My Polish Collection

IMG_7212For the past few years I’ve had my polishes arranged by color.  I have some dupes (and near dupes) and it just made sense to me to keep them next to each other on my nail polish rack.  Recently, though, I started to think that it would look nice if the were organized by brand.  Then all of the like bottles would be next to each other.  Of course the first logical step in my reorganization was to dump all of my polishes onto my living room floor.  And that’s what you see here in the above picture.

As I started to sort them, I decided to snap a picture of each brand, and here’s what I found…

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I have a huge pile of Wet n Wild polishes. This was probably the first brand of polish I started to accumulate back in my youth. The bottles in the upper left with the white caps are OLD! I’ve got a good mix of permanent and limited edition polishes. They’re all between $1-$3, so it’s kind of a no-brainer to grab an awesome Wet n Wild polish when I see it.

 

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I have a lot of Sinful Colors. I mean, they’re so readily available and there’s only $1.99. They are always on top of color trends. Really, what’s not to love?

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Here’s my little Revlon pile. My favorite is on the left: Matte Pearl Glaze. It’s an awesome transformative topcoat for pretty much any polish.

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My L’Oreals. Yes, that’s Masked Affair on the left.

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My Orly polishes. I really like Orly a lot! Most of the polishes I have are neons or crazy toppers. I think of them as summer polishes.

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Look at my sad little Essie collection! Three Silk Watercolors and one other one. I just tend not to splurge on Essie because I hear too many bad things about the formulas. If I can get a great formula in a $2 Wet n Wild, I just don’t want to risk getting a bad formula from a $7 Essie.

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And these are my OPI polishes. The only one that I have ever paid full price for was Charmy & Sugar (third polish in the top row). The rest were either given to me or found on clearance. It just pains me to pay $9 for a polish, and they are always exempt from sales and coupons it seems. That makes me grumpy.

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Nicole by OPI: OPI’s less snobby sister. The two Modern Family polishes are really stunners!

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Fresh paint is available exclusively at Five Below. They tend to be thicker in formula and they’re great for water marbling and stamping. They have such awesome colors! The third polish in the top row is Sugar Crush and it’s a dupe for Essie – Shine of the Times. If I ever see this polish again in a five Below, I am buying a BUNCH of bottles.

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Speaking of Five Below, that’s where you also find Funky Fingers. Okay, these polishes are sort of juvenile, but they have such fun bright colors and crazy glitter mixes! Plus, they’re only $2 or 3 for $5!

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LA Colors polishes tend to be disappointing. If you’re going to spend $1 on polish, just get a Wet n Wild or a NYC. The only exception is the one in the upper left which is a lilac crelly with a bunch of glitter. It’s tough to find those in mainstream polishes.

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I picked up these Finger Paints at Sally Beauty Supply. So sparkly!

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The only place that sells Pure Ice that I know of, is Walmart, and I just don’t end up in Walmart that often. If I did, I would probably own more of these.

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Broadway Nails are found in either Dollar General or Family Dollar. I swear I can never remember. My favorites are Space Flight (third polish in the top row), an deep blue jelly, and Hot n Sexy (bottom left), which is a dupe for China Glaze – Ruby Pumps.

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I first discovered Bonita polish in Francesca’s about 5 years ago when I bought the little bottles. I now usually find them in Rite Aid or Kmart. So affordable and so beautiful! (I’ve actually bought 3 more since I took this picture.)

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Yes, I only have two Zoya, both found on clearance at Ulta. They’re both great, though, and I definitely want to add to these!

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I’m not sure why I don’t own more Jordana. They have such vibrant colors, and great formulas, and they’re only $2. I need more of these.

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I’m a sucker for NYC polishes. Good formula, good colors, really good price. The pink on the bottom right is OLD.

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I only own two Milani. The one on the right is a good 10 years old, but I still love it! The one on the left was the first black and white matte glitter polish that I ever saw, and the first time I saw it, my brain almost exploded.

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I picked this Nina polish up at Sally awhile ago. The green is less awesome than I thought it was going to be. I bought the blue while I was on the hunt for the most pure and pigmented blue that I could find.

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I own three Ulta polishes and they are all in different bottles. What’s up with that? The blue is really beautiful, though.

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Spoiled by Wet n Wild used to be available exclusively at CVS. They’ve been discontinued, but most (if not all) of these colors are in the Wet n Wild Megalast bottles and are sold exclusively at Dollar General/Family Dollar. I was sad to see this line of polishes leave CVS, though.

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I have a good pile of China Glaze. Most of these were purchased on clearance or on really good sales at either Sally or Ulta. Man, I love so many of these!

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Does anyone remember Petites? These polishes are a solid 10 years old. I went through a phase where I loved each of these polishes.

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Anyone remember Bon Bons either? Are these still around? Seriously, each bottle has like, four drops of polish in it.

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Speaking of teeny tiny bottles, these are Sally Beauty Supply’s brand called Sally Girl. Pretty nice little polishes, actually.

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We here in ‘Murica can’t get Joe Fresh polishes, so I picked these up a year or so ago when I was in Canada. Great little polishes! I’m definitely picking up more then next time I visit our neighbors to the north, assuming that they don’t build a wall to keep us out if Trump is elected.

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Sally Hansen sure likes their different bottle shapes and various lines, huh? The first three polishes in the top row are OLD. I know for sure I got the teal one in the top left corner when I was in college. I graduated 16 years ago.

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I picked up this little pile of polishes when I was in London last year. The one on the left is Seventeen, the next two are Barry M, and the two on the right are Rimmel. I like them all, but I love the Barry M polishes. If/when I get back over there, I’m nabbing more of these!

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These polishes are from Old Navy. “Why would anyone buy polish at Old Navy,” you ask? I don’t know either. The metallic pink and gold are both pretty good, though.

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These polishes are from Gap. Obviously I’m a sucker for polish, if I bought some from the Gap.

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I got these LA Girl Color Pop polishes at Rite Aid. The neon pink on the right is my favorite neon pick of all time.

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CQ2 polishes? Yeah, I don’t know either. They’re old.

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Mary Kay polish. The one on the left is good as a base for French manicures or negative space manis.

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Playboy Polishes…. How and why? It’s a long weird story.

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I have two Color Club stripers, but only one color club regular polish! I know, that’s sad! I’m gonna fix that.

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This pile of Kiss stuff was given to me. It’s okay, I guess.

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Bath and Body Works polishes. I know, it’s just as weird as Old Navy and Gap. Aren’t the little bottles on the right so cute though? These are actually nice polishes, albeit old.

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My only two Nails Inc polishes are magnetic and were found in a clearance bin at Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Ross. Those stores are all the same to me.

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These Del Sol Polishes change color in the sun, or at least they used to. They are about 5 years old and only about half of them change color anymore. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

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This tiny pile is all the indie polishes that I own! I know, it’s sad! I will definitely be adding to this pile over the next year.

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These are all of my one-of-a-kind or weirdo polishes. I just threw them all into their own pile.

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These are all of my Frankenpolishes. In other words, I mixed up these polish colors on my own…. Mwahahaha!

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Here is my pile of empty bottles waiting for some Frankenpolish to happen to them.

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And here’s my pile of base and top coats.

Here's my whole collection after I got them all organized!  Aren't they so pretty?

Here’s my whole collection after I got them all organized! Aren’t they so pretty?

 

And now all of my friends and family know exactly what I have in case they need to do some borrowing. I really don’t mind, though.  Thanks for reading!  Let me know in the comments about your collection!

White Nails Are A Thing

Did you know that white nails are a thing?  Well, they are.  I think they started showing up on the runway about 3 summers ago, so the time is about right for them to make their way here to Smalltown, USA.

White polish looks great with tan summer skin and it’s also makes a perfect blank canvas for all kinds of nail art.  It’s also can help your sheer neon polishes look extra bright.  White polish can be tricky, though.  Light polishes can sometimes be sheer, and light colors seem less forgiving than darker ones when it’s not quite perfect on the nail.  That’s why it’s important for every nail polish fan to own a good white polish.

I decided to do a little comparison between 6 different brands of nail polish, most of which have a pretty low price point.  Here are the polishes I tested:

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From left to right:

Wet n Wild – French White Creme, $1.00

Broadway Nails -Snow White, $1.00

NYC – French White Tip $1.00

Sinful Colors – Snow Me White, $2.00

Sally Hansen – White On, $2.50 – $3.00

Essie – Blanc, $7.00 – $9.00

For years I used the Wet n Wild white because well, it was cheap and easy to find in just about any store.  I felt like the formula was okay, but not great.  Then one day I found Essie Blanc on a good sale!  I really thought it was going to be this amazingly wonderful stuff because it was regularly 8 times more expensive than my normal Wet n Wild.  Sadly, that was not the case, but it did motivate me to go on a hunt to find a really good white polish.

Okay, less rambling and onto the results.  For each of these polishes, my first finger has 1 coat, my middle finger has 2 coats, and my ring finger has 3 coats.  Here we go:

Wet n Wild:  With 2 coats, you can see that it’s still a little shear, but with 3 coats it’s pretty much opaque.

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Broadway Nails: Pretty similar to Wet n Wild, but maybe a bit more sheer.

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NYC:  I think with two careful coats, this would be opaque.  You can see on my middle finger near the cuticle that I had a little trouble with the polish pulling up and leaving a bald spot.  Generally, that’s caused by going over the polish with the brush too many times, which causes the polish that is partially dry to pull up from the nail.  I think if you are able to apply a coat of polish in 3 strokes, this polish will look good with only 2 coats.

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Sinful Colors:  This polish looked great in 2 coats!  I did a third coat on my ring finger for consistency’s sake, but it really didn’t need it.

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Sally Hansen:  This one is my favorite!  It was perfect in 2 coats, and a third coat actually made it a little too thick.  Really, this is a smooth, perfect white polish.

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Essie Blanc:  This one really preforms about the same as the Broadway Nails polish.  It’s really not that great and a rip-off for the price.   And do you see the teeth marks on the cap?  Yeah, I had a little trouble getting it opened this one time.  Anyway, I disliked this polish enough that I used it to do a little Frankenpolishing.

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So, in the end I really feel like the Sally Hansen polish is the bet polish of this lot, and at $3 or less, it won’t break the bank.  If you can’t find the Sally Hansen or you want to save a buck, I don’t think you’ll be disappointing with the Sinful Colors polish.  The other 4 polishes are just okay.  They will work in a pinch, but they don’t really rock my world.

Have you tried any of these polishes?  What’s your favorite? Have you tried any whites that aren’t on my list?

 

Four Days of Wear

I’m getting ready to take my current polish off to do some swatches for you, but I thought I should show you something first. Here are my nails after 4 days of wear, one of which involved 2+ hours of yard work:

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You can see a little bit of nail growth at the cuticle, and the tiniest bit of wear on the tip of my first finger, but that’s it.  (In retrospect, I probably should have taken a picture of my right hand, since that’s my dominant hand, but really, the wear is about the same.)

Anyway, my point is that this is why you should use a base and a top coat.  My polish would chip in a day if I didn’t.  For this particular manicure, I used Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, 2 coats of NYC In a New York Minute Amazon green, and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.  In the near future, I am planing to put a few base coats and top coats up against each other in an attempt to find out which ones really are the best, but so far I’ve never been disappointed by the Revlon base coat/Seche Vite top coat combination.

I’m off to write a much more substantial post now on how to make your neon polish look as awesome as possible.  Until next time, happy polishing!