Downsizing Your Nail Polish Collection

 

I don't think I'd be alone if I admitted that I own a lot of nail polish. And I mean, a lot. Far too much for it to be actually justifiable in terms of how many hands and feet I have and how long the whole painting-your-nails palava takes. And I also doubt I'd be the only one admitting that the majority of the time I buy nail polishes that are practically the same as what I already own. Take me into Boots and I'll come out with another raspberry pink or another turquoise green, bring it back home with me and line it up alongside others that basically look like the same stuff in different shaped bottles. It's an issue. So, in order to combat this problem, for probably the first time ever last week I decided to give my nail polish collection an overhaul. It had got the point where I was scared of adding any more to my display in case one toppled off the edge in Domino-stylee and took another 10 with it. Some had to go. And go they did, after I constructed a nice and easy 5-point plan on just how to downsize your nail polish stash...

1. First things first (I'm the realest) - sorry, had to be done. Seriously now... First things first you want to take your stash - whether you display them on your dresser like I do or store them away where you hopefully can't see them - and lay it all out in a spacious place where there's room for you to be able to see what you've got and room for moving about when you make little piles later. This could be on your bedroom floor, on your actual bed - it's up to you.
2. Next you want to start creating the aforementioned piles and this is where you will hopefully start to see the possible starting point for your downsizing. I'd recommend doing this in a few stages. Firstly I'd sort the polishes into the classic 'KEEP' OR 'BIN'. Now, you may be thinking 'But, that'd make the whole process a one-step, surely?' but actually this is to hopefully get rid of those polishes that have been in your stash for the best part of seven years and are beyond the point of salvation. Yeah, those ones. Once you've binned the separated, gloopy lacquers, you're dealing with ones that at least have some chance of making the cut. So, for the relatively new ones, or the ones that are still in good shape - KEEP. For the ones that are on their last legs - BIN.
3. Now you've hopefully said goodbye to a good few polishes, it's time to get a bit more fun. (Yes, this whole thing can actually be fun). This time, sort your remaining polishes into piles based on colour. Put all your reds in one, blues in another - you get my drift. Now, it's time to do a bit of matchy-matchy, as there'll no doubt be a few that are practically the same, so why keep both? Think to yourself - is there any difference I can spot between these two polishes? Is there any slightest difference in the colour or tone? You might need to do a bit of swatching on your nails to remind yourself. If not - out one goes. If you're unsure of any put them into the 'MAYBE' pile. Put all of the polishes in this pile to one side for later...
4. Now you need to tackle your remaining 'KEEP' polishes. Now you've looked (and hopefully identified) any dupes amongst them, you have to ask yourself - do you actually like the polish? Do you still gaze lovingly at its colour (only me?) like the first time you bought it? Does the formulation still float your boat? Compared to the other polishes in your collection - how often does it actually get pride of place on your nails? You may have thought at the time that it was a beautiful colour, but now looking at the others in your stash you may think differently.
5. Finally, take all of your 'MAYBE' polishes from earlier steps. Now you've filtered out the old, slightly disgusting ones, the ones that are basically a dupe for your faves and the ones that you just don't love anymore; how do you feel about these ones? You should now have a rough view of how your newly-downsized collection is shaping up - do you still want any of these polishes? Your feelings on them may have changed from earlier on.

And that just about rounds up my five-point-plan on how to tackle the issue of an ever-expanding nail polish collection! Hopefully you may have found this useful if you too are a bit of a polish-a-holic and it's given you the push you need to face up to your addiction. It feels great when you do, trust me...