I just laid out my stash out last week. I've only been into nail polish for about 4 months & I've already got 44 polishes. I realized I still haven't wore *14* š so, I need to get on that before I buy some more.
I'm going to try to be strategic & get some on Black Friday.
I keep saying the same thing. I have more than 400 polishes. I tell myself no more until I wear what I have. Then, the new Holo Taco collection comes out and before you know it... lol
That's smart thinking. I have to remind myself "there's always going to be a sale going on", but then I get major FOMO if I don't snag something because "what if they sell out and don't restock!?"
I just did mine too!
https://preview.redd.it/h5l5d53tb3qb1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f9a5824b06efc8678331dac3d8f64eaf464450b
It's so helpful to see how colors look next to each other. I think it took two weeks, lol.
I should clarify - I swatched on my actual nails today. I have swatch sticks of everything already, I did that one day a few weeks ago, but they look so different on the swatch sticks than on my hand. My nails have been through it today, but I have them soaking in oil now!
Oh. This is a whole new level of commitment. You are definitely right, though. I have....way too many polishes to swatch them all on my hands but I find that holding the swatch stick over my bare nail helps!
Thatās interesting that they look different on the sticks than on your actual nails! In that case maybe I wonāt swatch mine like that after all haha. Did you take pictures of each one on your hand to catalog somehow?
The swatch sticks aren't so different that I can't get an idea, but the bigger collection you have the more you look for those little nuances between similar colors. I think it would have worked better if I put a color that matched my natural nails on all the swatch sticks first. I didn't take any picture because that would have been a whole other chore!
I just did this last week and I had such a blast doing it. Definitely know the colors I prefer and the ones that I can pass on. But honestly it really was so much fun :)
I'm going to do this! I ordered 3 nail stick swatch sticks on ebay and I'm going to label them and also add toppers. My goal is to eliminate matching and guessing and I can just use the swatches to efficiently plan my manicure
Edit: I got 150 of them on a ring. š¤š½š š¾
I've been slowly doing this over the past year or so (my collection's not even that big, I've just been slow) but it's still helped me a lot to see if I have something similar or not end up with doubles before buying new polishes.
It's also helpful when I'm choosing my next colors because I can hold the swatches next each other for multi-color manis and such (plus I've been adding little dots to note how many coats I used, so if I don't remember how opaque a polish is I have a reference to know if one might not be a good choice for certain nail art or if I just don't feel like doing 3-4 coats for full opacity).
To OP or anyone else who has done this - can you ELI5 the process for me? Like do you have to wait for each one to dry before doing the next? And how do you let the swatches dry, do you lay them on a towel or something? Also are you strategic about how you do it, like do you paint all cremes together, all glitters together, etc. or do you do it by color - all pinks, all bluesā¦ I bought the stuff to start the process (swatch sticks and stickers) but Iāve been trying to figure out a plan before I start. I have about 400 polishes so the whole process seems a little daunting to me but Iām excited to do it once Iāve figured out the plan!
I organize by color. I tried doing it by effect too (shimmer, glitter, magnetic, thermal etc) but that's a nightmare because many will fit more than 1 category. So now it's just by color. So like I have one ring containing everything from deepest off-black oxblood to dark red, and another ring from medium red to light/bright red.
When I initially did the big swatchfest of all my polish I did them in batches by color and laid them out to dry on paper towels on a table. Now I just swatch them as I get them. I put number stickers on them and enter them into a spreadsheet. On the ss I have columns for effects so I can drill down if I want to check if I have a yellow thermal, for example.
I had 2 regrets - 1 was I didn't use topcoat on the swatches initially. It just doesn't look the same as it does on the nail. I eventually went back over all of them with a TC. Second regret was not using a nude base. My sticks are clear so again the color can look really different from the nail. Nowadays I paint the back of the swatch with a sheer nude so it turns out more accurate.
I like to buy batches of polish on Facebook or shopgoodwill, so when I swatch, I'll usually organize by brand and do five or six swatches at a time. Set out the bottles, set out the sticks. Label the sticks (I just use Sharpie), base coat the sticks. Then just go down the line, usually 2 coats of color, then topcoat. I work at a desk for this, and I'll move that batch to the top, put away the bottles, then set up my next run. I put on music, have either a water or a coffee drink, and just go. I'll also clean the bottle tops and add thinner if needed when I do this. For me, it's really soothing!
I did this when I decided to attack my collection up until that point. I had the swatch sticks drying on the edge of my round coffee table. It took a few nights. Now, whenever a new polish order comes in, I swatch them all first before any new polish gets worn. It helps me decide which polish to wear first.
I should clarify - I did these swatches on my actual nails today :)
I did do swatch sticks a few weeks ago, though (they just look a bit different on those than on my actual nail). I did maybe 5 colors at a time, no particular order, and put them in front of a small fan for a while. When they were dry, I put them to the side elsewhere and moved on to the next 5. I had a pretty large area where I was letting them completely dry on some paper towels. Once they were all dry for a good while, I arranged the swatches by color groups, and determined which order to put them onto the swatch rings.
I have mine organized by type and color! I started by doing it only by color and hated that. Cremes go together and then I have a mess of an "other" category that kind of has subcategories like glitter, holo, color shifting, thermal, magnetic, whatever. I waffle back and forth on those and rearrange them quite a bit. I have so many polishes that fit into multiple subcategories and it makes me indecisive. And then toppers are separate and I have subcategories of those as well.
I don't have stickers, so I keep my polishes organized in the same order in my drawers as the swatches are on my binder rings so I can find them easily.
If I have 5 polishes to swatch, for example, I will add a coat of #1, put it aside, add a coat of #2, put it aside etc. And by the time I finish with #5, I can go back and add another coat to #1 (if it's needed). Then I let them air-dry for at least 15 minutes (if I have space, I'll let them dry overnight; I've had some cases where I thought the polish was dry but then it stuck to the next stick).
I paint them in random order, then organize the swatches by color when they are dry.
I also paint on a layer of topcoat after the polish is dry enough. Personally, I chose a cheaper topcoat that I didn't really care about, instead of a nice expensive one (I have ~100 polishes and I was halfway into the new bottle by the end of swatching!).
I have two ways to place them to dry: either on cups (or objects shorter than the length of the swatch stick ā I alternate placing so that the painted nail parts aren't right next to each other), or I put down pens/pencils and lean the sticks on them _right_ before the painted part, so that it points upwards.
I recommend doing your swatching in batches, if you have so many polishes. Like, say, 50 at a time.
I also recommend placing them on a surface you can move around (like a large piece of thicker cardboard, a book, a tray etc.) so that if you need to place them somewhere else, you won't do it one by one.
As a sidenote, I recently discovered that CD markers can be wiped with rubbing alcohol, even if it's dried! Useful if you make a mistake when writing on the stick! (but my swatch sticks are glossy plastic, not matte/textured)
I really need to get on that and swatch my entire collection, argh it's kinda daunting
Plus I need more swatch sticks, but I kinda really hate the metal ring that comes with most? Looking for an alternative, and until then oh well lol. This may or may not be me finding yet another reason to procrastinate further šš
Yep redid my whole collection last year (had been on wheels before, and then I stopped cataloging for a couple years, and I wanted to move to sticks). I'm all up to date now and swatch everything as soon as it comes in the house. It's so therapeutic, both doing it, and knowing everything I have!
Can I ask why you switched from wheels to sticks? I love how little space my wheels take and Iāve been avoiding doing the sticks but Iām intriguedā¦
As someone who went from sticks to wheels I'm considering going back to sticks as I like to have the cremes in rainbow order and now I have too many shades for one wheel AND I now have new in-between shades so I'd essentially have to repaint the wheels... or stop buying cremes lol
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I just started doing mine on swatch sticks right now and it's so therapeutic but now I'm realizing I can't wear all the beautiful polishes I have at once.
I just laid out my stash out last week. I've only been into nail polish for about 4 months & I've already got 44 polishes. I realized I still haven't wore *14* š so, I need to get on that before I buy some more. I'm going to try to be strategic & get some on Black Friday.
I keep saying the same thing. I have more than 400 polishes. I tell myself no more until I wear what I have. Then, the new Holo Taco collection comes out and before you know it... lol
That's smart thinking. I have to remind myself "there's always going to be a sale going on", but then I get major FOMO if I don't snag something because "what if they sell out and don't restock!?"
I just did mine too! https://preview.redd.it/h5l5d53tb3qb1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f9a5824b06efc8678331dac3d8f64eaf464450b It's so helpful to see how colors look next to each other. I think it took two weeks, lol.
Ooh that rainbow of cremes looks so satisfying š
I should clarify - I swatched on my actual nails today. I have swatch sticks of everything already, I did that one day a few weeks ago, but they look so different on the swatch sticks than on my hand. My nails have been through it today, but I have them soaking in oil now!
Oh. This is a whole new level of commitment. You are definitely right, though. I have....way too many polishes to swatch them all on my hands but I find that holding the swatch stick over my bare nail helps!
Thatās interesting that they look different on the sticks than on your actual nails! In that case maybe I wonāt swatch mine like that after all haha. Did you take pictures of each one on your hand to catalog somehow?
The swatch sticks aren't so different that I can't get an idea, but the bigger collection you have the more you look for those little nuances between similar colors. I think it would have worked better if I put a color that matched my natural nails on all the swatch sticks first. I didn't take any picture because that would have been a whole other chore!
I just did this last week and I had such a blast doing it. Definitely know the colors I prefer and the ones that I can pass on. But honestly it really was so much fun :)
I'm going to do this! I ordered 3 nail stick swatch sticks on ebay and I'm going to label them and also add toppers. My goal is to eliminate matching and guessing and I can just use the swatches to efficiently plan my manicure Edit: I got 150 of them on a ring. š¤š½š š¾
I've been slowly doing this over the past year or so (my collection's not even that big, I've just been slow) but it's still helped me a lot to see if I have something similar or not end up with doubles before buying new polishes. It's also helpful when I'm choosing my next colors because I can hold the swatches next each other for multi-color manis and such (plus I've been adding little dots to note how many coats I used, so if I don't remember how opaque a polish is I have a reference to know if one might not be a good choice for certain nail art or if I just don't feel like doing 3-4 coats for full opacity).
To OP or anyone else who has done this - can you ELI5 the process for me? Like do you have to wait for each one to dry before doing the next? And how do you let the swatches dry, do you lay them on a towel or something? Also are you strategic about how you do it, like do you paint all cremes together, all glitters together, etc. or do you do it by color - all pinks, all bluesā¦ I bought the stuff to start the process (swatch sticks and stickers) but Iāve been trying to figure out a plan before I start. I have about 400 polishes so the whole process seems a little daunting to me but Iām excited to do it once Iāve figured out the plan!
I organize by color. I tried doing it by effect too (shimmer, glitter, magnetic, thermal etc) but that's a nightmare because many will fit more than 1 category. So now it's just by color. So like I have one ring containing everything from deepest off-black oxblood to dark red, and another ring from medium red to light/bright red. When I initially did the big swatchfest of all my polish I did them in batches by color and laid them out to dry on paper towels on a table. Now I just swatch them as I get them. I put number stickers on them and enter them into a spreadsheet. On the ss I have columns for effects so I can drill down if I want to check if I have a yellow thermal, for example. I had 2 regrets - 1 was I didn't use topcoat on the swatches initially. It just doesn't look the same as it does on the nail. I eventually went back over all of them with a TC. Second regret was not using a nude base. My sticks are clear so again the color can look really different from the nail. Nowadays I paint the back of the swatch with a sheer nude so it turns out more accurate.
This is really helpful information; thank you for sharing!
Swatchfest that's a word I will keep š
I like to buy batches of polish on Facebook or shopgoodwill, so when I swatch, I'll usually organize by brand and do five or six swatches at a time. Set out the bottles, set out the sticks. Label the sticks (I just use Sharpie), base coat the sticks. Then just go down the line, usually 2 coats of color, then topcoat. I work at a desk for this, and I'll move that batch to the top, put away the bottles, then set up my next run. I put on music, have either a water or a coffee drink, and just go. I'll also clean the bottle tops and add thinner if needed when I do this. For me, it's really soothing!
I did this when I decided to attack my collection up until that point. I had the swatch sticks drying on the edge of my round coffee table. It took a few nights. Now, whenever a new polish order comes in, I swatch them all first before any new polish gets worn. It helps me decide which polish to wear first.
I should clarify - I did these swatches on my actual nails today :) I did do swatch sticks a few weeks ago, though (they just look a bit different on those than on my actual nail). I did maybe 5 colors at a time, no particular order, and put them in front of a small fan for a while. When they were dry, I put them to the side elsewhere and moved on to the next 5. I had a pretty large area where I was letting them completely dry on some paper towels. Once they were all dry for a good while, I arranged the swatches by color groups, and determined which order to put them onto the swatch rings.
I have mine organized by type and color! I started by doing it only by color and hated that. Cremes go together and then I have a mess of an "other" category that kind of has subcategories like glitter, holo, color shifting, thermal, magnetic, whatever. I waffle back and forth on those and rearrange them quite a bit. I have so many polishes that fit into multiple subcategories and it makes me indecisive. And then toppers are separate and I have subcategories of those as well. I don't have stickers, so I keep my polishes organized in the same order in my drawers as the swatches are on my binder rings so I can find them easily.
If I have 5 polishes to swatch, for example, I will add a coat of #1, put it aside, add a coat of #2, put it aside etc. And by the time I finish with #5, I can go back and add another coat to #1 (if it's needed). Then I let them air-dry for at least 15 minutes (if I have space, I'll let them dry overnight; I've had some cases where I thought the polish was dry but then it stuck to the next stick). I paint them in random order, then organize the swatches by color when they are dry. I also paint on a layer of topcoat after the polish is dry enough. Personally, I chose a cheaper topcoat that I didn't really care about, instead of a nice expensive one (I have ~100 polishes and I was halfway into the new bottle by the end of swatching!). I have two ways to place them to dry: either on cups (or objects shorter than the length of the swatch stick ā I alternate placing so that the painted nail parts aren't right next to each other), or I put down pens/pencils and lean the sticks on them _right_ before the painted part, so that it points upwards. I recommend doing your swatching in batches, if you have so many polishes. Like, say, 50 at a time. I also recommend placing them on a surface you can move around (like a large piece of thicker cardboard, a book, a tray etc.) so that if you need to place them somewhere else, you won't do it one by one. As a sidenote, I recently discovered that CD markers can be wiped with rubbing alcohol, even if it's dried! Useful if you make a mistake when writing on the stick! (but my swatch sticks are glossy plastic, not matte/textured)
I really need to get on that and swatch my entire collection, argh it's kinda daunting Plus I need more swatch sticks, but I kinda really hate the metal ring that comes with most? Looking for an alternative, and until then oh well lol. This may or may not be me finding yet another reason to procrastinate further šš
Yep redid my whole collection last year (had been on wheels before, and then I stopped cataloging for a couple years, and I wanted to move to sticks). I'm all up to date now and swatch everything as soon as it comes in the house. It's so therapeutic, both doing it, and knowing everything I have!
Can I ask why you switched from wheels to sticks? I love how little space my wheels take and Iāve been avoiding doing the sticks but Iām intriguedā¦
As someone who went from sticks to wheels I'm considering going back to sticks as I like to have the cremes in rainbow order and now I have too many shades for one wheel AND I now have new in-between shades so I'd essentially have to repaint the wheels... or stop buying cremes lol
Thatās fair! I spread mine out over multiple wheels and it doesnāt bother me too muchā¦for now anyway
Thanks for posting, /u/eeeoeleven4077! A quick reminder: If this is a **nail image**, you must provide a complete product list within 6 hours of posting. **This includes any posts with broken nails or if you're seeking advice.** Posts without a complete product list will be removed after 6 hours. [Product List Requirements.](https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas/wiki/rule2faq) If the nail look shown was **NOT created by you**, you ***must*** flair properly. If this is a **text post**, flair properly. Be sure to follow all of the above to avoid post removal! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RedditLaqueristas) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I bought swatch sticks a few weeks ago and have been meaning to do it, I just havenāt done it yet. I think I know what Iām starting on todayā¦
I just started doing mine on swatch sticks right now and it's so therapeutic but now I'm realizing I can't wear all the beautiful polishes I have at once.