Storage solutions

I realised rather quickly a couple of weeks ago that my nail varnish collection had gone from 'acceptably scattered' to 'all over the place and in danger of breaking' - and with the addition of my new Models Own polishes, I needed somewhere decent to store it all. That might sound like an odd comment but most of my nail varnishes have been gifts or under £3 drug store bargains! Having a proper branded bottle or two around the place has left me wondering how exactly I could store them properly, efficiently and most importantly, safely. Bunging them all into a make up bag just wasn't cutting it; it was heavy, refused to do up and clinked rather ominously every single time I touched it. A disaster waiting to happen!

First, I thought about building myself a rack, such as the racks that you get in nail salons. Unfortunately I am not good at DIY and I don't have spare materials lying around - nor do I currently have the space to place or mount something of a considerable size. Secondly, my nail varnishes are all different brands and I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep them all in it! However along the way I found some great tutorials on how to make yourself a rack which I want to share with you. The first video is a big, wall mounted rack and the second is a smaller, desktop display stand.

Find it here

You can, of course, buy the second type off of Amazon and ebay, but there's no fun in that! For now, making myself a nail polish rack is sadly out (I may try something along the lines of the second video when I go back to uni though, if I have room on my desk). So I started looking into other forms of storage - some quick googling told me that by far one of the most popular storage solutions for nail varnish addicts out there is an Ikea product called a 'Helmer'. What's a Helmer? It's this nifty little thing...


It's very friendly looking, but again, as I pointed out I am massively limited on space (not to mention funds) in my bedroom at the moment. This article points out that they have many uses, and without a doubt the storage of nail varnish is not the most unusual one, which makes me want to buy many when I eventually get my own place and have them in every room. One for nail varnish, two as the legs to a craft desk, one for filing, one just for the sheer amusement of having another one in my house... sigh.

I thought about really useful boxes, an idea bought to my attention by the Super Gorgeous blog... and spice racks, a brain wave of my mum (and various other blogs) - both things that I think would work really well if I had the space to put them or the cash to buy them! Spice racks can be seen in use on Katies Beauty Blog - they look extremely cute and tidy next her make up collection.

Eventually I got a bit desperate and saddened by all the lovely wall mounted and drawer related storage options often displayed on nail varnish related blogs, and started to think there was no storage solution out there for me and my collection! It was then that a poster on one of the forums I use pointed out that she stores her nail varnish in an A4 document box. Hold on, I thought, I have one of them! So I ran upstairs and ditched all the documents out onto my bed (tidy I aint, especially not in times of great excitement) and retrieved it along with my make up bag of nail varnish.

Lo and behold, here is my new and improved nail varnish storage solution:

Eventually, I will organise these, and finish putting the colour dots on top of them. Eventually.

Yes! The solution was sitting in my bedroom all along. An A4 document box from W H Smiths, which you can buy in many different colours and styles (or indeed different retails) to match your room decor. Perfect. Plus it has the lovely side effect of making my collection appear quite small! Mine slides under my bed until I want it - next year at uni I plan to have it on my desk, which I won't feel guilty about as it'll be neatly out of sight! As for the fact that I won't be able to see them all at one time, well... I'm a little ashamed to admit this but I've written up an Excel sheet with all my nail varnishes on in colour order and I shall be consulting it whenever I buy a new one!

How do you store your nail varnish? I'm always on the look out for more interesting and colourful ways! Do you have a list of all your nail varnishes to keep track of them, or do you just buy what you like and hope you don't already have it?

P.S. What do you think of the new look of the blog? :) Drop me a comment and let me know!