13 August 2006
I was a girly girl once.
I wore pretty dresses.
I had my hair put in ringlets and wanted to be like one of the Railway Children.
I coveted my sister's teddy bears.
I danced.
Hell, I even wore pastel colours and flowery prints.
But along with being a girly girl, I was also a bit of a geek, and very much a daddy's girl, and the older I got, the more I began to feel like my breasts were getting in the way of my relationship with my dad, and the girly girl took a back seat while the geek took over...
... and I realised something this summer.
I realised that while I've spent most of the last 20 years involving myself more and more with computers (especially in the last 11 years since getting online), I must have missed a memo or two along the way.
Cos honestly, I never knew it was a cardinal sin to exit the house while wearing sandals or open toed shoes without my toenails painted.
It's really not something I was aware about before, but this summer in particular, I've become conscious - at least partly, because I actually had a woman tut at me on the bus when she looked down and spotted my unvarnished (but clean and not totally gross) toenails - of being the only person on the bus or tube, or wherever, with unvarnished toes on display.
So I gave in to peer pressure, and decided to paint my toenails.
Which is when I came up against the first problem.
What with?
I dug through the drawer of makeup and girly stuff I (almost) never use, but all I could find was either black nail varnish (which might possibly look like I'd had a major DIY accident) or pale pink that I'd been given in some set or other, and that just wasn't going to work, so when I was out with Christine, when she was staying with me earlier this year, I bought what I thought would be an acceptable compromise.
I avoided the pale peaches and pinks and the harlot reds (not hugely approprirate for work, said the back-brain mother - a bit like a back-seat driver but more pervasive) and picked out a purple. Not too gothy. Not too flashy. Not too tarty. Perfect.
Except not.
They tricked me.
What looked in the bottle like a nice mid purple with a slight sparkle, in actuality, is an almost clear polish, full of glitter.
So. Very. Wrong.
But in the interests of not being tutted at in public for being so shamelessly toenail naked, I gave it a shot. For two weeks I walked around with sparkly toenails, feeling strangely disconnected from my toes (and even, on odd occasions, doing a mini double-take when I'd forgotten what I'd done), but it's no use.
I hate the glitter and I can't be bothered with the maintenance and seriously, the next person that tuts at me for not having painted toenails?
Is gonna get a punch in the knees.
For I have made a decision.
Toenail polish be damned.
I will walk around, (toe) naked and proud of it.
Get ye hence to Superdrug and peruse the wide variety of truly geeky colours purveyed by the erstwhile Barry M, his purple is purple and you KNOW you can trust me on all matters purple!
Sue
xx
I missed that memo too - and I'm glad, because I would have ignored it anyway. Lets reclaim the right to toenails that can breathe...
Maybe a very dark red verging on the maroon, you are pale enough to carry it and it doesn't scream harlot as loud as a fireengine red.
I can't believe a post on nail polish has got me delurking here!
My toes are naked too, nail polish is full of nasty chemicals and even when I wasn't worried about that kind of thing it takes too long to get right and chips.
Here is the evil doer who did not educate her properly. Another toe nail polish virgin!!! I have a bottle of burgandy nail polish which was bought for J's wedding and will give it to you when I see you, if you remind me!!!!
Can I just make a post on behalf of the male readership and say that I don't paint my toenails?
Thanks.
Neil, speak for yerself!
Um... that is... I don't mean I DO paint my toenails but .. well.. nails have been painted on occasion.
Although I was very very drunk.
Thankfully my wife understood.
LOL - I too am shamed each spring into doing my toenails! I use the pale pink so the wear and tear doesn't show too much, and I can then wear comfy open-toed shoes to work. When I ever do my nails anymore, it's with the same pale pink - if I do any color or sparkle or opalescence I blind and scare myself when I catch a glimpse of my fingers!! But manicures cut into my knitting and spinning time, so clean is as far as I go anymore!
I had naked toes all spring (a long time here in Houston), and then after exams in May I had a pedicure. What you saw was the end of the pedicure's life - my suitcases beat up my toenails when I was in London. I stripped off the polish about a week after I returned home and I have had naked toes ever since.
I still want another pedicure because I love the pampering, but for now I'll spend that money on sock yarn instead.
... the online home and (not very) alter(ed)-ego of Ann McMeekin, a recently freelance Web Accessibility Consultant.
... passionate about many things, most of which will turn up on this site at some time or other.
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