My Stash, Let Me Show You It

I've been putting off doing a stash entry because I'm a bit embarassed about how large my collection is. I'm one person, with ten fingers and ten toes and many other things to do besides paint my nails, and my job certainly does not require my digits to be adorned in the latest lacquer trends, so it sometimes seems excessive that I've amassed such a large number of bottles of polish. But then I think that I get more use from this collection than things like my ski equipment—on any given day I could change my manicure or pedicure, while I am only able to ski a small portion of the year. Also, it's not as if I spent the mortgage money or the grocery budget on nail polish; I have just redirected some of my quilting and knitting spending (I am in no danger of running out of supplies for either of those hobbies, so it's not been any great sacrifice). Enough justification, let's look at the stash. Might want to get a beverage; this is going to take a while.



What you see here is four Helmers from IKEA, plus a bit of overflow storage. My collection lives in my bedroom closet; as my stash has expanded, I've had to reduce my wardrobe, which is okay since I had a bunch of stuff I wasn't wearing anyway. Starting at the top left, there's a wooden fruit crate that once held clementines and now holds polish I can't use yet because I got it in swaps and my partner hasn't gotten my end of the swap yet and polish I am expecting to send out in swaps that are in the process of being finalized. I call this box "quarantine". To the right of that box is a white Caboodles case; there was a long stretch of time when my entire nail polish collection, including base and top coats, fit in this one case. I'd regularly go through it and get rid of things I hadn't used in a while. When I think of some of the things I jettisoned—well, I try not to; it's too depressing. Now, the case holds base and top coats only. Behind the fruit box and the Caboodles case, there's another fruit box and a small plastic tray; those both hold nail wheels and frankening supplies (for all this frankening I'm going to start doing any time now) and miscellaneous stuff like swap extras. To the left of the Helmers, on the floor, where they should not be because piling stuff on the floor is a sure sign things are getting out of control, are two transluscent cases (I bought several of these when I let my stash escape the white Caboodles) which have overflow base and top coats (which I decided are okay to overflow because I do actually use up base and top coats) and polish I'm thinking of using as contest prizes (they can overflow because I won't be replacing them as I would if they were for swaps). The light purple Caboodles below those has makeup in it, not nail polish. What makeup exactly I'm not sure, since I haven't opened it in quite some time. Lipstick and eyeshadow, I think. The Ulta Goth Glam sets teetering on top of the stack were destined for swaps and didn't fit nicely in my swap drawers.

So, let's peek inside the Helmer drawers, shall we? Starting with the Helmer on the upper left, the top drawer is Revlon (minus Street Wear), Catrice, LA Colors Color Craze, and a handful of Ulta minis that don't fit in the drawer where their peers are.



Next is Borghese and Blue Cross seasonal with a couple LBC brands.



China Glaze plus Kiko and six LBC brands.



Color Club, Claire's, Essence, Savvy, Ulta 3, and six more low-bottle-count (LBC) brands.



Drawer 5, also known as the one I dumped on the floor: Cover Girl, Essie, GOSH, H&M, Nails Inc., BYS and other Australian brands.



L'Oreal, P2, Rimmel, Petites, Icing, Viva la Diva, NARS (I only have minis), and two LBC brands.



Moving on to the top right Helmer, in the top drawer are Zoya, Rescue Beauty Lounge, Ulta, Chanel, Sally Girl, and three LBC brands.



Orly and Pro 10 (which have to live in the back of a drawer because of their slightly too tall for the Helmer handles).



Sinful, NYC, Milani, Hard Candy, Pure Ice. (I leave clearance stickers on sometimes to make myself feel like a smart shopper.)



OPI.



OPI (note minis stacked two high--not ideal) and Massini / Studio M.



Maybelline (Colorama, newer Express Finish, Salon Expert, Wet Shine) and Finger Paints.



Maybelline (Colorama, newer Express Finish, Salon Expert, Wet Shine) and Finger Paints.



Maybelline (more older Express Finish), Barry M, LA Girl Rock Star, Funky Fingers, LA Colors Art Deco plus miscellaneous art stripers.



Sally Hansen (Lacquer Shine, HD, Opal Nail Glaze, Beyond Perfect), Piggy Polish, and two LBC brands.



Sally Hansen (Salon, Complete Salon Manicure, Insta Dri).



Sally Hansen (New Lengths, No Chip 10 Day, Prisms, Maximum Growth).



Sally Hansen (Hard as Nails, Xtreme Wear).



Finally, the bottom left Helmer, starting with the top drawer: Love My Nails, BB Couture, Depend, and a lot of miscellaneous brands.



Wet 'n' Wild, Revlon Street Wear, CHI, Nina, and one random singleton bottle of something I can't identify from the top.



I didn't take pictures of the last four drawers, as they've only got polish I've got up for swap; I've already mentally removed those bottles from my collection. I'm planning to reorganize by color at some point. Much as I like to see all the matching bottles together, it slows me down when I want to pull a bunch of one color to do comparisons or paint a nail wheel, and I often overlook a polish that would have been a good one to include. I'm definitely at the point where I need to stop expanding my stash (or start working from home so I don't need so many clothes); look for more giveaways and maybe a sale in the not too distant future.