Friday, July 2, 2010

500th Post =D Stash Pics!

Yes, unbelievable I know - 500 posts. I'm in awe of my own self =) Thanks for taking this journey with me. I love all you guys & have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. Random AWOL outages may occur but I'll always return with a backlog of NOTD spam to share =) Like this past week actually LOL ... but I'm off with a half-day from work, so my holiday weekend starts RIGHT NOW, and I'll tell you about all the upcoming posts at the end of this one =)

I also have to say, doing my tutorials on YouTube has given me a new appreciation for all of you that read my blog - because a lot of you are nail bloggers yourselves, and I often take for granted that even those of you who aren't, you all have pretty good polish knowledge.  Some of the questions I get in YT comments can really test my patience LOL!  I try to keep it polite even when I'm frustrated, but for example so many people respond that they're using tap even though I try to say every time that I'm using filtered water.  Maybe they don't have the sound on is what I always tell myself ... I'm considering adding closed captioning, but I don't know when I'll get to that.

On to the stash!  I've got lots & lots & lots of polish pics.  I kind of wish I had a lightbox so I could take some super-nice bottle pics ... maybe one day.  I've also mostly updated my Polish OCD spreadsheet, and I will be uploading the fresh version to GoogleDocs soon.  While organizing things, I came across a shoebox of polish that my mom gave me & I thought I'd already cataloged, but turns out I hadn't - so I have more than passed the 1,000 mark LOL. Total current bottle count - not counting base or top coats, or dupes of the same colors - is now up to 1,033.  And that's actually not counting the 12-piece BB Couture Cantina collection that arrived Wednesday, not to mention my 2nd Zoya exchange haul!  Those will each get their own posts, and once I add those 24 polishes to the spreadsheet, I'll have 1,058 bottles O.o

Here are my Helmers, in a neat little row - the box to the left is an industrial amount of cotton, I bought it at Sally's earlier this year & have barely put a dent in it.  I have to admit they normally have a week or 2's worth of polishes I've recently used & haven't put away yet on top, but I cleaned it off just before taking this:


I did a little rearranging of my polish when I got my 3rd Helmer, and I do kind of try to keep brands together, but my polish is mainly sorted by color.  That's just how my mind normally works, especially if I'm marbling & a particular polish does work, I want to be able to go to a single drawer to find a replacement, not all over the place.  I lined my drawers with no-slip lining so the bottles don't move around when I open the drawers.

The top row of drawers is all supplies & extra stuff.  L-R:  marbling experiments, extra topcoats, nail foils, painter's tape, pinking shears - supplies for patching, glitter, rhinestones & etc - brushes, dotting tools, Konading supplies & special polish:


2nd row L-R:  Purple #1 - Purple #2 (this is the only color that has 2 drawers!) - Holographic:


3rd row L-R:  Duo-Chromes - Blue & Turquoise - Glitter:


4th row L-R:  Red (which I obviously need more of!) - the Blue/Green overflow drawer (this is my only empty drawer ATM but both the blue & green drawers are nearly full so it's between them ) - Chromes, Silvers & Greys (could use some more grey also):


5th row L-R:  Pink (I don't even like pink that much ... I don't know how I got this many LOL) - Green & Teal - Black, Vampy, White & Off-White:


6th row L-R:  Nude & Sheer - Yellow, Orange, Gold - Brown & Bronze:


Now, you're probably thinking something along the lines of "Holy crap that's a lot of polish!!"  Well, I'm actually not done yet.

Everything in the Helmers is polish that I've already worn.  I keep my unworns in plastic shoeboxes, and for some reason I keep those all sorted the reverse, by brand for some reason. And I have more than any normal person would consider sane.  But I like having a lot to choose from LOL, and when I have a coupon or there's a sale, I don't want to wait & miss out.  So I end up with this:


#1 Franken box (even though I've yet to franken ... mostly empty bottles & dupes) - #2 mostly Sally Hansen, (some old from Dollar Tree finds) - #3 mostly old Maybelline (more DT) - #4 more Maybelline including some newer colors - #5 more Sally Hansen, Orly, Revlon - #6 Claire's Nina Ultra Pro, Sinful - #7 Essie, Color Club, Misa, Bariell, Ulta, Milani, and some misc. brands - #8 OPI, Sephora by OPI, Nicole by OPI, L'Oreal, some misc. - #9 China Glaze, Nubar - #10 Finger Paints, Wet 'n' Wild, Zoya.

So ... that's my stash =)  No video for now, but it's on my to-do list LOL.  Just for fun, here are some numbers overall (not including the BB or my coming Zoyas:  Out of my 1,033, I have 49 different brands.  I have the most Sally Hansen at  174, 2nd is China Glaze at 122, 3rd place is Maybelline at 108.  The Sally Hansen & Maybelline numbers are so high I think mainly thanks to Dollar Tree LOL, China Glaze more because I think it's on of my most favorite brands.  I have 54 OPI, 26  Zoyas, 17 Urban Decay, many of which are quite old. So many others of course but I don't want to bore you too much with numbers =)

I hope you guys enjoyed all the stash pics, and I have lots of manis to edit pics for also.  I haven't really posted this week, but I've been doing my nails almost every day.  Upcoming posts include:
  • Naked Nails from a few days ago
  • White w/ blue & red stars
  • Red & blue funky french
  • PHD Book Cover Challenge NOTD (still wearing this - I LOVE it)
Thanks for reading.

~Colette

53 comments:

  1. OMG... I've never seen that amount of nail polisches by one person! :) good work and happy polishing!

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  2. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I'm inlove <3<3<3<3<3

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  3. Oh, that's a lot of polishes! :P

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  4. Wow, that's mental! I'm sure that you actually have more than most nail salons! I wonder if you can insure nail varnish collections...

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  5. woah- that's a LOT :o
    did you count them?

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  6. OMG !! The paradise of nail polishes ! Your collection Colette is sooo beautiful !! ^^

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  7. i know what you mean about YT comments sometimes. your unworns!!! omy!! do you think you will ever get through them all???

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  8. Holy moley! OMG! HEEHEE Best post ever! <3

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  9. Whoo Hoo!!! 500 post awesome. I do have a youtube acct but don't make videos!!! I started out looking at videos before blogging. I have to subscribe to your videos.

    Your collection is certainly growing. Thanks for sharing :)

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  10. OMG...Thats some collection!!
    Congratulations for 500 posts...Good luck for many more in future...:)

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  11. If my husband EVER makes a comment on my stash of polish, I will show him yours and let him know that I'm just a beginner!
    Way to go on your posting milestone!

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  12. Wow, awesome, you have a great stash.
    All I can say is, a girl can never have too much nail polish ;)

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  13. I love this post. What a fabulous and ever growing collection. I always enjoy your tutorials and visiting your blog even if I don't comment a lot. Thanks for the fabulous posts and keep them coming! =)

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  14. WOW!!!! What an awesome stash! Can I come shop?! lol...Congrats on your post count! I hope to be there one day. :-)

    By the way, I started a nail blog, and would love to have you follow. If you're interested. :-)

    http://alisnailnews.blogspot.com/

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  15. Wow, that sure puts my rack to shame, hahahaha! :D

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  16. Very cool! I have a couple stash drawer photos coming up on my blog, I took them a week ago when it was nice out, it's fun to peek into other peoples "drawers" :D

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  17. WOW! Can I help you put those back into the Helmer? LOL.
    SO very nice.
    Congratulations on the 500th post.
    A reminder to join in on my giveaway. :) http://susies1955.blogspot.com/2010/06/enter-my-kiss-giveaway.html
    Susie

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  18. Nice post... It looks familiar (lol)! Yesterday I was trying to figure out my stash stats and came up with something similar but you have most of us beat hands down. Congrats on you 500th blog entry and take care♥

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  19. wow!! thats a lot of polishes... weeeeeeee!! happy polishing sweety!!

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  20. Damn! I don't know whether to tell you you have a problem or drool with envy XD. I would give my boyfriends left arm to shop this stash! (Can't give mine because then what would I polish o.o)

    Congratulations on 500 posts Colette! Keep them coming, you are one of my favorite bloggers and I always look forward to seeing new posts from you :D

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  21. I love how thorough you were in showing your stash (as I suspected you'd be), most girls aren't.

    And I thought my untrieds were horrible! Yours puts mine to shame! I say keep collecting. I hope to reach 1,000 one day. Maybe. ;)

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  22. WOW !....it's hypnotic, mesmerising eye candy to observe so many colors and bottles my LNB :). I'd love to take a years ( or more ) vacation to observe you manicure your nails daily till you've polished me happy with every color in your stash adorning your long beautiful fingernails. OH...can we keep adding more polishes so it never ends ?

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  23. Glad everyone enjoyed the pics =)

    BEATRIZ - I honestly don't know ... I bought even more for my birthday!

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  24. Congratulations for this 500th post! I love your blog very much !
    What a fabulous collection it's very impressive !!

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  25. WOW!!! what a great collection! Cant wait till I have enough to fill up a helmer. Im at about 200+ polishes and growing!

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  26. Holy hell and I thought I was bad, WOW, nail polish anonymous anyone?

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  27. Where can I find a Helmer? I'm assuming that's those filing cabinets you use?

    GRATS on the 500th post!! I agree 100% with:
    Kimberly said...
    If my husband EVER makes a comment on my stash of polish, I will show him yours and let him know that I'm just a beginner!
    Way to go on your posting milestone!

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  28. ANNABETTIN - yes, they're available at Ikea - Michael's has a similar unit that's only 3 drawers but can be stacked =)

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  29. I am in AWE! You truly are a nail polish rock goddess. lol Can't wait to show my BF that my little, but growing, stash has a long way to go. lolol Thanks for sharing.

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  30. Where did you get the Helmer's cabinets? Great orgainzation!!

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  31. Hey Colette! I'm a new subscriber to your site and I LOVE LOVE LOVE your work! My daughter and I really can't get enough...I have a couple of questions and I looked through some of your tutorials, but I'm sorry to say I havent been able to find my answers, as I'm sure you have the answers somewhere...
    First -- What strengthener do you use? I'm a fan of Nail Envy by OPI but do you have a favorite?
    Second -- How do you mix and match your colors when you do your marbling and swirling?
    Thanks in advance for whatever information you can give me and again, I love your work, and incidentally, thanks to you I've discovered a better way to organize our polish... :-)

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  32. please tell me, how much did you spend on all that ? must be a fortune !

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  33. Wondering how you keep your old polish fresh? Did you mean that box 1 has empty polish bottles? What will you do with them?

    I envy your lovely nails! Mine are thin and brittle, they suck!. I also envy your collection!

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  34. Holy Moly! You can set up your own shop

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  35. wow what a fabulous collection!
    I was just wondering how much did that huge box of cotton cost? I tried google-ing it and nothing came up :)

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  36. Hi Colette, I love having a liking to nail polish and art. Never knew there were ppl like me out there. I love all of your videos. I like this blog though bc I can go as fast or as slow as iI want; and videos can be time consuming and I end up stopping the video before I get to the end. This post was nice bc I really wanted to know how you stored your polishes and its not what I expectes. Very nice and neat.

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  37. very nice! i wish i owned all those nail polishes! You are such an inspiration and congratulations! you have so many different colours!

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  38. Im glad im not alone. But ive only been at it for bout 8 months. Im trying to work out what to do with mine. I have young boys so i have to hide them. I feel like its a dirty little secret when i lock them away. LOL. Do you ever worry they will go gloopy b4 u get to use them?

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  39. I have to know! what polish is in those bottles with the long handles? i have a coloricon toppings from this year in that shape and i want more!

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  40. Hi Colette,

    the number 2000+ of polishes from ur replies on YouTube brought me here. although, this post is dated 2010 and ur stash has accumulated by double(!) by now, I was still stunned by the pictures of unused bottles(!!!) lol!
    I really love ur videos, u have made it so clear and easy to understand. do keep on going! :D

    and.. I LOVE purple too! hehe.. hope that there'll be more purple-theme nail art coming XD

    love from singapore,
    starstarz88

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  41. Wow that's a paradise of nail polishes!! I want to have as many as you but I am new to doing nail art and could you give me some tips u could just message me in my youtube account Amiedale Regalado

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  42. Wow! That's a lot of polish which is great. Since I've been watching your channel I'm up to 30 bottles of polish.. I have a looooooong way to go to have as many as you....

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  43. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhbhbhhhhhhbhhbhhhhb my freaking God




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  44. Next time my hubby tells me I have a polish addiction I'm so showing him this! lol! Your collection is incredible! I love it!

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  45. Wow loads!! I have 60 and my husband keeps telling me I have way too many, I should show him this. lol You have so many lovely colours, lovely to see it. :0)

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  46. wow so many bottles. makes you want to do your nails everyday!

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Thanks for commenting! I will read every comment, and try to respond to any questions =)

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