Coffee Break: Active Smooth Nail Polish Strengthener
This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
If you’ve been looking for a solution for ridged nails – or just like a quick-drying “your nails but better” look, I’ve been liking this nail strengthened and polish from Manicurust.
I feel like the color is perfect, and it dries in under 5 minutes. I’ve been meaning to compare it against my old favorite years ago, Nail Envy – can anyone speak to which is better?
The nail polish is $19 at Sephora, Ulta, and Manicurist.com.
Looking for healthy nail treatments? Readers love Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream, CND Solar Nail & Cuticle Cream, OPI Nail Envy, Deborah Lippmann's The Cure Ultra Nourishing Cuticle Repair Cream, Lush Lemony Flutter, Dior Creme Abricot, and Sally Hansen's cuticle massage creme.
Sales of note for 6/12:
- Another Tomorrow – Seasonal sale, 50% off select styles
- Ann Taylor – Last day 6/12: Extra 60% off sale! Readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Athleta – 40% off tees, dresses, tanks, linen, and swim
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Bare Necessities – Semi-annual sale, up to 60% off, plus get an additional 40% off clearance swim. Readers have sung the praises of these cooling pajamas and their bra-sized swimwear
- Boden – 15% off new women's wear styles with code
- Glossier – 20-25% off almost everything (including subscriptions!)
- J.Crew – 50% off tops, dresses, skirts and more
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 20% off 3+ styles
- Jenni Kayne – Semi-annual warehouse sale
- Loft – 50% off everything + free shipping
- M.M.LaFleur– This weekend only, 25% off jardigans (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom – 6900+ new markdowns added – nice selection from Boss, Vince, Veronica Beard, Theory, Beyond Yoga, and Zella
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new arrivals up to 75% off! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work basics from Calvin Klein and dresses from Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Talbots – Tons of markdowns, extra 60% off 2+, 50% off one
Looking for a new hand soap for my kitchen and bathrooms. I’ve been using Williams Sonoma’s Winter Forest in the fall/winter and Meyer Lemon in the spring/summer, but I’m looking for something new. Those are the types of scents I like, though – woodsy, citrusy, vanilla (not too sweet, though) – nothing too strong or floral. I already have refillable soap bottles, so it needs to be something I can buy in a large format to fill my bottles.
Look at Brooklyn Elements. They have a lot of Aesop dupes, I love the one that is vetiver-scented but it does have a lot of pumice in it. Got it for Xmas and had it in the main powder room off my office (wfh) and it’s almost time to empty what remains from my original bag, so I’ve probably got another 4-6 months at least.
Oooh, thank you! This site looks like a gold mine. Now I’m having trouble deciding between Genovese, Kiso Forest, Acadia, and Mandarin Crush…lol
Look at Mrs. Meyers scents. Geranium or Tomato Vine may be a good one for you.
Those two brands/scents are a favorite of mine and I have the same criteria for hand soap as you listed here. Not sure if this would be something you like, but I just started using the Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap Baby Unscented and distilled water mix, and adding just a few drops of essential oils (I love lemon or lemongrass right now). It’s foaming, which I had to get a foaming dispenser for, but I am loving it so far. And it saves a lot of money because the soaps can get so expensive!
Oh that’s a great idea. Thanks!
Recs for essential oils?
I like the refills from French Girl Organics. As ever when I have a recommendation from them: silly name, great products.
I want to find a gradual self-tanning lotion. I’ve tried the Tanologist and Jergens ones and don’t love them…has anyone used the Bondi Sands Tanning Milk or the Loving Tan lotion, or has other recs? Preferably one that isn’t too stinky. TIA :)
I use the Bondi Sands Technocolor in Sapphire. I’m very pale and cool toned, and this works well to give me some color without being too dark or too orange.
I used Clarins for years until I found the Jergens foam version. I like Jergens ok. I find it’s gradual enough for me, though I don’t like that it gets sort of orange on my (dry) knees. I apply it with moisturizer but I guess my knees are resistant to moisture.
For those of you in BigLaw, do your firms pay for CLEs that are in-person? Or just think: you can watch 5000 PLIs (which are great) on your screen and never interact with a human and that is fine (preferred even). I feel that I am going to struggle to ever develop into a better lawyer (or maybe I should bite the bullet and just pay for what seems to be good or to stretch my knowledge; it is expensive but so was law school and I paid for that).
I’ve had a firm grasp object to the cost of a CLE, big or small. In-person CLEs are good networking.
Yes, mine pays for in-person CLEs despite us also having free access to all the PLI CLE materials and videos. We each get an education budget annually.
Same.
I’m at a boutique so similar vibe to Biglaw and yes, they do. I usually do CLEs online at this point in my career just for efficiency’s sake, but there were some in person ones that I found really useful as a junior (I remember a really good deposition skills boot camp in particular) and my firm encouraged that.
Yes, they pay for in person CLEs. There’s a travel budget however, and they’re not sending us to the ones that are clearly excuses to vacation in Hawaii or Costa Rica, but within reason its certainly expected to travel to attend in person CLEs.
Why are you asking the question? Does your firm discourage it?
We have a CLE budget. It’s enough to cover probably one of those multiday expensive CLE conferences you’ve got to travel to, or plenty of local CLEs. We also have free access to PLI.
Yes, but we have to apply for it through a somewhat complex and difficult to navigate process that happens once a year for a short window. When I was an associate, it was exhausting to get approval for CLE conferences. It is somewhat less exhausting now as a partner, mostly because I’ve worn down the senior staff who are in charge of getting the requests to the right person. Firms hate paying for conferences because they think it’s a boondoggle where you get drunk with your friends and don’t actually learn anything. That’s never how I’ve treated conferences, but that’s the attitude you have to fend off.
Some things for you to consider:
– Ask a mentor how this works. It’s different in every firm, you’ll need to know how it works for your firm.
– Ask the attorneys you work for which CLEs they go to and what they recommend that you attend. Ask if you can name them on your request for budget approval (if applicable). It will be MUCH easier to get approved if a partner is in your corner or – better yet – if you’re attending with a partner.
– if you get a shrug and mumble in response to the last one, look up practice group specific CLEs. Your state bar association should have some. Make sure to join relevant bar sections, they usually cost extra but you’ll get more updates.
– ask the head of your office if your firm is a sponsor of any local CLEs in the coming year. Sponsorship usually comes with a few registration slots, which will go to partners but partners often cancel at the last minute, so chances are good that you would be able to take someone’s spot. Be sure to calendar it and follow up on it because no one will remember to tell you if someone cancels.
– affinity groups are also a good source of in person events and money to attend. Your firm probably has a women’s group. Get friendly with the leaders of that group. Let them know you’re interested in representing the firm at CLEs and other events. The Women In… conferences tend to be smaller, which is great when you’re just starting out. You can actually meet more people, and firms like occasionally sponsoring those events.
I am largely an inside / wear a shirt sort of person. Haven’t hit the pool this year, so no chest sun exposure yet. I feel that the skin between the top of my arm pit to my shoulder (sort of a narrow stripe of skin) has darkened? It’s not tanned. It’s maybe an inch at the bottom / armpit end and then lightens and tapers as it goes up. I’m white and this area is a darker / tannish shade. Does this happen to anyone else and does it have a name (so I can consult dr. google)?
Does it look at all like acanthosis nigricans?
It’s not dark like that. It’s just more tan vs my usual pinkish-white color. But symmetrical. I rotate among different bras and spots bras and sleeping camisoles and it’s broader at the base than straps. If it were a tan line, it would be lighter than my skin. This is the reverse-ish.
It’s called stop googling and just go outside
What crafty hobbies do you like?
I like knitting during boring meetings to keep myself awake. I keep things pretty simple, since it’s kinda functioning like doodling and if I have to think about what I’m doing I’ll lose track of the meeting. So I’ve got a lot of hats and fingerless gloves.
Also a knitter. I haven’t mastered knitting in a meeting though — does it ever annoy people that you are knitting? I do it while the TV is on or (rarely) with a craft group while talking.
I hope you mean that you do this in zoom meetings, off camera. Because it certainly does annoy people around you, even if they’ve been too polite to tell you, as well as “othering” you and undermining your reputation.
I only knit at home, in front of a TV. I assume that the other knitter maybe is in the way back of a large conference room for a CLE, maybe on a video replay. I couldn’t knit in front of a live CLE speaker and would feel like Madame DeFarge knitting at any other sort of meeting.
Knitting, sewing, garment upcycling and repair, embroidery and drawing.
Weaving on a rigid heddle loom. It’s interesting enough to keep my attention and amuse me, but doesn’t require so much attention that I can’t watch television or listen to an audiobook while I weave.
Weaving, knitting, sewing, crochet, and all manner of obscure things that catch my fancy.
I did so much off-camera knitting during endless WFH zoom meetings. That’s one thing I miss about the covid era.