The Purge: Nail Polish Edition
I’m back today with another installment of my “Purge” series where I bring you guys along for cleaning and clearing out sections of my beauty stash. I did this with lip products a few weeks ago, and today I’ll be covering my nail polish cleanout! Purging my nail polish was a long overdue task for me; it’s such an easy thing to hoard because it doesn’t go bad very quickly or easily. I also used to work in a beauty supply store back in college where I got a major employee discount, which is how I ended up here: two 90-polish acrylic racks jammed with 186 bottles. RIDICULOUS. The before picture:
To start, I took all of the bottles and dumped them into a pile on the floor. Then I began sorting into color categories: greens, blues, etc., as well as a glitter pile. I covered a piece of computer paper with strips of Scotch tape, and began to swatch everything category-by-category, taking note of the formula and shade. I kept an eye out for dupes, anything with an old/clumpy/sheer/watery formula, and colors I just didn’t like anymore. Nail color is a very trendy thing for me; I found shades that I purchased as recently as a year ago that I felt no longer suited my style, complexion, or general taste.
I was really ruthless with discarding my glitter bottles in this purge. I can’t remember the last time I wore glitter polish (even on an accent nail), yet I had nearly twenty of them. I decided to keep a handful of my favorite glitters and part with the rest. I also had a lot of polishes with either old or sub-par formulas, so they went in the “toss” pile too. Overall, I managed to clear out 71 bottles! The technical nerd in me did the math: that’s 38% of my nail polish stash. Improvement!
I now have four empty rows in my top acrylic rack. I was hoping to downsize to just one rack, but couldn’t get there this time around. Everything I decided to keep is on probation: if it hasn’t been used in six months, it’s getting passed on to a new home!
The great thing about nail polish: it’s a perfect item to swap with friends. Back in college we used to have girl’s nights and everyone would bring the polishes they didn’t love anymore, and everyone was free to raid each other’s stashes. If you have some shades you don’t love anymore, ask your friends – they probably have some they would love to trade!
Do you have any areas of your stash that you feel need purging?
Check out the other posts in my Purge series!
