Beauty: From Russia with love

I'm not one to have dark fingernails but I'm loving these fall colors from OPI (Russian Collection) and ESSIE.
(Left to right: Suzi Says Da!, Midnight in Moscow, Siberian Nights, Russian Navy and Essie's Material Girl)

Getting a manicure & pedicure from my favorite manicurist Mary is such a treat. I used to bite my fingernails when I was younger, until my mother eventually applied hot pepper flavored nail biting liquid on them. I quickly kicked that habit! I still, however, have the habit of picking the skin around my nails as well as my cuticles. I find that I do this less when my nails are manicured (either by me or professionally). I can also tell it's time for another one, once the picking starts again!

Mary is a perfectionist and will not rest until all cuticles and hangnails have been dealt with. Her $21 manicure/pedicure beats any $50 treatments at fancier establishments. I once got a free mani/pedicure at the Frederic Fekkai salon in Beverly Hills (I was chaperoning a group of sweepstakes winners and one of them never showed up for the treatment, so I was lucky enough to take her place.) Although they probably used a triple-cocoa-butter-exfoliating-madagascar-vanilla infused serum creme cuticle softener, Mary's techniques still win hands down. Mary works at Nail 45 in midtown, tell her I sent you (but don't be late, she's also a stickler when it comes to appointments!)