Nail Polish Displays Across the Border Edition

Despite living less than an hour from Canada, I hadn't been over there in a long time until this past Saturday morning, when I headed south (yes, south; to get from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario you head south; those particular Canadians are not in fact my "neighbors to the north") to meet up with mrsrexy (a.k.a. the Canadian Nail Fanatic) and nailXchange (whose blog is on hiatus, more's the pity). We converged on Leamington for a craft show at which there would be nail polish, Girly Bits, to be specific. I arrived a little early and in the process of looking for an ATM drove by the big Heinz plant and the welcome to Leamington sign which proclaimed it as the Tomato Capital of Canada.



I did find an ATM and was inordinately fascinated by the 20 dollar bills which came out of it—I hadn't seen, much less touched, these updated bills with the holographic queen and tower on a embedded plastic ribbon. Money you can see your nails through that's also got holo accents? Sign me up!



The craft show was at a community center which also houses an ice rink, so I got to watch part of a youth hockey game before the other ladies arrived—that felt very Canadian. When mrsrexy and nailXchange got there we did a quick tour of the show floor and found not only Girly Bits but also a Konad booth in amongst the knitting and quilting and jewelry and foodstuffs and decorative home accessories and other crafty items. We then left to go eat lunch; we could have eaten there at the rec center but the selection wasn't that great and besides, leaving the building meant we could go to the beauty supply in town, where they had some Pupa displays. I don't think I've ever seen a Pupa display in person before. The two I got photos of were called Jeans n' Roses and 50s Dream.





Then we went to lunch and after eating took the mandatory nail photo. You might recognize my green and black Maybelline Nail Falsies in the lower left. nailXchange was sporting the pink stamped look on the right, and mrsrexy had a glittery blue stamped with white (the glitter is not showing here but trust me it was very sparkly in person).



My main credit card had been declined at the beauty supply store (yeah, I bought some of those Pupa colors) but that didn't concern me since that bank often shuts me off when I leave home and I'd forgotten to call them to tell them I'd be in Canada. During lunch I called and yes, they had blocked my account but I navigated the automated system and verified things and got the message that it was unblocked. I went to pay for lunch; it was blocked again. I called the bank again and spoke to a person this time. A rude person who told me they could not unblock it and were canceling my card and sending me a new one and when I questioned this, told me I needed to stop interrupting him. I hung up and paid cash for lunch. I called the bank back and spoke to a different person who tapped away on her keyboard and told me I was good to go. Just in case I was not, I hit another ATM on our way back to the show—more plastic holo queen money for me. Back at the show, I happily spent that cash on Girly Bits. It was so fun to be able to pick up the bottles and swatch sticks and nail wheels and ponder all the pretty colors before deciding which ones needed to come home with me.



I didn't get anything at the Konad booth since I barely use the stamping stuff I already have but it was interesting to look at all the different products she had. I did get a couple things to take home to Mr. K and few non-polish things for me, too. All too soon the show was closing and we had to part ways, heading home in opposite directions. On my way out of town, I took a small detour to see Lake Erie—seemed silly to be a couple blocks away and not go look.



It was the same theory that led me to stop at Shoppers Drug Mart in Windsor—I was driving right by, might as well stop. One of the first things I came across when I went in was a Cover Girl Hunger Games display that wasn't like any of the variations I'd seen in the U.S. This one had five of the polish colors and slots for four designs of nail stickers (of which three were there, including two I'd not seen before).



There was a GOSH Christmas display which included a five piece set of Oh My GOSH polishes



There were sets of adorable mini bottles of Quo by Orly; the 18 piece one shown below and two different 6 piece ones (Sugar, with pastels, and Spice, with bolder colors).



And look here—Quo by Orly 3D Nail Art Stickers; I wanted many, but only bought one in case these are the type that doesn't last on me (my credit card I'd called and called about did not work at checkout, so I used my other card, which is from a bank that doesn't seem to care where I go):



At Rexall, I saw my first Kit brand display.



They also had a smaller display that oddly covered up most of the bottle where the color shows; I guess these are the shy shades.



It was a fun day, and I hope it won't be too long before we get to do something similar again.