Archive for April, 2009
Lacquered up: a review of Spring 2009’s hottest nail polish shades
Changing your nail polish, much like changing your jewelry, can change your look in a matter of minutes (five to ten, specifically, to allow for proper drying time). Whether vampy, sassy or simply chic, a well-maintained manicure and pedicure can set you apart from the crowd; plus, allows a fun upgrade to your standard look without tons of commitment, chipped polish aside.
In addition to unveiling bare feet after a winter of overbearing snow boots, nail polish manufacturers take heed to unveil spring and summer lines that have women lined up for feet treatment faster than you can say “Cuticle.” Without further adieu, here are a few nail-worthy shades that, like tulips along Commonwealth Avenue, have popped up in the city of Boston and deserve a second look.
OPI has come up with a notoriously fun line of shades in their South Beach collection ($8 at most nail salons or at opi.com), ranging from a sheer gold (“Clubbing til Sunrise”) to a dangerous plum (“Overexposed in South Beach”). OPI is also notorious for relabeling shades from years past; don’t be surprised if you see something that’s already in your personal collection that looks eerily similar. Odds are, it’s exactly the same shade – just with an updated name.
Caving in to every teenage girl’s and Lady GaGa’s wish lists comes Essie’s Neons collection ($6 to $8 at most nail salons or at essie.com), a shocking contrast to the sheer shades that Essie is known and loved for. Funky Limelight, a highlighter-like yellow, would be fun on toes, but might make your hands look guilty of dipping into a jar of mustard.
Chanel’s Le Vernis (a bit of an ouch at $25 a bottle, but with a patented gel formula that can last on nails for weeks) arrived at upscale department stores with ooh la la purple (“Vendetta”) and peach (“Fizz”) hues. Jungle Red, the ubiquitous red polish that every woman should own at least once in her lifetime, remains my favorite from the brand favored by French elite and hipster girls alike, but then again, when are red nails (and toes) ever not in vogue?
-Karyn Polewaczyk
Posted by Karyn Polewaczyk on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Tips | No Comments
Horse Shoes
Have you ever seen those photographs that circulate around the internet and seem to pop up on every single celebrity blog of celebrities without makeup on? Well, every day that I’m at the barn (and that is four days out of seven) I am afraid that there will be some malicious Sole Envie reader (not that there are any of you out there, but fears are generally irrational) intent on my destruction who will pop out from behind the manure pile and spot me in my barn clothes…and my barn SHOES. Such an embarrassing photograph would render me completely discredited if I did not first acknowledge what I must now confess: I wear ugly shoes. Only to the barn, and only when I am doing work, but I put them on my feet all the same and I hope that you will not be as grossed out by my footwear as you are by some of Hollywood’s most famous sans maquilliage. That being said: when I ride, I also wear gorgeous boots when I’m in the saddle. Unfortunately, Irish dance and Riding have given me such big calves that I am now forced to look into $1200 custom boots. Of course, this actually delights me. So while I cannot show you the exact boots that I wear while riding (because they haven’t been customized yet, but I promise I will debut them here and nowhere else when/if I actually get around to having them made), and wouldn’t dare post pictures of the boots I wear when it’s mucky and muddy outside, I can give you some examples of what I find gorgeous farm footwear. Proceed with caution, these do look out of place in some scenarios.
This delicious little piece of sports equipment (left) is the Ariat Monaco Zip Field Boot. The great thing for non-riders who purchase boots made for equestrians is that if you go with a well respected brand such as Ariat you will always be assured of quality and durability.
This is a Sergio Grasso Imperia Field Boot (above). The Epitome of yum. One of the convenient aspects they have started to incorporate into the design of riding boots is the zipper. Usually discreet and always easier than using boot hooks to pull it on and enormous shoe horns to get it off, the zipper was a life saver when it was first instituted.
These are only a few of the many boots that are available to civilian non-riders as well as to experienced professionals. Happy Hunting.
Posted by alyssa on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | Boots, Tips, athletic | No Comments
Make or break it: the shoe trends that have women saying “Oh, no!”
Sometimes, it seems like the gravitation towards the shoe trend of the moment is almost forced: the walk towards overtly festooned heels made of ancient Grecian columns is as wobbly as a woman’s feelings towards the shoe itself. I asked women – real women; women with jobs, leases and discerning wallets – what shoe trends for Spring 2009 they could definitely do without. Responses have been kept anonymous; no stilettos were hurt in this process.
“I really hate that ‘trendy’ shoes only look good in very small sizes,” lamented one woman, an engineer at a biotech startup. “I mean, I wear a size 10 shoe. Anything with clear plastic resin [such as Yves Saint Laurent's styles that made it down the season's runways] elongates my already long foot; and to be frank, looks ridiculous.” “Yet,” she continued,” “what other options does a big-footed girl have? Dumpy, tweed flats or – ugh – manly-looking flip flops?”
I asked another lady (a gradate student at an Ivy League university) what her thoughts were on trends gone wrong, and without a second of hesitation replied, “Zippers. Zippers on high heels. I just don’t get the appeal of being ‘zipped’ into a shoe. It’s way too Vegas for me.”
A third complained about the cost. “There’s a reason why I don’t buy trendy shoes,” she explained. “I mean, why bother spending tons of money on something that’s going to go out of style the minute after you buy it? I just wish that classic shoes, like ballerina flats and traditional stilettos, were more readily available and not pushed to the back burner the second a platform wedge comes clomping along.”
Other responses included, but are not limited to: suede booties (“I only like to wear boots in the winter, thank you very much”); PVC platform wedges (no comment); gladiators (“I’m just over them”) and designer sneakers with logos blazing. And, finally, “those Pocahontas-like sandals with the fringe. I mean, what is it? A sandal or a moccasin?”
Whether cutting edge or effortlessly classic, the reassurance that there are as many styles to choose from as there are women who choose to embrace them is liberating – especially if your toes tend to get squashed in a pointy pump.
-Karyn Polewaczyk
Posted by Karyn Polewaczyk on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 | Boots, Gladiators, Peep Toes, Platforms, Pumps, Sandals, Uncategorized, Wedges | No Comments
Free Feet: Essentials for Spring and Summer
By the time mid-April rolls around, it is a given that all of us who live in the tundra Boston are responding to the impatience our feet have been feeling, their containment in dress boots, snow boots and closed toed pumps a perfect allegory of our own containment indoors and our mutual desire (that of feet and owners) to break free and run around outside.
I know that when, in March, come hell or high water (or snow and sleet, as it were), I take out my flip flops and wear them, outside, regardless of the appropriateness of such a decision. My tootsies, I can assure you, are grateful. Like Mel Gibson on the scaffold suffering for his beliefs at the hands of the henchmen of Edward the Longshanks, “Freeeeeeddoooommmmm” expresses the relief experienced both by the hottie warrior as he is released from his suffering and my toes as they curl with delight around fresh green blades of grass on my lawn. I will make a confession to you right now: I go barefoot for a significant part of the summer. But when I’m not in my own back yard and have to wear shoes, I like showing off my toes and keeping them out of hot leather.
Therefore, I want to introduce you to one of my spring and summer necessities. Enter J. Crew flip flops.
Heavenly, much? I’ve been replenishing my pairs of these (3-4 in different colors, usually) for four years. Note: I actually don’t have to replace them, they tend not to wear down even after three months of continual wear, I just like doing so. They are blissfully basic, and come in a multitude of gorgeous colors, so they are the perfect companion to any outfit: summer sun dresses, jeans, shorts, bathing suits, and skirts. They have colors to match all your spring and summer staples. They don’t have the unsightly foam platform or hemp-style thong that many pretentious flip flops unfortunately possess, or heaven forbid, endorsement for some sort of beverage on the sole, yet they are pleasantly affordable, so you can purchase a bunch in several different colors to mix and match with different attire.
Happy Spring! And remember, they do a lot for you, so let those feet breathe!
Posted by alyssa on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 | Flat, Sandals | No Comments
Well polished
For me, the most exciting part of a spa pedicure comes not when the bath jets are fired, or when the prototypical oversized leather chaise lounge goes into massage mode, or even when I’m asked to roll up my jeans to prep for a mud mask. Instead, it happens the moment I walk in the door and hear the three little words every girl pines for:
“Pick a color.”
I’ll walk to a dizzyingly vast display case of nail polishes arranged by brand, color, finish and season, overwhelmed by the selection and, perhaps, the scent of formaldehyde. The choice between cherry red toes and baby pink fingers or a simple French mani/pedi combo presents itself as a complex algorithm I must solve before the hoards of women standing impatiently behind me lose their cool. I’ll sheepishly shrug as I carry five or six variants of a nude OPI, shades so close that even the folks at Pantone would scratch their heads to see a difference, along with three trashy magazines and an indecisive mindset to the chair.
I envision the first color against my camel colored coat; no, it’s too light. I picture the second shade, flecked with bits of gold, wrapped around the stem of a martini glass as I laugh gaily at a joke that went right over my head at a generic lounge. Nah, too Vegas. The third through fifth shades are no good, either – either my skin will look too sallow, not sallow enough; or, I just don’t like the name.
At this point, I’ll reach into my bag, confusing the nail technician to a further degree as I’ve not officially decided if I want square or rounded edges, and pull out my standby bottle of OPI’s Polar Bare circa 2007.
“Um, this one,” I say, as if it isn’t obvious that I’ve either got commitment issues or a case of hypocrisy. No matter. I’ve already moved on to my next choice: which tabloid to read first.
-Karyn Polewaczyk
Posted by Karyn Polewaczyk on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 | Tips, Uncategorized | No Comments
