A little background for my male readers- OPI is a company that sells all things manicure/pedicure related- nailpolish, lotions, files, etc. Their nailpolishes are fantastic for several reasons. First, they have great names. Second, the polish lasts a long time in the bottle. Third, the polish doesn't chip as bad on your nails once it has been applied.
Aren't you glad you know all of that now?
Anyway... a bottle of OPI nailpolish retails for around $7 back in the states. That was the cheapest I could find it there, some higher end spas would sell it for $10.
Yesterday I tried a local spa for a facial and spotted some OPI nailpolish in the retail section. A single bottle of OPI nailpolish retails for 22CHF here. And I've been informed that that is an inexpensive price. At other spas a single bottle sells for 28CHF.
22CHF is equivalent to $19 at today's exchange rate (thank you oanda.com).
That means that this little bottle of nailpolish retails for more than twice what I could buy it for in the States.
And just a year ago, I thought $7 was outrageous.
So there you go. This is why I still am suffering from price shock 8.5 months after moving here.
8 comments:
We were considering moving back to the US (to a midwestern city) and we did a full comparison of the expenditures we have here vs. what we would have in the US (including factoring in things like the employer-subsidized health insurance over there) and we compared that to the salaries and taxes. In the end, we realized that in our case, we actually come out ahead here in CH for roughly the same sort of job, actually with more holidays and a couple of other advantages. I hope your situation isn't the other way around!
Funny you mention that as in the early days I also spotted what I recall being a 29 CHF bottle of OPI and I thought for sure that it was not that expensive in the States but I could not recall the price there either... low and behold, things here are expensive. But I think Z is right - somehow it all works out better in the end here (better pay, I think!).
Do you know how much effort it takes to get all those little bottles through customs?
:)
Holy moly! And I refuse to buy it for $8.50/bottle at Wegmans!! I love OPI though.
Z- good points! still doesn't take away the price shock here though!
jessica- i wish i could get over the price shock but it is so hard not to compare things! hmmm, maybe that will be gone in a couple of years :-)
hoppy- i don't plan on stocking up on nailpolish. now inexpensive kids clothes....
heather- insane, right???
Ow! I suggest you focus your money on chocolate rather than nail polish.
You know, if you really wanted lots of OPI polish, Hoppy would get it for you. I think it would be sort of funny to see the customs officers digging through his multiple bottles of color saying, "Why, sir?"
I still suffer from price shock and it's almost been three years! Just got back from Spain where I was oohing and ahhing over the fact my husband and I could go out to dinner for 20 Euros total!!
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