Easter Sunday, and the 5-minute manicure

This dress is so light and airy, and it is nice and forgiving to post-Easter-lunch tummy.  :) This was my first time wearing it.  The kids both enjoyed the sparkle of the studs and beads at the neckline, and my earrings.  The 3 year old said I was beautiful!  :)

I also wanted to photograph my nails, because I think a lot of us probably end up in the situation where our nails are unpainted or have some uggly chipped polish on them, but we only have about 5 minutes to make them look any better.  This is the solution I've learned over the years, and I think the results are pretty good:

1. After your shower or bath, push back your cuticles with one of your nails from the other hand.  You really don't need an orange stick or anything like that.  And as long as you don't trim your cuticles often, they don't need to be trimmed.  Apparently it's one of those circular things.
2. Have Acetone and cotton balls to remove any polish.  Pure acetone is so much faster and more effective than any other nail polish remover, and cotton balls are rough enough to pick up the polish and wipe it off without much rubbing.
3. After washing your hands to remove any cotton bits or acetone residue, use a high-quality metallic polish, and wipe on a single reasonably thin coat.  Blow on your nails for half a minute to help them dry, and you're done!

If I'm doing my nails properly, I would re-file to fine-tune the shaping and I would put on base coat and two coats of polish.  But a single coat actually works perfectly fine if it's a metallic, as those tend to be more forgiving and dry quickly as long as the coat is thin, and no one will notice if one nail is slightly more square and another is slightly more oval. 

(Dress: White house black market, on sale for $29.99 right now!, shoes: Aerosoles, Polish: OPI. And the other key to this outfit: a good strapless bra. The real trick is going to get fitted. I like the strapless bras at Victoria's Secret if they have your size (they use an interesting lining fabric that helps hold the bra up).  Otherwise a place like Nordstrom's or Lady Grace is good. Mine is Calvin Klein from Nordstroms.)