Sister gifts

My sisters sent me a gift certificate for my birthday. They are very much in tune with what makes me happy and are great gift-givers. They buy me gifts like purple laptop bags, makeup classes, olive oil from Israel and lip balm tested by surfers in Hawaii (which therefore makes it the best!).

This birthday, they gave me a gift certificate. For nail polish.

They are well aware of my love of bright colours and, when we're all home together, we love nothing more than going on sister dates to get our nails done.

Except for, maybe, sushi.

In an effort to learn a new skill and save a few dollars, I decided a few months back that I was going to learn how to do my own nails. The first few attempts were rather awkward and the final product was not exactly stellar but I'm getting better with each attempt.

So my sisters decided to help support my habit by giving me the gift of choice.

Armed with a gift certificate and the freedom that comes with knowing you get to choose something but don't actually have to pay for it I spent last Monday night looking at all the different colour options on the website. It was a little overwhelming and I found myself constantly drawn to colours similar to the ones I already had. So I forced myself to branch out a bit and go for shades I wouldn't normally buy for myself.

On Tuesday night, I went to visit the O.P.I. and Essie websites because I found their sites easier to navigate. I figured I'd pick some colours I liked and then head back to the site I have the certificate for and order them. To my chagrin I quickly discovered that the same nail polish looked very different on the different sites. What was pink on one site looked red on the other. What was almost black on one site looked bright blue on the other.

What colour was the correct one? There was no way I was going to order something only to have it arrive and not like it.

So, on Wednesday, I drove to the local Trade Secrets store and spent about 15 minutes looking through their nail polish colours. I took note of the ones I liked so I could go back home and order them (much to the chagrin of the sales lady I'm sure).

I took three night but I finally placed my order.

A few days later, these arrived at my door:

How much fun am I going to have??