Lacquer Lexicon (New Definitions Added)
I realize a lot of the words I use on here could be unfamiliar to people who aren’t obsessed with nail polish or aren’t members of MUA so here’s a lexicon for your convenience.
If you don’t understand some word I’m using please let me know, I’ll definitely give you an explanation and add it to the lexicon.
NOTD – Nail of the Day (basically, whatever nail polish one is currently wearing.)
HTF/VHTF – Hard to Find or Very Hard to Find. Definition varies based on place of usage. Example: On MUA HTF is Clarins 230 or NARS Zulu. On Ebay VHTF is Essie Mademoiselle or OPI Bubble Bath.
RAOK – (verb form ROAKing, ROAK’d) Random Act of Kindness (giving someone else free nail polish for altruistic reasons.)
No-Buy – (1)The status of realizing that one is ridiculous, and spends entirely way too much money on nail polish. One consequently over-compensates by vowing to not buy any nail polish indefinitely, followed shortly by a major failure, see related words: Binge. (2) A mythical impossible task like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the mountain.
Stash – One’s nail polish collection, usually hidden from loved ones.
Binge – Uncontrollable desire to buy a seriously ridiculous amount of nail polish, followed by actually making the ridiculous purchase, followed by feelings of guilt and worthlessness, followed by the No-Buy vow.
Lemming – Having an uncontrollable desire for a particular polish after seeing a picture of someone else wearing that color.
Shrinkage – A coat of nail polish that shrinks on one’s nail to create a visible white space with no polish on the tip of the nail. It’s generally a very undesriable side effect of using fast drying top coat over very thickly applied polish. No relation to cold water.
Tip Pull – Looks the same as shrinkage except Tip Pull occurs after a few days of wear. It’s the most common kind of nail polish wear and tear (generally associated with typing) other than regular chipping; An excuse to change one’s nail polish.
Cuticle Drag/Cuticle Pull – The polish-less splotch centered close to the cuticle that comes from using a crappy nail polish that basically removes itself when one applies additional coats; One of life’s most frustrating occurrences.
MUAer – A member of makeupalley.com.
NBer – A member of the makeupalley.com nail board.
“The Place that Cannot be Mentioned”/”The Place that Shall Not be Named” – Ebay.
Frankenpolish/Franken – Mixing a new color from various different polishes.
Dupe – Short for ‘duplicate’. A nail polish that looks exactly like another polish. This is a rare occurrence, especially to someone plagued with the nail board eye.
The Nail Board Eye – A disease that causes the sufferer to be able to distinguish even the slightest difference of color between polishes that are seemingly the same, forcing the sufferer to decide they must own both polishes even though no one else will know that the colors are actually different.
VPL – ‘Visible Polish Line’ – referring to the nail white that is visible under some sheer or jelly polishes.
The Polish Addict 
OPI Time-Less is More: The *Perfect* Off-white « The Polish Addict said,
May 12, 2008 at 7:09 pm
[…] other news, I wrote a mini-dictionary for the site, the Lacquer Lexicon. If you ever find that you have no clue what I’m talking about shoot me an email or comment so […]
Mary said,
May 19, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hi, my name is Mary, I am a PROUD nail polish addict and I don’t want to be cured.
Also a big fan of “ROAKing”, helps to cure any momentary guilt.
pretear said,
May 19, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Very true lol. I think I’ll add that to the RAOK definition. : )
My Sadness: Sally Hansen Dusk « The Polish Addict said,
June 26, 2008 at 6:49 pm
[…] in Uncategorized at 6:49 pm by pretear One of my favorite MUAers posted a picture of Sally Hansen Dusk. I lemminged it for *weeks*. It was limited edition (of […]
A Sad Day at the Polish Addict: Shorties in Vampies « The Polish Addict said,
June 29, 2008 at 9:45 pm
[…] same shade throughout the nail. The big disappointment here is Essie Material Girl. I had HORRIBLE cuticle drag with it even though I waited ages between coats. To get it to look normal I had to battle the […]
Hard-to-Find Week Pre-Party: Essie Barbuda Banana « The Polish Addict said,
July 8, 2008 at 5:46 pm
[…] just can’t find Banana Puddin’ the easiest way to go about sticking it to the man is frankening your own. This is a really easy franken, you just need a yellow, take your pick there’s about […]