Mani Minis

I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new beauty items. There are a few things I'm more hesitant about than others: anything heated or electrical designed to come in contact with my face, and kooky colors that are better suited for the schoolyard as opposed to the office.

But for the sake of being informed, sometimes I'll take one for the team. So while I was perusing the polishes at ULTA over the long weekend, I ran across mini bottles of Orly in a staggering array of colors. I had not seen these before. The idea is pretty ingenious. Honestly, how often have you wanted to test out a color but thought better of it for fear of painting your nails once and then the bottle of (insert disparaging adjective here) polish slowly separates into its parts in your closet never to be used again? It appears that problem is now solved.

I decided to pick up two colors I would surely never, simply on a whim buy, and one color I would buy but would certainly prefer to give 'er a test-drive before buying the full-sized model. Don't get me wrong, each of these colors is in their prime at the moment: neon orange, yellow and murky green. That being said, I was fairly confident orange and yellow were not my colors. The green was the least vibrant of the bunch and could definitely pass for daytime wear. Being they were minis I happily snapped up all three and concluded that even if I only used each once, it would be worth it.

The next evening whilst lazing about on the patio I pulled out the polishes to test each out on a single nail. I was taking this experiment in color very slowly. I wasn't ready for a whole-hand commitment yet. First orange, then yellow and then the green. Each shade dried and I was left with highlighter orange (Holla), pale, pastel yellow (Lemonade), and dark, earthy green (Wandering Vine). I sat there staring at my nails; the neon orange was entrancing. I kind of loved it. The yellow (which I originally shied away from for fear of having pee-yellow nails) grew on me. I must admit, it too, was a lovely shade. And while I knew I would love the green, it turned out to be my least favorite of the three.

After color trial of three nails each a different shade, I decided to go with the orange for the week in all its safety-cone glory. You might be able to see my nails from space, they are that bright, and it is nothing short of mood-elevating. The moral of this story is experiment with things outside your beauty norm, and get them in mini form (just in case you don't love it).