skirtcafe.org

I went to the doctor to get my knees drained and shots of cortisone. I was wearing a knee length skirt and wooden clogs. I know this doctor for many years and I'm on a very friendly basis. He did not mention my skirt, but when I took my clogs off he said WOW! In a joking fashion, those are some fancy toe nails. I said my wife and I have been getting pedicure for many years and I like to have them painted. No one really sees them expect my spouse, the folks at yoga and when I wear sandals or flip flops out in public. He said he might give it a try when he gets his next pedicure.

I live in a climate where I can wear sandals for about 9 months of the year. I get professional pedicures every 3 weeks and my toenails are always on display and painted fire engine red (OPI Big Apple Red) whether I am wearing a skirt or pants. I usually get one or two compliments from women on my pedicure, nail color, and 14K toe rings. Men ignore it and don't say anything. I believe that a lot of the men that see my toes would like to have painted toenails, but are afraid to try it for themselves because they know that painted toenails especially in red or pink is very feminine and they have phobia of all things that are feminine.

I have no interest in painting any nails or toenails. Happy for others to do so.

Just for grins I varnished mine a couple of weeks ago. It taught me one thing, and one thing only: my toes are a very, very long way away from anything else and I had to contort myself to actually do the deed.

It really doesn't matter because the only people who have seen my feet in the past 40 years have been intimates as I do not like having bare feet. It's just me. But, right now I have lilac-varnished toenails. It'll wear off eventually.

Back when I could afford it I had pedicures at least twice a month. I always had them painted with OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy. It is one of the almost see through pink colors. I usually had between two to three coats on my toes. It was visible if you were looking for it but otherwise almost not there. Sometimes I would go nuts and get them painted some shade of bright red not often though. At the time It was warm weather and I was almost always in flop-flops so my toes were always out there. I enjoyed this bit of pampering I did for myself. Being Diabetic it helped keep the nails trimmed and clean.

I wore a pair of beige flat sandals last week, and due to the horrifying nature of my nails, used a matching beige polish and matte topcoat - not trying to make them super noticeable, just take away the ugliness. It’s possible the matte finish on it’s own would have helped, not sure. Also not sure whether I’ll repeat the experiment - I am interested in trying some muted colors as opposed to the bright/harsh bold colors I’ve tried (and removed) in the past. I don’t wear open toed sandals all that often, might do so this summer, who knows!