BBAC 2012: Day 12 - Malled review

Posted on Wednesday, at bought • 632 views

BBAC 2012: Day 12 - Malled

Most years I am somewhat smart. I make a little pact with myself: between US Thanksgiving and the end of January, I don't go into stores of any type unless I'm buying groceries, or necessities (like cat litter.) This is because the holidays have an unnerving effect on people. They (actually, let's be honest here and say “we”) are thinking about dozens of things at once, we're focussed on getting That Certain Item, we're dodging around lots of other people who are all on the same mission, and any vestige of sanity that we may have had is stuffed in the glove compartment. We're harried, hurried, thoughtless, and sometimes volatile. Indoor shopping centers concentrate and focus this agitation so that between the expanded “holiday sales floors” spilling out of anchor stores, the kiddies and parents lined up to see MallSanta, and the quasi-nightmarish labyrinthine mall layout, what should be a simple straightforward trip becomes a test of your nerves.

I participated in Secret Santa this year, and my Secret Santa got me several really cool gifts - including a miniature set of four of the polishes from OPI's Skyfall collection. After wearing one of the polishes all day, I decided to head to the nearby mall and pick up some full-size bottles of some of the colors in this collection. Knowing that the Skyfall collection had already been available for quite a while, and knowing that Christmas was coming soon, I knew that if I wanted to buy these fullsize, I'd have to go now, during my “mall blackout period.” Still, I reasoned, I knew exactly what I was looking for, and had a shortlist of where I would be looking to find it. And I was starting the whole thing mid-day on a weekday, when most people were still at work or school rather than at the mall.

This should go relatively smoothly, I thought. I can feed the cats when I get home, it will only be about an hour later than normal.

The first store I went into had rearranged the interior, and there was no store directory. Also, the first two people I asked sent me in different directions to get to the salon, where the nail polishes were. (The first person was right, but forgot to mention that it was behind and to the left of the catalogue pickup desk; the second person was just Utterly Completely Wrong. I'm guessing that they were new.) After going in circles for about 20 minutes, I got to the salon. The Skyfall display had a few of the polishes in it, so I bought a full-size On Her Majesty's Secret Service and a full-size Live and Let Die. So then, off the Ulta store, which had…none of the Skyfall collection still available for purchase. Their stock had been entirely picked over. I spent some time looking at all the endcaps to see if I might spot a stray here and there, but…nope. They were well and truly out of stock. I had one last option, a nail salon that I'd walked past several times but never actually stopped in. This establishment was listed as an OPI vendor…but they only did manicures on the premises, no other salon services. They did have the regular OPI line for sale, but none of the LE collections. (The ladies seemed disappointed that I wasn't there for a manicure.)

So, off north, past my home by about 10 miles, to a second mall. Driving in the pouring rain, in rush-hour traffic. It only took me about 30 minutes.

I stopped at the Ulta in the strip mall about half a mile away from the mall proper. Parking was its usual contorted self, and the layout of this Ulta was a bit different than the one I generally go to. When I finally found where they'd tucked their nail polishes and spotted an actual polish rack for the Skyfall collection, it was mostly empty. I did snag a full-size bottle of The World is Not Enough. Then I spotted the Get Bond-ed set with its three full-size polishes including Goldeneye, and grabbed two of them. I had a feeling that Goldeneye would be one of the polishes that would be out just about every place!!

There was still one store to try, in the mall itself. This place was smaller, was on one of the littler hallways, so was often overlooked. But they carried all the OPI colors, they even carried Nubar - I felt I'd have the best chance of finding all the polishes there. I parked, headed in through the Madhouse That Is Nordstrom's, and headed into the mall proper and hit a BareMinerals boutique, looking for one particular lipgloss collection. I'm right there, it's not exactly out of my way, might as well check, right? Alas this kit was long gone - from the site, from channel partners, from everywhere. I mentally crossed that kit off my list and headed to my destination. When I got there, I was stunned: they had a rack for the Skyfall collection, had at least two bottles of nearly every polish, AND had some endcap displays as well. They even had the magnetic polishes (which I passed on, because while some magnetic polishes are cool, they're not really my first love.) I ended up with full-size bottles of every color except Die Another Day, Moonraker, Living Daylights, and Tomorrow Never Dies.

It only took me three hours. And I only got hardsell-accosted three times during this whole adventure: skincare, cellphone plans, and the omnipresent nail-buffer. (The cats have forgiven me, mostly because I gave them a little extra food.

Yesterday I gave away a Miss Behavior set from BFTE’s 2012 holiday collection. Today, I’m giving away Miss Conduct! This is the purple/mauve/cream set that so many other bloggers used for their looks. Giveaway widget is below, visible only to logged-in members.

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or look at other entries tagged with Beauty Blog Advent Calendar, Brand: Beauty from the Earth Cosmetics, Brand: OPI

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