1) While my aim has improved since childhood, my nail polish-applying skills are still sorely lacking.
2) This is not helped by the fact that I am always too impatient to let the nails dry fully before I move on to some other task. This always ruins the polish further, but at least it saves me from spending ten minutes with my hands draped uselessly in the air in front of me.
3) I am not so fond of the smell.
While I'm fairly certain the smell can't be helped, my first two issues have been resolved. How, you ask? Well, meet my new friends Nicole by Opi Nic's Sticks:
Being a fairly low maintenance girl, at least in terms of beauty products, I have no idea who this mysterious "Nicole" is. I'm familiar with Opi, but I've always been too cheap to go for anything but the 99 cent pots of NYC polish. Today, however, on a leisurely stroll through Target, one of these nail polish sticks begged me to buy it. Specifically, Home by Midnight, a black shade that doesn't appear to be available online. Since my old black polish had long since been sacrificed to the cause of costuming in a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I slid the nail polish from the display and bought it.
Long story short, I am a fan. It's super-easy to apply, because it's pretty hard to end up with too much polish on the brush, which just happens to be the perfect width for my nails. It dries in maybe 30 seconds flat, which suits my impatient nature well. Two coats, a total of maybe two minutes, and my nails were completely done.
Clearly I will be picking up more Nic's Sticks in some other colors. And Nic, whoever you are, if you want to be my best friend, I think that can be arranged.