Learn From My Mistake

OK, first we play Spot The Mistake.

Friday night I went out.  I was to meet Sharon for dinner, but she wouldn't be ready until 7:30 or so.  My family left around 3:30 and I wasn't feeling well ~ maybe.  Everyone else was sick with what seemed to be a different ailment during the previous week and any cough, ache, extra visit to the little girls' room was cause for possible alarm and my hand was poised over the "Abort Mission" button.  Instead, I took a brief nap and still felt a bit odd afterwards, but I decided to go for it.  I showered, shaved everywhere, put on my makeup and got dressed.

So far so good.  I went down to the mall to get a manicure from my favourite spa lady.  She was busy, so I said "I'm sure everyone is great" and took the next nail lady (after a ten or so minute wait). I mentioned to her a couple of times that the polish would come off in a "day or so" but she did the whole rough up the nail, primer, two coats, topcoat.  In between each, she had me put my hands in the UV light unit which I think was different from previous times.  The nails looked great ~ shiny and red and perfect.

The nails dried very quickly, Sharon had called to tell me she was on her way, so I called her back and we made sure we were meeting at the same place (Thai restaurant).  We met up, had a tasty meal, and chatted for way  too long ~ we had a little party to go to which started at 7.  I e-mailed the hostess, telling her we'd be there around 8:30 and it was past 8:30 when we got up to go.

We went to the party and sat around talking until after 11 (and I had promised myself I'd leave after an hour).  We said goodnight and I drove home.

So, I'll be writing more about everything, but did anyone spot the mistake?

It was at the salon.  I had never heard of gel nail polish.  I'll go into a lot of detail about the nail catastrophe later but:

if you want a manicure with colour go for it.  Manicures are a marvelous, intimate experience.  Here they call it a "spa manicure" and it includes a massage with oil and lotion and feels Oh So Nice.
if the spa lady pulls out a UV dryer tell her no, unless you want the colour for a couple of weeks.

In fact, it's probably a good idea, if you're like me and just want pretty nails for a night or few days out, start by saying "where are your non-gel lacquers?" and only choose something from that shelf.

Gel is great, it dries fast, looks beautiful, and does not come off without sand blasting or nuclear explosions.

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