Polish time capsule: Sweet Georgia Brown Grape Surprise

The late '90s were a thrilling time for drugstore polish devotees. Liquid Euphoria, Gumballs, the early days of Sinful, glitter polish everywhere. If I had a time machine, I would go back and stockpile the stuff. I mean, more than I already have.

In 1997, I was living in a studio apartment in the University District with my now-husband. We were young, just out of college, and I my serious polish collecting had not yet quite begun. I think the polish I'm wearing right now was picked up then, but it could have been sometime later in 97-98, when we were living in Olympia and came up to Seattle to game on the weekends. My memory's fuzzy, and it's been a while. I do know that I bought this particular polish at the Bartell Drugs on the Ave, as part of my quest for the perfect purple polish (ongoing).

Sweet Georgia Brown Grape Surprise (I should file it with the blues, but know I won't)

It was not, as the pictures would show, the perfect purple polish. Heck, although I file it under purples, it's really more blue. Possibly blue enough that it's not even blurple. This is three coats. It's streaky, the formula's strange, and the color's slightly muddy. Oh, and did I mention it's a scented polish? Because it is. That's the surprise. The grape one. In the name. And yet it's still one of my favorite of my old polishes, perhaps because that smell of grape Kool Aid sends me spinning straight into nostalgia for my youth.