Axxium Gel Lacquer...I still love it.

Why isn’t everyone wearing the new OPI Axxium Gel Lacquer? I am well known around the spa for my enthusiasm for new services and beauty products and I sometimes have to eat a little crow when my zeal for something exceeds it’s ability to deliver in reality… will I ever live down the Epilady episode (what sadist came up with that useless piece of torture)?

Initially, I was crazy for the idea of Axxium Gel Lacquer. It purports to stay shiny and chip free for up to two weeks. I have never been able to wear polish on my fingernails for more than a day before it looked more ragged than a sorority girl after rush week so Axxium was promising a whole new world to me. A small part of me wondered how the dream was going to end. I was a little nervous that I would have to mea culpa once again if the product failed to live up to the hype.

Let me just say, Axxium delivers…period…end of story. I have worn it while performing countless pedicures, up to my knuckles in acetone and the lacquer stayed shiny and perfect. I’ve typed, done laundry, performed spa services and washed my hands for 10+ hours a day and still the Axxium looked fabulous. I made it to eleven days before the Axxium chipped…a personal world record.

So what is Axxium gel lacquer and how does the service differ from a traditional manicure? The nails are shaped and the cuticles are pushed back using a nail file. The surface of the nail is prepped and then the first base coat of gel is applied. You slip your hands under a special UV light that cures the gel for a minute and then the colored gel lacquer is applied and cured. The final step is the UV cured topcoat. The entire service takes about an hour. You don’t apply lotion or any other oily products during the service because it’s important for your nail to stay dry and be slightly dehydrated. Once the top coat has been cured, you can use any lotion or oil you like.

The last bit of awesomeness that is Axxium? Your gel nail lacquer is completely dry at the end of the service, no more ruined nails when you grab your car keys and jet.

Chin Hair=Face Ninja

I’ve got my eye on you, you sly bastard. You aren’t there today crazy hair…I checked, but tomorrow? There you are, three inches long, coarse and waving coyly from my chin.

You are the ninja of unwanted facial hair. Like Inspector Clouseau and Kato’s game of hide and go seek, I’m constantly on the look out for you, I know you’re hiding and it’s only a matter of time before you jump out at me, fully grown and completely unwelcome.

Usually, I find you while driving. You’re sooo lucky I don’t travel with tweezers (never give an esthetician tweezers in the car).

I had a client that once told me, “Jessica, when the eyesight starts going, the hair starts growing.”

That’s just great…I don’t have stellar eyesight as it is…now I can look forward to a goatee and bifocals. Awesome.

Moving is Fun.

Q. Is moving one of the seven circles of hell?

A. yes

We are selling our duplex in West Seattle. My sister, brother-in-law and I have been living in this little slice of heaven for 7 years. I have the upstairs unit and they have the downstairs one. This living arrangement has worked beautifully for us and part of me is a little sad about the upcoming change. The other part is really excited to have a separate room for all my crafts and jewelry making stuff not to mention a garage.

As part of the moving ritual, we cleaned out the basement last weekend. To sum up the experience, we (and by we, I mean my sweet bro-in-law) took 1200 lbs of crap to the dump. Guess what that didn’t include? About 60 cans of paint. Seriously. Who has this much paint in their house? I mean beside us apparently. It was a veritable timeline of color. I am curious as to which tenant thought royal blue was a suitable color for the interior walls of our house and why said tenant needed 6 cans of it. The peach could only be from the 80’s…which decade claims the weird greens and purples is a mystery.

The best part of cleaning out the basement was finding my first diary. This powder blue gem contains my earliest recorded feelings and impressions. Bottom line…I really liked writing about two things: cursing and rating the boys in my third grade class. I don’t remember having such a sailor- like grasp on cursing but boy, oh boy, did I ever let loose in that diary. Things have changed over the years, I’ve stopped writing in diaries, there aren’t any boys to rate at work but I still savor a good curse. I just don’t feel the need to write them out anymore.

Decisions

The “economy” has our collective knickers in a twist these days. I was recently talking to my best Vegas buddy (and Aunt) Mary Sue about financial decisions we had made in the past months and we started in on the usual should haves, would haves, could haves that inevitably come up in these conversations. It suddenly hit me with perfect clarity (an Aha! Moment if you will), that I had made the best decisions I could at the time with the best information I had at the time and regrets were simply misplaced. If I had a Magic 8 ball, maybe I would have made different decisions but alas, I don’t and I didn’t. I’m not saying that I don’t learn from past decisions or that future plans aren’t influenced by the results of past events but I try to avoid beating myself up when things don’t go according to my plans. If I whipped my own ass every time I made a decision that went astray, I’d be more worked over than Mickey Rourke. That can’t be a good look for me.