Shopping and eating and *not* working out, or, several deadly sins

Internet! Thanks for all the compliments and good wishes. I wish I could return the favor by continuing to be inspiring, but today was about self-indulgence. One might even say today was about full-on sinning.

First, there was my appalling sloth. Please note the time in this loving exchange I had this morning with Mr. Buxom. (I'm the one in blue.)

Following breakfast, I indulged in some avarice.

I recently decided that the Gap Essential Scoop Neck tee is my favorite style.

The cotton is substantial, it shows enough clavicle to keep me from looking like Mae West in an inflatable life jacket, and it's a lot cheaper than the Nordstrom and Talbot's tee-shirts that are cluttering up my drawers.

So I decided to buy some--in black, gray, and white. It occurred to me that I had a pile of Gap Card Rewards to use up. Then it turned out that the Gap was having its friend and Families sale and everything in the store was 30 percent off.  What with my gift cards and the discount and the free shipping for purchases over $50, I ended up scoring seven $14.95 tee-shirts for $24.70. And I chortled like some crazy combination of Becky Bloomwood and Ebenezer Scrooge as I realized I had paid a bit more than 3.00 a shirt.

Then I took my daughter shopping because she needs a long dress for a formal dance she'll be going to later this month. We did very well at Bloomingdale's, where a sale was in progress. She tried on six dresses and looked stunning in every single one. Honestly, if I tried on six evening dresses and looks that good in all of them, I'd drag Mr. Buxom to every black tie event in Chicago. At any rate, she picked out one that I can't find anywhere, but it's lovely and age-appropriate and I was filled with maternal pride.

Say hello to Blue Blood

After helping my daughter in and out of so many dresses, I celebrated by stopping by the Estee Lauder counter, because some of the new nail polish shades filled me with an ungovernable lust. 

and Viper

Of course, I don't need to go into detail about the dinner I ate when I got home, right? Red wine, crackers with blue cheese, Korean spicy Sashimi, and the Hot Night Roll? Not to mention the Starbucks Peppermint Mocha and the birthday cake pop?

Trust me; it was a symphony in greed.

Luckily for me, tomorrow is another day!

p.s. A word to the wise: did you know that a Starbucks Cake Pop has 170 calories? It's so tiny and so caloric, you might as well be eating fudge.

Links for a lazy weekend II

So, the week is over, and both my children have their learner's permits. I will not go into the drama that that particular accomplishment entailed ... suffice to say that I'm having a well-deserved beer and looking forward to some relaxation, grilling, hanging out with friends, and a matinée of a couple of restored Méliès films. If you're trying to have a relaxing weekend, too, try pairing the following posts with your beverage of choice.

If you ever want to work up the nerve to wear anything ... a mohawk, say, or a cute blouse from H&M, or a pair of shorts because even though you're middle-aged, it's pretty effing hot out--and you need a pep talk--read this post by Eve at xoJane.

Just in time for beauty bloggers and others of you heading to New York for BlogHer, Xiao of Messy Wands has written a guide to makeup shopping in Manhattan.

I thought being middle-aged means everything I know is wrong. But can it be true? Matching lips and fingertips are back in style? Somehow I find that comforting.

Elizabeth Arden is one of those brands that I routinely write off as old lady and boring. Leave it to the British Beauty Blogger to convince me to take a second look. I mean, eye shadows that provide anti-aging benefits? Genius.

Katherine of Not Dressed as Lamb shared her thoughts on aging. Here's a teaser:

I won't kid myself that I have Cameron's legs, Thandie's beautiful skin tone or Dita's tiny waist, but I won't even consider comfort without style until Gwyneth does.

Vanessa of NessasaryMakeup gives a fantastic step-by-step tutorial on doing a dramatic smoky eye.  (She also has a nice chart of where to apply eye shadows.)

Want to get into meditation but don't have time? And anyway, meditation would take away from the time you spend looking at pretty things? Check out Chanel makeup director Peter Philip's latest video. Shiny!

I'll work on some more reviews of my Nordstrom anniversary goodies.

Meanwhile, Mesdames et mademoiselles, cultivez vos jardins!

I've just invented a new acronym, NASII, which stands for Nordstrom Anniversary Sale induced insanity

OK, it doesn't look like much--NASII--but it's pronounced nay-see to rhyme with crazy, which is pretty much how I acted.

So let me get you up to speed.

First of all, until July 20th, the Anniversary Sale is only available to Nordstrom card holders. You can't even access that section of their website without typing in the last four digits of your Nordstrom credit card number.

I wanted to grab some pictures and maybe find out whether Nordstrom was actually offering Chanel's formerly-exclusive-to-Asia Fleur de Lotus collection, so I dug through my box of rarely-used credit cards, looking for my Nordstrom card. And I couldn't find it.

Because I was a makeup hoor* on a mission, I called customer service, where I was told that they had no record of my having a card. So I applied for a new one.

Then, after a visit to the gym, where my daughter hummed a little hum and pedaled 20 miles on a stationary bike without breaking a sweat and I was reduced to a limp, sweaty, incoherent rag by my personal trainer, we cleaned up our act, fueled ourselves with Mocha smoothies (caffeine and protein FTW!) and headed to the Nordstrom at Old Orchard mall.

Where I promptly lost. my. mind. I've shopped the Anniversary Sale online, but this scene was beyond exciting. It was electric. Not ridiculously crowded, and with lots of sales associates ready and willing to help out. But with sections of the store draped off as seductive little private shopping enclaves, it's very easy to lose it.

Don't believe me? Well, see these collections?

Dior

Chanel

Bobbi Brown

I bought every single item.

And then escaped to the relative sanity of the shoe department. And yes, I understand the irony of calling the shoe department of the department store that sells more shoes than any other--during a sale where merchandise is marked down 30 percent--sane.

I don't know about you, but I blame my trainer.

Swatches and reviews to come. 


* Deliberately misspelled in a feeble attempt to clean up my act.

Beauty Deals and Exclusives at Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale: Dior

Considering that we're just emerging from a hellacious heat wave, it feels ridiculously early to be talking about fall shopping. But that's the beauty of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale; it forces chronically unorganized types like me to plan ahead.

About Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale

Now, when most people think about this sale, they focus on new fall clothes, and rightly so. The anniversary sale is unique because Nordstrom discounts brand-new, just-coming-into-season merchandise long before people like me have started to think about fall clothes. Prices are slashed 30 percent--but then they go back up. So you see, one must think clearly and weigh one's option. Constant vigilance! Or one will end up paying retail.

Of course, for me, the real focus is in the cosmetics department. Products that ordinarily don't see the light of day in the U.S. get brought in. Special collections are put together. Exclusives are made available. Stuff goes on sale. It's a beauty junky's waking dream.

And for once, I'm not focusing only on the offerings at the Chanel counter.

Dior's A Purple Revolution Anniversary Collection 

When it comes to Dior, I'm a newbie. I only have a few Dior products, and the line still confuses me. I mean, what's with this whole Dior Addict name? I don't get it.

But one look at this nail polish collection and I fell like a ton of bricks.  Say hello to Shadow, Poison, and Orchid.

Les Violets Hypnotizes Vernis ($23.00 each)

And here, in a slightly less arty photograph:

Aren't they gorgeous?

I took one look at the photographs and fell in love. Purple is my favorite nail polish color. If there was anything that would make me want to rush through summer, it would be the opportunity to try out some gorgeous new purples on my nails.

Rumors of this collections release started circulating months ago, and I put up with the usual emotional roller coaster ride associated with any kind of crazy infatuation. I suffered through the highs and lows of a lovesick teenager. You know what I'm talking about: they were coming to the States! No they weren't! Dior loves me! Dior loves me not!

But now they'll be coming to Nordstrom. I can practically relax.

The collection also features a purple smoky eyes palette, which I'm not going to talk about because you and I should not be wearing purple, sparkly eye shadow. But the collection also includes two things that might look lovely on us: the Diorshow Extase Mascara in Plum ($28.50), 

and a Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss in Draped Lilac ($28.00)

The mascara and gloss look gorgeous, and I hope, are soft, wearable shades that will be flattering to my fair skin and hazel eyes.

For the record, Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss is my absolute favorite wand gloss, and that's saying a lot. I've bought more than my fair share of ridiculously expensive department store glosses, and Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss leaves Chanel's Glossimers and Guerlain's KissKiss glosses sitting in the road. Does that make me a Dior Addict? Maybe so.

For more pictures and swatches, even of that eye shadow trio that I don't recommend, check out this post in My Beauty Black Book. And join me in counting down to the sale.

Nordstrom's annual Anniversary Sale runs from July 20 to August 6th, 2012. Nordstrom card holders have the option of becoming members of Fashion Rewards and getting first crack at the sale. If I were you, I'd look into it, because sometimes the anniversary goodies blow out of the store. To apply, call 1-800-967-4918.

Red, White, and Blue

I hope you all had a wonderful fourth. We did--Mr. Buxom was in San Diego earlier this week, but made it home today to drive up to Jen Lancaster's for a fourth of July pool party. Jen's decorations, food, and friends were all wonderful, Fletch did yeoman's work with the grill--and oh, that pool ... I'll tell you something ... we're all a little self-conscious when it comes to prancing around in our swimsuits, but when it's over 100 degrees, you can get all four Buxoms to put on their bathing suits and jump into the pool.

My wardrobe and accessories were deeply patriotic, and would be if I lived in the UK, France, or Australia. In fact, it was difficult to tell whether I was celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Bastille Day, or Independence Day.

I wore a navy blue polo shirt, white jeans, red poppy sandals, a red white and blue Hermes bangle, and patriotic nail polish.

After too short a time at Jen's, we headed back home for a picnic with friends before our town's fireworks display. Amazing fireworks, synchronized to "76 Trombones" and "Anchors Away" and the 1812 Overture--and people actually sang the national anthem.

Again, great food, great people, festive atmosphere, and patriotic nail polish worn by yours truly.

Tomorrow the holiday feeling will end for us all. Mr. Buxom will go back to work. I'll head back to the gym. And Young Master Buxom will start summer school, where he'll be taking Consumer Education. How much do you bet that in the first week, they'll teach the students not to spend all their money on nail polish?

I hope your Fourth was glorious!

My summer vacation, Part One

My summer vacation started with a bang. The teenagers had a half-day of school so they could pick up their grades (and get a few more signatures in their yearbooks) and then we stuffed them and their suitcases into the van and drove them to the airport, where they flew to New York so they could attend Session One of the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts.

Adventures in Parenting 

Session One ended with two days of performances, so after a glamorous evening at a white tie event here in Chicago, Mr. Buxom and I climbed back into the minivan and drove out to Hancock, New York, a/k/a the Land that Time Forgot, where we stayed in a Bates Motel wannabe so we could see our kids play cellos and guitars and pianos and perform in a production of Aida.

About Aida: the Broadway Musical, Not the Opera

They tell you, when you're about to have a baby, that parenting involves sacrifice. But nobody said anything about Elton John musicals.

And call me a snob, but that's three words that should never appear in a row.

The best thing about it was the chorus girls. Especially the cute one (red dress, brown braids, center stage.)

OK, quick change of subject so as not to offend Elton's fan base. What did I do with myself during those golden child-free days?

Shopping

I actually didn't do that much shopping, mostly because the last-minute scurrying around to get all the camp supplies kind of wore me out. However, I accumulated purchased a scary amount variety of nail polishes. Side note: do you ever read nail polish blogs? Did you have any idea how many there are out there? In my estimation, for every mommy blogger out there, there are 10 nail bloggers. Maybe twenty.

Anyway, I've gone a little crazy buying nail polish. Because I had an epiphany!

My nail polish epiphany

It's a truism that nothing gives away a woman's age faster than her hands. The skin thins, the knuckles and veins are more prominent, and you might even have age spots. On top of that, our nails grow more slowly, and the lack of estrogen makes them more brittle. And wait, there's more--our circulation isn't as good as it used to be, so our nails are paler. And ridges are more apparent.

With all that to deal with, you might think it's safer to not polish your nails, because you don't want to call attention to them. But have you noticed that every chain drugstore is bursting at the seams with nail polish? That girls as young as six or seven are getting pedicures?

In an era that is nail polish-crazed, with nail salons on every block, neglected nails look frumpy.

I'll admit that my evidence is anecdotal, but bear with me. Here's what I've noticed: my mother doesn't wear nail polish. My older sisters don't wear nail polish. The younger women I know do.

You might think that at our age,  duo-chrome purple nail polish with string glitter and hologram flakies would look inappropriate--and you might be right. (Please note my liberal use of nail polish blog lingo. I don't know what it means, either.)

But if you're not polishing your nails at all, what's stopping you? It's not like I'm asking you to dye your hair purple or get snake bite piercings.

You don't have to wear the craziest, most outré shades. You don't have to wear black nail polish with two shades of glitter topcoat. Or Chanel's Vertigo--charcoal gray with red micro-shimmer.

Chanel Vertigo, Frenzy, and Suspicion from the Fall 2012 collection

But new collections are being introduced all the time, and I'll bet you could push the envelope a little. For example, I just got very brave and tried a few shades of coral.

So. Nail polish is a relatively inexpensive, risk-free way of showing that you're still in the game. 

Also, it's fun to gloat over the colors. And create Pinterest boards.

Which explains the 50 bottles I have amassed since I last posted.

After six months, an update

What have I been up to, you wonder. I mean, Blogger has a brand new (to me) interface--surely something has changed chez Buxom.

Well, not to sound like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof ("I have FIVE DAUGHTERS!") but we have two teenagers--so mostly I've been hunkered down in our foxhole, waiting for properly uniformed officials to sound the All Clear.

While there, I noticed that I had gotten kind of fat. While I wasn't paying attention, my weight had crept up to 192 pounds of pure buxom--again. I'm sure you'll agree that once you've come--at 5'6" and change--to within striking distance of the big 2-0-0, it's time to do something. So I'm back on Weight Watchers. And I noticed that while sitting on my sofa streaming episodes of The Biggest Loser is inspiring, it doesn't burn many calories. So I've started going to the gym. Also? What I'm eating is so unbelievably healthy, it would bring a tear to the eye of the editor of Prevention magazine. It's salmon and whole grains and protein smoothies and hardly a refined carbohydrate around here.

I'm down 11 pounds.

I haven't been buying a lot of clothes, but I did pop for a new evening gown.

Tadashi Shoji cap-sleeve twisted gown

Nylon/Spandex 

Neiman Marcus, on sale for $235

And I've gone a little crazy for Chanel cosmetics, particularly nailpolishes. Here I am modelling Quartz

which looks a lot better when Temptalia is photographing/wearing it.

All I know is that it will look AWESOME with my new flap, a Mother's Day present from Mr. Buxom.

Chanel Collection Byzance Fall 2011 makeup collection

This spring, I spent a while kicking myself for not having gotten my mitts on Chanel's Ombres Perlées eyeshadow palette while it was still available. The colors looked perfect for hazel eyes.

So I went all Scarlet O'Hara and shook my fist at the sky and declared that as God was my witness, I was never going to miss the opportunity to score a Chanel limited edition cosmetic ever again.

So when I discovered the fall collection was up at Chanel.com, I ordered pretty much every limited edition color they had. Want to see?

Let's start with the lips.


Somebody really needs to get rid of that ancient Shellac manicure

I got a Rouge Allure in Rouge Byzantin, the lip pencil in Rose Cuivre, and a LE Glossimer in Braise (158).

As you can see, the Byzantin Rouge Allure is almost fuschia. After so many years of my-lips-but-better pinky brown glosses, it looks ... very bright. I'm trying not to freak out over it. After all, Sandra Bullock wore hot pink lipstick the night she won her Oscar. And Taylor Swift always wears bright lipstick. Which means the bright lipstick trend will work its way into the general public as sure as rain rises up the legs of my jeans. And for "general public" read "women of a certain age." Yes, even us.

(Deep breath. It's OK. You start small. You apply the lipstick, blot it to tone down the color, then add a little gloss.)

On the other hand, Braise is a much more wearable sheer light red--very lightly brown-red, actually--with gold microglitter.

The lip pencil is from the regular collection. It's not a LE, but I thought it would look good under the Glossimer. And it does.

OK, let's talk eyes. I also got the limited-edition eye shadow quad in Topkapi with four shades: a warm medium brown, a light taupe, a dark chocolate matte brown, and a gold.



Here it is swatched. As you can see, all the shades are quite shimmery, except for the chocolate brown.

I'm not going to pretend that these are basic, every day colors, but I can easily imagine getting a lot of use out of all the colors (well, except for the gold. I'm not Mr. T.) But the gold looks beautiful as a highlight on the inside corner of the eye, in the center of the lid, or under the bottom lashes.



I also got two shades of the Illusion D'Ombre cream eyeshadow. I must say, I can't wait to play with these. They are so gorgeous, and they have a wonderful mousse-like texture (actually, I'm sure this is what the Maybelline Dream Mousse eyeshadows were like.)

I got Epatant, the dark, charcoal green pictured above, and Illusoire, a deep plum. I forgot to take a picture of Illusoire, so here's the photograph from the Chanel website.

In this picture, I had just lightly touched my finger to each shade to swatch them.


 Illusoire on top, Epatant on the bottom

As you can see, these shades can be quite subtle and lovely.

The makeup artist at the Chanel boutique in Chicago showed me some of the Illusion D'Ombre shades applied with a brush, and they are gorgeous. Really incredible looking. (I was very taken with Ebloui, a lighter shade of mauve-lilac, but I didn't buy it.)

There are two limited-edition shades of powder blusher: Joues Contrast Rouge in Rouge and Or. Which means red and gold. And they are:



Here's a close-up of each shade:

Amazingly enough, they can be quite subtle. Especially for colors that look like two-thirds of a traffic light, No, really. I first applied them to my hand with my Lancome skunk brush and I couldn't even see the colors. I went over my original application using the brushes that came in the compact, and the colors were still pretty subtle. Finally I went all out, applying the gold shade and then lots of red on top, for a full-on scarlet fever look. And even then, it's not as clown-like as you'd think.

Finally, I bought a bottle of Peridot nail polish. Lately, Chanel polishes always seem to start a crazy lemming rush, and I wanted to grab a bottle before they were sold out. (In fact, now that I think about it, I was inspired to hit the Chanel website in the first place because I saw a bottle of Peridot for sale on ebay for some ridiculous amount of money--$45 or so.)

The picture in the eBay auction was what you'd expect a polish called Peridot to look like--a light yellow-green. In actuality, the polish flashes teal and gold and is never actually stays still long enough to look green, if that makes sense. I don't know whether I'll ever want to wear it; I may exchange it for a bottle of Quartz, which looks like Particulière with very fine shimmer.

At any rate, I tried to give you a sense of what Peridot polish looks like:

But I finally decided I needed to let you see the bottle in action. So here you go--my first mini video review.

To sum up, I'd say the entire collection is drop-dead gorgeous, but not every product is worth buying. Illusions Dombre are definitely worth a look; so is the Topkapi Quad, if you don't already have a ton of brown, beige, and gold shadows. The gold shadow is gorgeous and can be applied lightly or sponged on for a very dramatic effect. The nail polishes are interesting, and I'd suggest taking a look at Graphite, a medium gray with lots of silver microglitter, or Quartz, a taupey-beigey brown with tiny particles of micro glitter. Both are probably more wearable than Peridot. The limited edition blushes are interesting, and if you're a real makeup maven, you'll want to add these unique shades to your collection, but as for wearability and general usefulness. And the lipsticks are beautiful, but probably not worth getting.

(Just watch as a huge lemming rush starts over gold blush and fuschia lipstick!)

Once you go Shellac, you never go back

Hey, internet!

Yes, I am showing up after more than three months like a bad penny, or that boyfriend your mother always hated. What can I say? Life has been busy. But I figured if I was going to start blogging again, I'd cut out the apologies and excuses and just do it.

So here I am, ready to preach the gospel of Shellac nail polish by CND.

When you write about style, it sort of behooves you to stay current. And yet, for me, the "WTF is that???" stage lasts much longer than it does for the stereotypical hard-core cutting-edge fashionista.)

Examples? OK-how's this: I'm just getting used to skinny jeans and smoky eye makeup. Yes, really. And I'm still not there with jeggings or those platform shoes that make women's feet look like horses' hooves.

This makes me a style conservative ... which should be an oxymoron, but there you go. Anyway, I figured that the internet exists so people can find and bond with like-minded weirdos. I also figured that there might be more style conservatives like me out there. People who have never tried a Shellac manicure.

If you are one of these people, put this blog down and go get one.

Here's what you need to know:

1. These aren't acrylics or gel nails. The application is almost exactly the same as regular nail polish; base cost; two color coats; one top coat. You just have to cure the nails in a UV light box for a couple of minutes after each coat.

2. The color selection isn't fabulous, but if you like nudes, beiges, pinks, and reds, you should be OK.

3. Shellac manicures last and last and last.

These are my nails after two and a half weeks. I've got to get them redone soon, but not because of chips. It's because there is significant growth visible at the base of the nails.

And I'm using my hands with no thought whatsoever for ruining my manicure. I open boxes and packages and clean house and fold laundry and my nails remain flawless, strong, and shiny. (I mean strong like I'm-pregnant-strong or I'm-a-teenager-strong, which is a nice change of pace from the peeling, breaking mess my nails have become in the last decade.)

The downside? I've already mentioned the limited color palette. Also, removing the polish is tricky. You have to wear removal-soaked pads for ten minutes, and even then, your manicurist might have to go at you with an orange wood stick. But it's not too bad.

But maybe I should tone down this rave review ... because the Shellac people have got me now. I have nails like a teenager and they're totally low maintenance. If I have to head to the salon to get them removed--well, it's a situation I can accept.

FWIW I've been to two salons. The fancy one charges $40 and the cheap walk-in place charges $25.

So anyway, I'm hooked. Any other users out there? Let me know if you've had a Shellac manicure and what you thought of it because I've clearly joined a cult.

this, or, my lightbulb moment in a meme

This is what I know: there is a moment when you stop mourning the end of summer and start anticipating fall: wool clothes and real shoes and serious skin care and a full face of makeup. And when that moment occurs, jump on it. This is what I think: everyone who thinks their feet look terrible in the winter hasn't seen mine after a summer of going to the beach and wearing flip flops. I got home from New Hampshire on Sunday, and my first order of business was to give myself the mother of all pedicures. With the good pumice stone, not that useless one I bought in NH. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. This is what I'm wearing on my toenails: O.P.I. Crimson Carol. It's bright red, sparkly, and it's just the pick-me-up I need. This is what could change my life: OK, Funny you should ask. My son came home with a few first day of school questionnaires, and that was one of the questions. Or more specifically, "What would you change about yourself?" And I immediately thought: I'd lose weight. About 30 pounds. Maybe 40--it depends on how well my metabolism has handled the seafood and ice creams of summer. Which made me realize something. Losing weight? Talk about an attainable goal. I mean, it's not like my number one desire is to be six inches taller. So what's my problem? Easy. It would take a year to do it right.  But I'm going to be a year older, anyway. Why not be a year slimmer, too? This is what I'm eating: a sandwich made from last night's leftover lemon chicken breasts, lots of lettuce, hold the mayo. See above. Meme courtesy of blackbird and Badger.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 27: The legs are the last to go, and other stories

So often the story of aging is the story of irretrievable, irredeemable loss. A woman reaches the age of 38 and bam! She gives up. Because what's the point? Why bother to keep trying? An 18-year-old in a t-shirt and jeans looks better.

And maybe that's true. (Although a lot depends on the 18-year-old.)

But here's the deal. If you've had a good feature--and you have, even if it's your left elbow--then chances are advancing years have not eradicated every vestige of its loveliness.

I know I'm right. Here's how: I advise you to "shorten your skirts" and some of you reply "No way! My miniskirt days are long gone." But others of you say "Absolutely! Life is short and so are my skirts." We may not what we used to be--but we still remain just a little bit cocky about our good points.

And why not? Is it crazy to suppose that some of us have good legs? Seriously good legs, even though we're 40 or 50 or 60? Why not? Have you ever seen Diane Von Furstenburg's legs? They're epic.

Photo courtesy of The Catwalk Queen

So let's get this straight. I'm not saying we should revert to a wardrobe of tube tops and shorts shorts. I'm not saying we should buy all our clothes at Forever XXI, our accessories at Claire's, paint our fingernails dark glittery purple, Manic Panic our hair, only wear makeup colors outside the realm of nature, or cover ourselves with tattoos and piercings.

I am saying that if you had good legs in your 20s, chances are you still do. If you had great hair in your 20s, chances are you still have better hair than the other women your age. If you had pretty hands, what the hell--have some fun with your nail polish.

Me modeling O.P.I.'s Ink

Your assets don't evaporate when you turn 40. Aging and childbirth have done a number on my figure, but I have good hair. I've always had good hair and with luck, I'll always have it. I'll go strand-to-strand against any other woman my age.

Sure I'm jealous of my mother-in-law and the stretchy little undergarments she calls bras. It ought to be against the law for a grandmother to be that perky. But I don't let it give me the mean reds. When I feel envious, I toss my hair around, flounce out of the room, and head into my bathroom to inventory my nail polish collection.

As the French philosopher said, Mesdames, cultivez vos vernis! Cultivate your nail polishes. Or whatever your assets are.

They're still there, ready to be enjoyed. So go ahead and flaunt them.

My Dior Spring 2010 picks

The past couple weeks I've gone just a wee bit crazy with the on-line shopping. First of all, Nordstrom was having a "secret" beauty event. (I wouldn't call it all that secret, but I didn't see any print advertising. I guess it's secret if you only hear about it on line.)



So I popped for some Dior makeup from the Spring 2010 collection. And you can hardly blame me. First of all, how seductive is this graphic?



And then, most of the makeup in this collection has that lovely lace-y pattern pressed into it.



Anyway, I bought two items from the Dior spring collection, the Dentelles eye shadow quint

Dior 'Dentelle' Iridescent Eyeshadow Palette Pearl Glow 059

and the silver nailpolish

Dior Vernis Nail Enamel, Silver Pearl 604

which is really gorgeous. I thought a fun metallic twist on a gray would be an interesting change from the vampy purples I've been wearing lately.



Verdict? Well, the eye shadow palette was an absolute revelation. I've been reading rave reviews of Dior eyeshadow for years, and finally see what all the noise is about. The shades are gorgeous and the finish is incredibly soft. They blend so beautifully.



That being said, the shades are lighter in person than they looked on the computer screen. Lovely for spring summer, but they probably wouldn't show up as anything more than a pearly shimmer on darker complexions.



I haven't tried the polish, but I will this afternoon. I'm really looking forward to having gorgeous superstar toenails. And I need to have them before sandal season starts, or people will wonder whether I have delusions of glamor.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 15: Bump up your nails

This is not a post about good grooming, per se. But I do have a question for you. What's worse than ungroomed hands? That's easy. Aging ungroomed hands.

So, OK. Age doesn't do our hands any favors. We don't have the soft, sweet hands we had when we were 17. And you might feel that the less attention paid to them, the better. I get that, I really do.

But even if you don't want to make a big show of your hands, they're going to be on display all the time. You should keep them as presentable as possible.

In addition to that, you should keep them as hip as you are comfortable with. Maybe you've never liked calling attention to your hands. But if you have, maybe you're wondering whether you're too old to wear the latest nail polish colors.

My philosophy on that is simple. Nail polish won't make your hands look younger, but the right color will certainly make your hands look hipper.

So as long as your hands are tended and your polish is perfect, go for it. The most fashion-forward society ladies I know wear dark polish. If it's good enough for women 15 years older and 40 years younger than I am, it's good enough for me.

So find out where you score on Poppy's Nail Scale. Then bump it up to the next level.

Level One: You keep things clean. You clip and file. You slap on a little lotion when your hands feel rough.

Level Two: You shape your nails into the most flattering shape for your hands. You keep your nails a uniform length, and you put on lotion pretty much every time you wash your hands.

Level Three: You buff your nails to get rid of ridges. Or you wear clear polish. You might get a salon manicure for a special occasion.

Level Four: You regularly wear a sheer baby-pink shade of polish, like Essie's Ballet Slippers or Mademoiselle. Maybe you splash out for a pedicure in the summer months. You go a little crazier on your toes.

Level Five: You frequently get professional manicures. Your toes are pedicured all year round. You also keep abreast of nail polish color trends. You spent the fall wearing dark shades like OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark; for winter you switched to Chanel's Particuliere or OPI's You Don't Know Jacques.







Now that's it's spring, you're ready to move on to pale grey-lilacs.






Except that this week, you're wearing a lovely shade of green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Nail tools, nail care supplies, and nail polish are about the most cost-effective way you can update your look. And after all, it's only polish. I'm not telling you to dye your hair purple.

I say it's time you got more fashion-forward and did something adventuresome with your nails. Think about it; your nails can help you look dowdy, or they can help you look hip. Which will it be?