Quite some time ago you might recall my going off on a rant about the meaning of the word "opaque" and how so many people don't actually use it correctly. Well, yesterday I found myself very glad to not only know the meaning of "opaque" but to discover that my new gel polishes are, indeed, packaged in opaque jars. Whew!

I am not a product whore. I know, it seems so odd that anyone who loves doing nails as much as I do could possibly resist buying every single new product that hits the market in every available color that hits the market. But alas, I am able to resist. Possibly because I went through that phase already, possibly because at some point along the way I discovered the joy of tents.

Yes, tents. It has actually been said that I have more tents than I have friends. Well, that may be, but if my friends ever find themselves homeless, at least they know where they can borrow a tent.

Look, I am not here to talk about tents. I don't have to justify myself here. I like tents, OK? In fact, I like most camping and backpacking gear and I am not ashamed!

And no. Most of my tents are not fully opaque. Which is why I don't store gel in them.

Mypointwas that it has taken me quite a while to start investing in gel polishes. Mostly, I just don't have a big demand for them. And they're really expensive. And you can't just have one or two — it's like polish for crying out loud, you have to have them all. As of today I am up to 15. Which should keep the one client who uses them fairly happy for a while.

There are a lot of companies introducing gel polish lines now. In fact, there are so many out there now it makes my head spin. I can't just go out and get one from every manufacturer; and I fear that as soon as I build an impressive collection, I'll discover that a new line is much better. Which is why I've been letting my peeps on the networking forums do my market research for me.

Finally convinced that I'd heard enough positive input about a select few lines, I bit the bullet and ordered a handful of colors from one supplier. They arrived and everyone that I've shown them to has ooh'd and aah'd appropriately. But I hate having to unscrew the cap to reveal the sticky, gooey treasure inside every time I need to show off the color. So I decided to put a little dab of gel on the lid of each container.

Of course, gel is UV cured. So I just screwed the lids back on tight and slipped each container into the UV light. Just for two minutes. Certainly the containers are opaque enough to prevent light from reaching the gel inside in that amount of time. I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer.

As it turns out — yes. The containers are truly opaque. As I happily discovered some two hours later when I realized that I had left the light on "on" instead of setting the timer! The jars had been in the light through two clients!

Well. At least the little color swatch on the lid is fully cured.