Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Let Me Explain...A Whole Lotta Polish!

Okay, let me preface this by saying.  Hi, my name is Carrie, and I am addicted to nail polish.


There...that's out now!  Not that you couldn't have figured that out by reading and looking at this blog post.  Prepare yourself for a picture-heavy post.  I can't help myself because it's all so very purty.  But my collection is nothing compared to so many others I've seen on YouTube and blogs.

See this polish here below...the one with the L on the finger?  


It is the reason why I realized I needed to get on top of things and organize my nail polishes and get them swatched!  You see, I had been lusting over the Zoya polish on that L finger, but kept bypassing it (multiple times).  One day, apparently, I finally realized I wasn't going to stop lusting over it...so I bought it!  The other week, I was at Ulta and saw it and almost bought it but didn't...thank goodness! Wouldn't you know it?  A couple days after that, I was beginning to dig through my polishes (to add some new ones to my boxes) and found it.  LOLOLOL.  I hate it when that happens.  You know what I mean? When you buy something only to realize you already have it and the reason you bought it is because you have too many of those shirts or shoes?  Sigh.

Just like I always do, I took to Pinterest to see if I could find some pins on ways to organize my polishes using nail wheels. Thank goodness I found this post HERE from someone who basically needed "polish rehab" the way I did. She even shows how she used a Google form to take inventory so she can glance at it when polish shopping to make sure she doesn't buy the same polish or a polish that is way too similar to something she already has.  Yes please!!!

So, I plopped down at my kitchen table with all my Glossyboxes full of polishes...formerly organized by brand.  With my blank nail wheels, which you can buy for about $5.99 for 10 at Sally's, and my laptop, I set to work.  And strangely?  I had a good time doing it.  Go ahead and laugh, my husband and a couple of my friends already have.

Since I'm a freak, I arranged them by color and then lined them up by tone and shade as best as I could, like so.


I kind of figured I would do a second post to follow this one up...for those who see a color they really like, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you what all the swatches are.  Just in case.  Wink wink. Without further ado, here are my new beloved nail wheels!

Purples


Do you like the way I didn't know what I was doing with the Sharpie marker?  I was a bit shocked to see I own this many purples actually.  

Blues


Greens/Yellows

Hmmmmm...it seems I have a slight aversion for minty shades.  

Oranges


Pinks


For someone who despises pink, I have an awful lot on this wheel.  But does it count that many of them are corals?  No?

One shouldn't pick up a polish to do a swatch if the lid is not screwed on...because this is what happens!  Then, you have to start all over and even run to Sally's to buy another pack of wheels because you don't have enough.  Le sigh.

Reds




I know, I know...these all look almost completely the same.  But would it help to tell you I bought something like 6 red polishes when I was trying to find the perfect red?  I finally found it and I just couldn't part with the others I bought.  Then of course, there are the warm reds, the darker reds, the textured reds, the shimmery reds...okay, you get the idea.  Red nail polish is my kryptonite!  It is my favorite color after all.

Neutrals/Whites

You can't see the whites very well at the top of the picture, but they are there.

Blacks/Greys

I love this wheel!  My gray polishes are amongst my favorite for sure.  

Neutral Glitters/Metallics

Aren't they pretty?!

Multicolored Glitters

One can't have too many glitter topcoats.  It is like having a great pair of pants and several awesome tops...put them together and you have a ton of different looks.  See?


Drumroll please!!...........


And now they are all back in the boxes organized by color!  



I had almost just as much fun entering them into my little spreadsheet as I did painting the nail wheels. It's so much easier to paint a plastic nail than my own!  Following what Craftyminx did with her collection I put together a Google Form...


And because Google Forms are so awesome, everything was put straight into a spreadsheet.  I can now access it via Drive on my phone if I'm out and about getting ready to load up on some nail polish.  It's a win-win situation!  You can click HERE to see it if you're weirdly interested.  


Do you have a nail polish addiction as well?  How do you organize yours?  Stay tuned for Part 2...where I attempt to name all my swatches for everyone else's gain.