i paint my nails maybe three times a year. i don’t know. Wearing nail polish is not conducive to my lifestyle of dish-washing, typing and general scrubbing that involves chemicals.
When i do paint them, it’s never for any occasion. i don’t have occasions. It will just pop into my head to do it. When i’m bored.
Usually i have a bottle of clear and some warm creamy color in the house- which doesn’t make sense since i hardly use it- but still, i keep a bottle or two around. Iced Cappuccino, Frosted Caramel, Abalone Shine- such sophisticated names, so rich, so unlike me and my hands. i prefer clear. i put on about four coats and let it dry a bit. Then i peel it off, the whole shape of my nail but i’ve never gotten all ten. There’s always a couple that come off in strips. Frustrating.
i don’t do that with other colors. i let them chip, become raggedy and let them stay that way for a week or two before removing it. i hate the smell of nail polish remover. There are scented ones, but they smell simply of remover and some weird other odor with it.
i’ve contemplated other colors- brown, black, purple- but i don’t think those would compliment my skin tone. Actually, my natural nail seems to match perfectly.
Today, i painted them. Red Ice. And my nails seem, feel so obvious, and intrusion, obstruction of justice. They look like claws, feel heavy with this lurid color over them. Overdone. Overwhelmed.
But i’ll leave it, let it flake away, get tacky.
(copyright 2008) c. A. Hughes
01.19.08
The last time I painted mine was for my brother’s wedding in May.
Yeah. i don’t paint them often. For special days i just make sure that they’re clean and nicely shaped.
That’s as dressy as i get. i also don’t wear makeup, even though i’ve a bag of the stuff. i wish i could though. Makeup can be nice sometimes and fun. But when i wear it, my face feels dirty and i think others will think i’m trying to hide something. i feel obvious. Thanks for commenting.
~christine
Oh, I love to fantacize about having my nails done. You know, go to the manucurist and let her snip away the dead cuticle and slick on some amazing color and then my hands will look like all those other beautifully maintained hands that you see among most women. But like you, clear always seems to be my color of choice – or nude or baby pink or some other non color that just gives them shine.
I used to do the peel thing too when I was a kid – I don’t have the patience for it now.
Chica
Yeah. And the color is so close to nothing i figure it might as well not be there.
i like the idea of pampering- for others. One of my sisters took me for a manicure once. i asked for a buff and shape. The manicurist looked skeptical. Then she asked if i wanted my eyebrows waxed. i felt a little insulted- i know they’re thick & everything but sheesh. So i picked an opal color and said no to the wax. She seemed okay after that. Maybe she thought i would be wasting money if i didn’t get a color.
She put a little flower on the nails of my index fingers. i felt so silly- in my thirties with little blossoms on my nails. And they were ruined about an hour later when i did dishes. Meh.
Thanks for stopping by. i hope all is well with the search.
~christine
And you know what makes me bitter about painted nails? My daughter had beautiful nails. We used to let her pinky nails grow really long because that’s what I do with my pinky nails. Well, for my brother’s wedding I painted her nails which drew attention to them and made them obvious, overdone, claw-like and she started biting them! Since May she has bitten, ragged, torn nails and swollen, red fingertips all because of that stupid nail polish.
That’s too bad.
My younger daughter is a rabid nail biter and skin chewer. i was too until about age 13. And it was hard to stop.
My nails aren’t long but they aren’t the ragged mess they once were.
Poor Cait, she gets raw hang nails but continues to chew. i encourage her to stop because it is unsanitary, but i don’t want to get on her too much or she’ll bite more.
~christine
I love polishing my nails, I do almost twice a week…I’ve literally become obsessed with buying OPI nail polish. It really feels nice to have clean, well groomed hands/nails…
It is nice. i do clean my nails and shape them but polish is too dressy for me.
But i can appreciate the pampered feeling others get with nice polished nails.
Thanks for visiting.
~christine
I just wanted to add my blog addy
Good.
i will drop by for a visit soon.
~christine