Be Careful What You Try, You Might Like It.

Growing up, I never expected to get a manicure. At the age of 11, I started to play the harp. Harpist have notoriously short nails. I’ve never seen a professional harpist wearing nail polish while performing. Not even clear. It just isn’t done. At the age of 11, I also had a terrible habit of biting my nails.

I didn’t learn to stop biting my nails until I was 21. That was the year I was studying in Spain and I couldn’t take my harp with me. I was just too expensive to fly it back and forth to Europe. It was also the first time in my life that I let my nails grow, and painted them. When the 9 months were over in Spain, I came home and cut my nails. I went back to playing my harp and couldn’t care less about what my hands looked like.

Fast forward to the summer of 2011, and again, I had excessively short nails, ragged cuticles, and dry, flaky skin. That wasn’t the classical musician in me, that was just the Mommy-Zombie in me. “Who has time for a manicure, I’m just trying to survive here.”

Last fall, a friend re-introduced me to the wonders of nail polish. My small collection of 6 colors (every one of them a red that I used only on my toes in summer time) started to grow. I now have an old shoe box that is full. OPI, Zoya, China Glaze, Orly, Sally Hansen, Essie are all part of my collection. I have 49 different colors in my shoe box.

This is not “True Confessions of a Cosmetics Addict”. There are times in life that we stumble upon something that we never expected to enjoy, and do. I was sure I would never be a nail girl. I’ve never had long nails. I still don’t, but they’re long enough to lacquer up with pretty colors.

This spring I’ve given myself permission to wear shockingly bright colors on my nails as well as in my wardrobe. I can’t believe that in 6 short months I’ve gone from ragged, nasty cuticles to moisturized ones. From no polish to 49 colors. I’m amazed that with a little time for myself, I’ve found that I have a deep love for beautiful nail color and nail art.

You might not be a nail girl, but you might have another interest you stumbled upon. Just remember to stay open to it, no matter how unlikely it might seem. You never know how much you might like it in the end.

OPI nail color in FLY - the perfect teal color

P.S. This picture was taken with my iPod touch. The color is a bit off. It misses some the the green aspect to the teal that I love so much. Still it’s a bold choice for me. Not something I would’ve seen myself doing 6 months ago.

OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection