Fall Into Darkness

Okay, so the title of this post technically refers to the title of my favorite Christopher Pike book that I read in middle school (which I recently learned, while channel surfing early one Sunday morning, was made into a movie in '96). Although I highly recommend the book (if you want to pretend you are an angst ridden fourteen year old), what I really want to talk about is nail polish. I know I have previously written about the amazing makeover qualities that a quick paint job can do, but this time I want to focus specifically on dark nails.

One of my favorite things about the impending Autumn, is that I get to break out my dark nail polish and lipstick. As much as I love neons, bright pinks and blues, and other non traditional colors, there is something refreshing about inky fingertips, so you can bet that I was super excited when I finally felt the time was right to paint my nails with one of my favorite fall colors: OPI's "Lincoln Park After Dark."



In the picture it looks almost black, but it is really a great dark deep purple. And, if you follow fashion trends as closely as I do, you know that purple is big this fall (okay, it is big almost every fall), so you can imagine the excitement I felt when I brought back my deep shades to wear as soon as Labor Day passed. Who cares about white shoes, it is all about the fingernails.

However, is no recent obsession. Beyond collecting a vast array of colors, I have loved dark polish since 1994 when Chanel's "Vamp" hit the makeup counters (I got the last bottle at Nordrstrom during the initial craze, and it is still sitting in my nail polish drawer. Sounds gross, but the new formula of Vamp is just not the same.) Since then, my dark polish collection has expanded (What? You are not surprised?) to include the following colors on my "favorites" list:

OPI "Lincoln Park After Dark"
Chanel "Black Satin"
Chanel "Blue Satin"
OPI "Russian Navy"

Well, what are you waiting for? Join me as I "Plum It!"* nails first into Fall.

*Sally Hansen Fall Collection.  In fact, while a bit delayed, Sally Hansen has their own version of almost all my favorite colors for $6. Check your local drugstore, the Fall Collection should have its own display.

The Dr. Is In

The last time I laced up a pair of Dr Martens, I was in the seventh grade. I had two pairs - suede blue low tops as well as the ankle boots...in an incredibly 1990s, loud and outrageous flower pattern.



I spent $114 on them, using a gift certificate to Nordstrom's that I received for my Bat Mitzvah. I had been eying them for months, but in 1995, $114 was a lot of money to spend, especially on a pair of shoes. That's right, it has been 13 years since my 13 yr-old self slipped her feet into those clunky boots that, despite their ugliness, were extremely desirable.

When I was wearing my flowered Docs, I thought I was the coolest. Well, as cool as any awkward seventh grader could be, I guess. But the trend faded fast and pretty soon my shoes were so out that they became nothing but a surface on which dust collected in the back of my closet. Eventually, the blue shoes were donated to charity, but the thought of discarding my flowered boots made me sad and nostalgic. I convinced myself that I would wear them again, hoping that maybe they would come back into fashion. But time passed, the dust layers thickened, and I had yet to wear my British imports.

After graduating college and moving to New York, every time I came home, I was asked what I wanted to do with my shoes. (My parents are constantly looking to clean out my closet so it is no longer a shrine to my middle and high school self.) And every time that my mother questioned my reasoning for keeping them (Are you ever going to wear them again?), I insisted that one day I would feel cool enough to do so.

Finally, after picking up the September issue of Teen Vogue (true, I am no longer a teenager, but the looks in Teen Vogue are far more accessible - yet barely so! - than those in Vogue), and reading their Fall A - Z style guide, I learned of the fact that Dr. Martens were making a comeback. This realization brought me nothing but hope, and that perhaps I would at least be given the push to clean off my boots and make some space for them in my New York City closet.

In further attempts to assuage my fears of stepping out in such statement boots, I scoured the internet to see if I could find any reference to my Docs. Unfortunately, Dr. Martens no longer produces the style I own, but I did manage to find a few ebayers that were selling my exact pair. According to one seller, my shoes were worn by Sienna Miller in Nylon, and are rare enough to be auctioned at the buy it now price of $300. While this does not tempt me to try to sell my vintage kicks, it further inspires me to take the plunge, bring them out of their thirteen year retirement, and back into wardrobe rotation.

While the weather is not yet brisk enough to take my Dr. Martens out for a test drive, I am eagerly awaiting the day that I walk out on the New York City streets rocking my flowered boots, some sort of black dress and tights ensemble, finished with my new fabulous leather motorcycle jacket. I have recently been feeling the urge to update my current style, and I think these shoes will ultimately be the prescription that will cure my fashion rut.