Orly on the Cheap

I am a total nail polish junkie and possess an embarrassing collection rivaling that of most manicurists. At least that's what I assume, as I refuse to pay for manicures and/or pedicures. Why? For starters, I am way too cheap to pay somebody to paint my nails when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself. It's relaxing in an utterly mindless way. Having a dog, working on a computer all day and doing housework destroys my nails, so there is that, too. My indecisive nature also comes into play here...when friends boast that their gel manicures last three weeks, the first thing that comes to mind is "but didn't you want to switch colors by then?" You get the picture. A few weeks ago, I noticed Orly had new ads featuring a sleek new logo and packaging. Further investigation uncovered a new website and rumors of new in-store displays. My cheapskate mind thought of one thing and one thing only - they must be having sales to clear out their old packaging. One quick walk to my neighborhood CVS later, I discovered that not only was I correct, but that the normally $8.29/bottle polish was half off! 

Unfortunately, the display was already largely picked over, but I was able to snag some of my favorite go-to shades Gumdrop (mint), Liquid Vinyl (black, obviously), and Faint of Heart (a taupey grey). 

Now, this is where this CVS experience gets awesome and thrifty. I was armed with not only a $5 off coupon, but also a $4 off $20 coupon. For the record, I am NOT a coupon clipper (damn those horrible reality TV shows and the crazy people who hoard 50 six-packs of ramen and 30 containers of laundry detergent), but I'm a sucker for a CVS coupon. You can combine those suckers and basically rob the place blind.

Now, three bottles of half off polish wasn't going to qualify the use of the $4 off $20 coupon, so I did what any nail polish junkie would do, invest in Orly Won't Chip, some milk and cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, because I just saw This is the End and have been craving it since) and call it a day. All of that for just $13.18. Normally, you couldn't even buy one bottle of polish and the milk for that. Success. This weekend, I plan on devouring my CT Crunch while painting my nails black. It will be glorious.