Trend-tastic

I have a problem with addiction, you guys. No, it's nothing that might threaten my health or my ability to make good decisions, but that doesn't make it any less serious.

My name is Emily, and I'm addicted to nail polish.

Don't laugh at me. This is a serious problem! Seriously! The only real Beauty Trend I follow on people.com is Stars' Must-Have Nails. I'm all about keeping up with the In colors in Hollywood, unless it's something ugly like Rhianna's bright yellow, banana-colored nails. That was a color that was A) gross B) not complimentary with my skin tone. I mean, let's not get TOO crazy here.
But really-- I love nail polish. It's kind of an unfortunate love because I'm not very kind to my nails. They chip really easily and I have to do a lot of touching up. I know. It's a hard-knock life, right?

Recently my favorite brand is Maybelline Express Wear. It's affordable, comes in a variety of delicious and not-annoying colors, and dries in just 50-seconds! Could it get any better?!! Ashley, my frequent late-night Smith's shopping companion, has helped me choose a few shades from this brand before. Just yesterday I got Crimson, and now I'm rocking it like Hillary Duff.

And speaking of Hillary Duff, yes that IS a ring on her finger. RUMORS ABOUND!!

But anyway. If you're wondering what is the first thing I did when we got to our flat in London, I'll tell you: I painted my finger nails. It was the day after I finished Little Women, during which time I spent an AGONIZING two months with plain, boring nails (discreetly painted with clear polish, I'll have you know). So as we sat waiting for Chris to come let us in, which is a story all its own, I cheered up and gave myself brown nails. Delicious!

I might have been pushing it during She Loves Me, a show in which we were encouraged to paint our nails red or pink to fit our 1930s costumes. Red is fun and all for a while, but after doing my research, I was thrilled to discover that women in the 30s used all kinds of interesting colors, including BLACK! Which means I didn't have red nails for the rest of the run. Clearly.

When I was in seventh grade, I used to paint my nails every Tuesday while my mom taught voice lessons. That was definitely back when awesome colors like metallic orange and poison green were soooooo In, and I was so trendy, you don't even know. Ahead of the times and everything. Predicting a revival in "classic" trends after the unfortunate 90s-meets-70s (what a tragically groovy time in my early teens), I went Red one week-- flashy, bold, confident. Sadly my confidence was shot when a particularly snotty-but-popular 8th grader scoffed at me on the bus and said scathingly, "Red? That's so retro." I might take it as a compliment these days but at the time, I was SO EMBARRASSED. Retro? Me??

Of course, I should have taken anything she said with a grain of salt-- this insult coming from the girl who admitted to getting a Shi Tzu puppy for Christmas so she could swear in front of her mother. Brilliant.

So that explains it. Apparently my obsession with trendy nail polish dates back to seventh grade when a snotty girl insulted my color of choice. Well thank you, snotty girl. Thank you, and your little dog too.