LOL. You guys are a pip!
#1 – The trick to growing out my nails is that they still look professional even after I bite them. I do not bite my nails down to the quick unless I have broken the nail already. After biting, I run a file over them and they still look like fakes. My nails, when well-groomed, look like the stuff people pay good money for, but are much more sanitary. (Trust me. You never want a nurse that wears fake tips. NEVER. Ask for a new nurse unless you want a staph infection. Acrylic tips harbor germs. EEW.) Hence the desire for a simple polish. I like to get things started right with a real manicure that shapes them nicely and keep it going from there. Home manicures are fabulous stuff. I recommend doing a base and top coat, even at home. It makes a huge difference in how long it lasts. Also, never do dishes without gloves.
#2 – Let me start of by saying that I have a wardrobe of very practical separates. I do. Thanks for all the advice advocating that. That’s great advice for *most* situations. But not this time for what I am going to do. Now that I’ve set foot on site and have encountered a good number of people at my new firm, I can see that they are more sharply dressed than I and it’s time to step it up. My firm claims to be ‘business casual’ but they also tell you to take your direction from the client and the client here is very formal.
To all of you who wear separates, you will eventually observe that this does not cut the mustard in certain lines of work. When I was younger and on a budget, I had a few good suits and a lot of mix and match separates. I could get away with that. But now that I’m over 30, I have noticed very subtley, that women in higher ranks wear very spiffy suits. They really do look a lot sharper than I do. I suppose I’ve got a specific person in mind when I say this, i.e. the female VP at my last job. She wore separates, but the quality on them was extremely high and a lot of times, she had on a suit.
Perhaps this comes from a childhood spent handling other people’s clothes at my mom’s dry cleaning shop, but I can see a difference in quality just by looking. If I can see it, my clients can see it. But if I’m lucky, I’ll be working with hard core geeks again and they won’t really care what I’m wearing. FWIW, I bought two more suits and now it’s time to work off my winter fat and fit back into the old stuff. No need to go crazy just as everyone suggests. I’m not hitting the Chanel boutique inside Nordstrom’s. Nor the Anne Klein purple label stuff. Also, black suiting is not an option as my boyfriend has a white dog that blows her coat three times a year. Plus why do I want to look like goth girl at my new job? I save that stuff to go clubbing. As SingleMa puts it, I need to *POP* with color.
#3 – Pantyhose. *sigh* It literally gives me hives. Many years ago I sat in an epsom salt bath one night after my first day of work. I had welts all over my legs where my skin was under nylon. Not good. This is the main reason why I wear pants instead of skirts to work, not just because I used to crawl on the ground plugging computers back together. I wear pants out of a fear of hose. Honestly, great hose is fab stuff. I love Givenchy. Those were the best pair I ever had. They were $7 and bought them for the prom. Sadly, Givenchy stockings are no longer sold and I hate paying more than $9 a pair. Trouser socks are reasonable since I can wear them under my ice skates too, but I think they also eventually end up with runs. BOYCOTT PANTYHOSE! It’s a stupid waste of money. I go bare legged and am quite happy thank you. (And no, I am genetically lucky enough not to need shaving my legs. There. I’ve said it to stem off the shaving complaints. Moisturize more if you have a razor burn. That’s all I can tell you.)
Truthfully, if you can get away with thicker dernier tights or very opaque hose, they will last longer. It’s the stupidly sexy sheers that always get caught on my bitten and unfiled nails… Mostly, I like thicker tights because let me tell you, it’s a b*tch to wait outside for the bus at 8am.
Related posts:
- Returned Clothes Report My new winter coat was an utter disappointment. The camel...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Re: hosiery, order a pair of Wolford on eBay. They are stupidly expensive, but they’ll last longer than the cheap stuff and they are sooo nice.
Ha! You sound like me. I absolutely hate stockings and pantyhose. Who invented such vile things? I don’t like synthetic fabrics next to my skin and it does nothing to keep me warm in the winter so little to no skirts in cold weather and I agree about tights and trouser socks—-much more comfortable. At my business casual workplace bare legs in warm weather are common and I take full advantage.
These folks http://tabio.com/uk/ have a terrible website, but they make the thickest and most durable opaque tights that are available in a tonne of colours.
I grew up in a household where we were always supposed to wear hose. As soon as I grew up and moved out, that was the end of that!
And you’re right on stepping up the clothes game — I think, professionally, you should never be the “least dressed” person in the firm. It’s shame that we are judged on that, but it’s the fact of the matter. Soon as I’m out of debt, I’m going shopping!
If you have to wear pantyhose, try rubbing a light coat of baby powder on your legs before you put them on. Although I wish you luck in avoiding them completely!