ton of stuff via drugstore.com, and you get a percentage back to use in the future. I usually use that money to buy the fancier eyeshadow and such.

I've also found that OPI nail polish will pretty much last me a week despite how rough my job is on my hands, while the drugstore brands wouldn't last until noon the first day. My favorite shade so far is "I Have a Herring Problem" from the 2012 Holland Collection.

I don't wear it on a regular basis though, because it's still a pain to deal with. At one point, I used my viewing of Downton Abbey on PBS as a good time to pain my nails. It was essentially a rewatch, and I'd have my nails freshly done for Monday.

I think the problem for me is that "girly" often means "uncomfortable". There's nothing wrong with being girly, but I've always chosen comfort over style.

Though I get a laugh out of the teens who come in with neon nail polish or outlandish colors and thing it's such a cutting edge thing. I rocked that back in the early 80s sweeties, with my favorite being "Blue Moon" which was a frosted silver-blue. Can you tell I like blue?

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

The nice thing about discovering girly when you're closer to the neo-Pagan concept of Crone is that you're generally in your peak earning years and able to afford the good stuff. As someone who takes allergy medicine every single day to tolerate a contact lens, I totally get sensitive eyes. Aveda is there for me. Almay is there for people who have better things to do with their money.

OPI lights, correctly applied, would give me about a week's wear too if I didn't have the nail polish attention span of a goldfish and do my nails every three days while listening to a book. Oooh, herrings!

After I visited last Christmas, Mom was down at Ulta shopping for Suzi Sells Sushi by the Seashore, one of the best neutral pinks in that it looks good on any skin tone...seriously, she's olive and I'm peach and it looked great on both of us...and someone convinced her to try Butter (http://www.butterlondon.com/s.nl?search=Nail+treatments&gclid=CLCV7sXgvLwCFdHm7AodlyQAAQ) based on its Will Not Chip thing.

Apple/tree -- took her less than 24 hours. I grinned and said I could probably nail it by the afternoon of application. She said no fair attacking it before it was dry.

[nialla]

I had to quit wearing my contacts ages ago. Dry eyes even without them, to the point I may have to add yet another prescription. Though with my migraines, it's often nice to make the world blurry sometimes.

Mascara has a "smell" to it, and the vapors are what make my eyes burn. I'm lucky I have dark lashes, though heavier mascara is popular again for those using smoky looks.

There's finally an Ulta (and a Sephora) shop within driving distance, but every time I can get near it, I'm with someone totally not interested and/or on the road for a neurologist appointment which involves a lot of needles.

If I can get a day off that doesn't involve needles, I'd like to go in and peruse their wares. I can do a lot online, but it's very hard to get a true color picture. It's hard enough with the bottle, because it often dries differently.

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. I've read where ounce for ounce, the OPI minis cost more than the full sized bottles, but bottle for bottle, four minis cost less than the four regulars.

The Brazilian Copacababies collection contained two colors I was really jazzed about (the teal and pink,) and two colors I was meh about (the purple glitter and mango.)

Results of testing: I like the purple (it's one of those very sheer, whisper of a color on the nail) and the mango (orange sherbet!) much better than the pink and teal.

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

OMG, LOOK!!! At this TARDIS nail polish organizer!!!

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

WANT!!!!

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

You and me both! :D