Nail Polish: OPI vs American Apparel

I may not always be the most fashionable when it comes to clothes- I usually stick to black or denim trousers with a neutral top- but when it comes to nails, more often than not, they will be painted. 

OPI was really popular in college so most of my collection is OPI, though Dior is now my favorite. However, neither of these brands are particularly cheap. I wanted to try out a mint nail polish, but didn't really want to spend more than $10. There's an American Apparel between my office and the subway so I popped in to see if they had nail polish- they do! They're under $10, don't have DBP, toluene or formaldahyde in them AND it dries really quickly.

Since I like to do an accent nail or two, I used both the colors in the photo above. 

Pink = OPI, Mint = American Apparel

and look what happened to just the pink nails! Both of my accent nails were ruined. 

I can't get over how fast the American Apparel nail polish dries, and the color is just like you see it in the bottle. The only downside being that they have mostly trendy colors and their range is not great, but next time I need a trendy color, I know where to go!

I ended up redoing just the accent nails (and painting one with a purple/gray color from Lancome instead) and then having some fun decorating them. I ended up loving the mint and light pink combination so much that I used the same two colors when repainting them the next time. 

Check out the designs below!

//  Do you have any great nail polish/makeup finds?

On the Road... To Las Vegas!

The bachelorette party I was so fervently planning is finally here! I left work a tad early and took a bus, subway and airtrain to finally get to JFK. It's raining here in NYC so I'm extra excited to be in Vegas.
The Delta Airline's wing smells like fast food, but makes up for it with a bunch of charging stations. They're a bit squished together, but totally get the job done, and are plenty of space if your legs are corgi-esque like mine are. The stations come with a little desk so I'm just sitting with my bottle of water and ipod to get some work done... on paper. At a charging station but working old school :)
The first picture is my travel outfit... more like uniform since I wear it all the time. The shoes change, but today I'm wearing my Ked's with Uniqlo's leggings pants (aka my comfy travel secret), a loose button up shirt from Banana Republic (i also switch up shirts depending on weather), and Coach crossbody. It's just so nice to have at least one hand free by using a crossbody. Plus, this camel color matches just about anything.
Time to find some dinner and get some work done!
Happy Traveling!
x, Erica

Solo Lunch

I work in a small office, so it's very common for all of us to eat together, or at least groups of whoever has a good stopping point at that time. If we're busy, we'll eat at our desks. Today I stepped out to grab some food to go since it's so gorgeous out, but as I was heading into the restaurant, I thought I'd just stay and eat in. Table for one.

It felt SO GOOD. I often travel solo, or at least some parts of the trip are solo so it's just something I enjoy now. If I learned something today, it's that I need my alone time. And not necessarily a night in, but a nice or a fun meal. Like scheduling events with friends, I might start setting a lunch or dinner aside that I enjoy on my own.