my eyelashes all in curls

We were out with friends last weekend and happened to wander by a beauty salon/beauty supply store. “Oh we HAVE to go in,” says Miss L. “Okay,” says me, because I’m a follower like that. Turns out she knew of this great (super great!) nail polish that was on sale in little trial sizes that she just HAD to have and who am I to get in the way of a cosmetics purchase. The nail polish came in little sample packs with four colors to a pack, and Miss L thought they would be perfect for painting the little toes of her little zoo kids. Genius. I almost talked her into getting all four, but she exercised better purchasing restraint than I might have exhibited and only bought three. Each one came with a clear top coat. “Are you going to need all those clear ones?” I asked, hoping she wanted to give me one. She did. And this, friends, is where the story turns tragic.

I tried that expensive, wonderful, perfect, super nail polish on my fingernails on Monday. I painted on two coats in the early morning. I spent many moments during the day admiring the shiny glow of my pretty nails. And then it started peeling off (in that crazy cool way that my Tinkerbell polish used to do where the entire polish layer comes off intact.) First one nail at about 3:30 pm. And then another at 6 pm. But the time I was getting ready for bed at 10 pm every single nail was polish free. What gives, expensive nail polish?

Does a top coat not work on plain nails? Must I choose a color? Oh, woe is me and my attempts to girly-up.