Recently, I sat down and cleaned the forty plus rims of my OPI, Sephora by OPI, and Essie nail polish bottles. When nail polish accumulates on the rims of bottles, the bottle can't close as tightly or evenly. More air enters your bottle which eventually leads to the polish inside drying out faster. You can extend the life of your polish collection by keeping the rims clean when applying the polish and by periodically cleaning the bottle itself with acetone. I'd suggest using paper towels instead of cottonballs or rounds. The cotton fibers tend to get stuck everywhere (yep, I found out the hard way).
Cleaning my collection also helped me rediscover some colors I forgot I had, and reminded me to be a bit more reductionista (borrowing that term from
Liz) in my ways. But, there's still a little room for the Lippmanns that I've been eyeing, right? Which reminds me, I still have all my luxury and drugstore polishes left to clean. Sigh. Have you performed any polish stash maintenance recently? Do you have any tips for nail polish or makeup stash maintenance?
Love, Dovey.
Great idea! My thoughts on doing this were more geared toward just having them look better - I never even thought about the bottles not closing as well and letting air in and drying out faster. What a great tip Dovey!!! :D
ReplyDeleteHi Beauty Obsessed, thank you! I remember learning this tip from a blog a long while ago :)
DeleteI do it every now and then. It not only helps the polish last longer but it also helps me purge my (way too big) collection :if the bottle is clean a couple time in a row, it means i didn't use the color and should purge it.
ReplyDeleteGood tip about paper towel because i still use cotton and it does leave fiber everywhere.
Hi Marlene, Eep, I don't know if I could purge anything! I'm still a hoarder I guess :)It sounds like you're really good about cleaning your collection. Cotton saves your fingers from all the acetone, but I really can't stand the cotton!
DeleteOh I agree with you Dovey. I always clean the bottle neck of my nail polish, otherwise it will dry out very fast. Thanks for the tips :)
ReplyDeleteHi memoiselle, thanks for the comment! One of my favorite colors dried out too once. It had a really gunky neck. Lesson learned!
DeleteOh I never think of doing that, most of my polishes are pretty clean anyway but my Mum's are rotten! I keep buying her more polishes to try to make her rid herself of some of the crappy dirty ones!
ReplyDeleteHi Emma, lol! You've reminded me to ask my mom how her polishes are doing lately (or maybe she's read this post already :D)
DeleteHey Dovey, I do this after I paint my nails every time with a cotton pad and some polish remover. I learnt this after getting a manicure a couple of years ago, and it makes a lot of sense! If I don't want to risk my manicure, I leave the bottles out till I remove my nail polish and I do everything in one go :)
ReplyDeleteHi Sunny, wow! I definitely respect your regiment! This a really good idea too!
Deletethanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletei've seen manicurists do this after each manicure. maybe i should start doing this before my manicure at home. ;)
Hi Lena, oooh, I did not know that! I didn't consider maintenance every time, but it makes a lot of sense!
Deleteoh, this is a good idea! I never even thought about this. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks bronzerbunny!
DeleteGreat tip, Dovey! I'm a little embarrassed though as I'm nowhere near the reductionista I should be when it comes to nail polish. :> I hate when the bottle necks get goopy so I'm careful not to splash, but there are a few that definitely need to be cleaned for sure. No cotton fibres, got it!
ReplyDeleteHi Liz! Hehe :) we all have a kryptonite ... or two... or three! I hope this works for you!
DeleteI never thought of doing that...I do find that happens with older nail polish...brilliant tip! I will do that once I get home from my trip...I love my nail polish collection to death and would like to extend its lifespan for as long as possible. I do get sad when an older nail polish starts behaving all weird and thick...
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