My Nail Polish Collection and Storage

Since we've moved, I haven't been super happy with my beauty product storage. We definitely took a step in the right direction when I picked up a Helmer from Ikea for my nail polish! Honestly, the room I keep my beauty products in is incredibly ugly, so for now, I'll just stick to the Helmer and what's inside.
On top, I keep a long Skubb box (love those things!) with a bunch of products I use regularly, plus nail polish remover.

Top drawer is random nail related things. Top coats, base coats and thinner in the paper boxes (Jenn made those). My manicure set in the bag. Sally Hansen Color Quick pens (I hate them), Reinforcement stickers, labels, superglue pen, and nail stickers.

Second drawer is China Glaze. I can fit 13 more bottles in here, so yeah, I'll be surprised if I don't overflow into another drawer by the end of the year.

Third drawer is OPI. I can fit 15 more bottles in this drawer. Again, I would not be surprised if I overflow.

Fourth drawer is randoms. It's only about half full. I've got Orly, Zoya, Color Club, Sally Hansen, ELF, Wet N Wild, Illamasqua, Essie, Nicole By OPI, Ulta, Nails Inc, Butter London, Studio M, and Deborah Lippmann.
The fifth and sixth drawers aren't worth showing. One has just a bag of cotton balls and the other is empty. I'm not gunning to fill this baby up any time soon but it is nice to know I've got a couple open and available drawers.
And that's it! I know it's a lot of polish, but hey, at least I only need one Helmer and not multiple. How do you store nail polish?

Recent Purchases

I hesitate to call this a haul because it's a few new things I accumulated over the course of January. I did mention that I struggled to jump back into restricting my spending but I feel like it is worth showing what I've picked up.
I kept seeing the display for the Maybelline Color Whispers and I admit I was sucked in! I got Pin Up Peach and I've worn it just a couple times. I love it so far but like most lip products I feel like I need a lip balm before application. I loved the original Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser for dark circles so I had to pick up the one for dark spots. I like it but I've only used it once so I can't really give it a full review. Everyone talks about how awesome the Maybelline Color Tattoos are (geez, Maybelline got a lot of love this month) and Temptalia gave it an A+ rating, so I had to pick it up. Then Zoya had their three free promo so I got Mimi (which I'm hoping is everything I wanted Sally Hansen Loves Me Not to be), Zuza and Aurora. Meijer had a ton of polish on sale and this Sally Hansen Gem Crush polish in Lady Luck was just calling out to me. Finally, Jenn had one of these and let me try it and I had to get all three with Bath and Body Work's buy two get one free promo. These are the C.O. Bigelow Organics Moisturizing Lip Shines. They smell (and taste) AMAZING! They are super moisturizing too. The apple jelly one is such a nostalgic scent for me. If you've ever been to one of those little cider mills that sells donuts and fresh cider, that's what this smells like. It's a little sugary donut and a little fresh apple cider.
So not a whole lot this month. I'm definitely feeling a lot better about jumping back on the no buy wagon for February. I'm definitely thinking March I'll pick up another Color Whisper, anyone have any favorite shades?

Sally Hansen Loves Me Not

Have you ever seen a polish (or a blush or eyeshadow etc...) and thought OMG I have to have that and it turns out nothing like you though? Yeah that's Sally Hansen Loves Me Not. Look at that incredible shimmer in the bottle! I found this at Walmart (in a special display, so I'm not sure if it's limited edition or what) back in like May but there was polish dripped all over the bottle so I decided to wait for when Sam was here to get it somewhere else. And in all that time it was built up in my head about how awesome it was and I had to have it. I found it at Ulta the very first day she was here so, of course, I bought it and all was right with the world. It's been sitting with all of my other untrieds since. Clearly, this did not turn out the way I wanted. The pic is showing slightly more shimmer on the nail than what translates in real life. It's a really deep plum, slightly glowy but not nearly as shimmery and cool as the bottle shot. Loves Me Not is unique to my stash and I love the Complete Salon Manicure formula and brush but it's still disappointing. Two easy coats plus Revlon Colorstay top coat and it's already showing some tip wear. At least I'm back to painting my nails again!

Polish Debauchery Haul!

What happens when two polish junkies spend a week together?

This! We ended up going to three different malls, one Cosmetics Company Outlet, Ulta twice, and Target three times (I think). We did other things besides shop but this is what I have to show you today. You might want to get a drink and settle in, this is a LONG post.

 Zoya Charla, Sally Hansen CSM Loves Me Not, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, Wet N Wild Megalast Through the Grapevine, Wet N Wild Megalast Bite the Bullet, Revlon Colorstay Top Coat

The first three were lemmings, especially Pacific Blue. I've hunted for Pacific Blue for a while. The Wet N Wilds were buy one, get one 50% off but they aren't that expensive at full sale price. I know I've said this a few times but I really just needed a new topcoat and I've heard good things about this one.

Nails Inc. Topping Lane, Nails Inc, Sweets Way, Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, Butter London No More Waity Katie, Butter London Lovely Jubbly

All of these were major lemmings for me and my firsts from these brands! 

Lush Mask of Magnaminty, Bubblegum Lip Scrub, Heavanilli Massage Bar, Sultana of Soap, (not pictured) Cosmetic Warrior Fresh Face Mask

My first Lush items! There are two near me and even then they are both more than an hour away. We ended up visiting both. The only things I was absolutely determined to get were Bubblegum, Sultana of Soap, and a fresh face mask. The first Lush didn't have any of the fresh face masks so I ended up with the Mask of Manaminty. It's the only thing I haven't used yet. I love everything else. It all smells wonderful (except Cosmetic Warrior).

Benefit Sugarlicious set, Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, MAC Fix+ mini, Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup, MAC Lipglass in Pink Lemonade, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Lovesick and Honey, MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Anticipation

AHHH! I'm such a Benefit fangirl and I'm LOVING this set! Pretty much everything here has been major love even though half of it was unplanned. It's been a struggle to find the right match for me in the Invisible Fluid but this one is perfect (1N1, if you are wondering).

MAC 15 Pan Pro Palette, Motif, Jest, Woodwinked

Well, I got caught up in being at a MAC store for the first time and ended up with a palette. MAC is quickly turning into one of my favorite brands. I have 4 other shadows that I already owned that I need to depot.

Overall, I was happy with everything I got. I'm definitely going to be on a no buy for a while. I'm not really sure the terms of my no buy but we have so many things coming up in September and October that it probably won't matter that much anyways. If you want a review or swatches of anything in particular, let me know!

Sally Hansen Trust Mauve

It is so hot here that the lens of my camera fogged up when I went outside to originally take these pictures! This is my last Sally Hansen (for now) and it is a Maximum Growth Plus which has been discontinued. I got this, which is in the shade Trust Mauve, from a Sally Hansen manicure party set that came out around the holidays. I can see why this formula was discontinued. It was a pain in the butt to work with. Thin but still gloopy and one of the slowest drying polishes I've ever used. Three coats, OPI top coat. You know I love my OPI and especially my China Glaze but I think I will start buying more Sally Hansen. If you have a favorite SH color or formula, let me know!

23/55 polishes swatched

25 more days

Sally Hansen Parchment

I picked up this polish after I saw it on Stephanie of Short 'n Chic wear it. She used it for a glitter sandwich with OPI Rainbow Connection, a glitter I love but hadn't been able to figure out how to wear. This is three coats and there is a very visible nail line. It's definitely a great polish for anyone who enjoys/has to wear nudes. This is my first from the Complete Salon Manicure line and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the brush or not. For most of my fingers, it made it so so much easier. My pinkie was another story altogether. I struggled to not let the polish pool in my cuticle. It won't deter me from buying any more from the brand though.
Oh and by the way, you can now follow me with Bloglovin!

21/55 polishes swatched

29 more days

Sally Hansen Polar Purple

Surprise! Another Sally Hansen Magnetic, this time it's Polar Purple. It was a surprise to me too. My boyfriend had it waiting for me when I got home from a baby shower on Sunday. The man knows his way to this girls heart! So this was still a learning experience for me. I definitely had to re-do a couple nails because either I didn't get the design all the way across the nail or I didn't leave the magnet on long enough. Basically, I discovered the longer you hold the magnet over the nail the more defined the design is. This was probably 10-15 seconds per nail. I still did manage to touch the magnet to the nail a couple times. You can see it there on my pinkie. Overall, it was a little more frustrating the second time trying this. It's probably because I was over thinking it. Oh well. It still came out nicely. And I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and finish swatching the rest of my Sally Hansens so stay tuned for that!

20/53

33 days until Sam gets here!

Sally Hansen Electric Emerald

Yay! My first magnetic polish! This is Sally Hansen Electric Emerald. It is a beautiful emerald with a kelly green pattern. It was a little bit of a learning curve but not difficult at all. I only had issues with my thumb. Apparently my thumb is more curved than most and I had to do the magnet in to separate parts. Base coat, two coats of polish and OPI top coat. I definitely want to pick up some more of these when Sam gets here...except maybe I need to find a coupon.
I'm so excited! Just about a month and a half until she gets here! This is polish 19 out of 53 in my quest to swatch half my stash before she gets here. I'm still working hard to at least get pretty damn close to that number.