Updated nail polish collection (2013)

Almost  2 years ago, I first showed you my nail polish collection. Much has changed since then: new polishes entered the scene, but I also chucked many away. They were either colors I didn’t really wear, they were simply old and dried up, or the formulation was horrid. In any case: they had to go. Since I haven’t shown you the full collection in a while, I thought I’d put it all together in one post. I am aware of how many there are (over 200, whoops), but note that I have been collecting nail polish since I was 12 and that I often buy nail polish in deals, or online with a good discount.

As you will be able to tell from these pictures: OPI & China Glaze are my favorite brands, but I also don’t shun cheaper brands such as Catrice or H&M. For each part of the collection I will highlight some of my favorites. I’ve also included some pictures of how I store everything and you can find a link to a list with all the names and previous posts regarding my nail polish collection at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Storage

I store my nail polish in these wooden CD holders from Ikea. I don’t think they are available anymore, nor do I remember the name. Sorry! I keep top coats & glitter polishes in the cardboard box on the top right and utensils and swatches are in the top three drawers of the pink drawer set.  My main demand for storing nail polish is to keep it dark, dry and upright. It will make your nail polish last much longer. Don’t you just love how my toothbrush is photobombing that picture majorly?

Top coats

I have quite some top coats, from simple glitter ones to crackle, to holographic: I love spicing up otherwise boring colors with a top coat. My fast drying topcoat by INM is on the top left and I use this over any nail polish I wear to make it last longer. My favorites here have to be the Catrice Million Styles polishes: they turn every plain old color into a spectacle for your nails.

Miscellaneous brands #1

Time for color and glitter in this case. These are my W7, Hérôme World Inspired Colors, Gosh, Koh!, Collection 2000 and Cosmetica Fanatica polishes. The W7 ones are all glittery and the best glitter nail polishes I have ever come across. I love how I only have green nail polishes by Koh. I must have been going through a green phase when I discovered that brand. The collection 2000 polishes are more of a keep sake in my collection. I’ve had these since I was 12 and first dabbled into nail polish.

Miscellaneous brands #2

When you love nail polish you are always looking to try new brands, which is why I have quite a few one of brands in here. Or at least a few brands of which I only have a few polishes, but there are also a few of my newer acquisitions which couldn’t fit into any of the other collages. There’s Sally Hansen, Maybelline (Venetian Gold is my favorite gold polish as it has this antiqued feel to it), ELF (Cranberry is a gorgeous red), H&M, HEMA, Max Factor (oh yes, the coveted Fantasy Fire is there), some OPI (more of that coming later), Stargazer and the minis of the OPI katy Perry collection and Essie 2011 Spring collection.

Miscellaneous brands #3

Some more brands together: Sephora, NYC, Urban Outfitters (perfect mustard color), Rimmel, Cosmetica Fanatica, Miss Sporty and Hema Jip & Janneke. Bourjois So Laque nail polishes are my favorite polishes to use on my toe nails. They are quite thick and gloopy which is why you only need one layer and it dries super fast and stays on for a long time. The Diamond Cosmetics line also hols some of my favorites: Cherry Tobacco for when I want to go for something dark and vampy, Taupe Shimmer for when I want to go for a neutral which isn’t boring.

Catrice

The first major set of polishes. Catrice is a German drugstore brand available in The Netherlands at 2.69 a pop, but I bought most of these before they upped the price. Catrice is known for its dupes of Chanel polishes (Genius in a Bottle for Peridot and Sold Out Forever for Jade). The range has some great colors in it, from brights to darks, but I have yet to try their renewed line, which I haven’t heard too much good stuff about. For now I will just stick to these as it includes a perfect light sky blue (Up in the Air), a gorgeous metallic bronze (Spiced Bronze, LE) and a dusty rose (Welcome to Roosywood).

Essence & Eyeko

Again, two budget brands representing. Eyeko no longer makes nail polish, but I still have the ones I bought when they still did. They have some great colors such as some cute pastel colors (such as: Pastel Polish, Vintage Polish and Lilac Polish) and a black with red glitters (called Vampira Polish). I don’t have too many Essence nail polish as I don’t find their range all that exciting. I’m much more into their top coats, then their regular nail polishes. I love the creamy royal blue (Walking on Air) and the sparkly turquoise colors (Choose Me).

Ciaté, Essie & China Glaze

We’re moving into my most favorite brands now with China Glaze and Ciaté both coming in on second place. I don’t have too many Essie polishes, but what I have (In Stitches & Dive Bar) I like. Quite a few of the Ciaté polishes I’ve won via several online competitions, but I also bought a few myself. Favorites: the red Sherbert Fizz, cult classic Cookies & Cream and a purple with a golden sheen called Strictly Legal. China Glaze does many amazing colors and I find the formulation wonderful. My favorites are For Audrey (a true Tiffany blue), Holly-day (a creamy dark forest green) and Bing Cherry (the perfect cherry red).

OPI

Did I mention OPI was my favorite brand of nail polish? Well you know now! Of all brands this one is the one best represented in my collection. I bought many of these from a website called Transdesign, but they have since closed down and I don’t know where to find them any more. Many many favorites here: Mermaid’s Tears (a pretty seafoam green color from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection), The Show Must Go On (a pink & orange duochrome from the Burlesque collection), Tickle my Franc-y (the perfect every day neutral), Hot & Spicy (for that pop of orange with a monochrome outfit), Number One Nemesis (Metallic silvery color with a hint of green from the Spiderman collection) and Warm and Fozzie (Bronze with red shimmer from the Muppets collection). But also Diva of Geneva, Lincoln Park at Midnight, My Private Jet and Melon of Troy are equally pretty. Heck, I just like all of these.

And that’s it! That’s my entire nail polish collection. No bits left behind. If you want to see swatches, simply type the name of any nail polish in this post in the search bar and if I’ve swatched it, it should pop up. If you want to know the names of all these beauties, then simply click here for a list of all nail polishes I currently have.

You can find my previous nail polish collection posts by clicking here.

What’s your favorite nail polish brand?