My Nail Varnish Storage

I have been meaning to blog about my nail varnish storage for moooonths. I recently realised that I manage to leave a trail of nail varnishes behind me. I knew I had a lot but it wasn't until I sat down and counted them all that I had the sickening realisation that I owned just a few short of 100 nail polishes. No girl, needs 100 nail polishes. Not even the nail bars I used to frequent had 100 nail polishes! Always keen for a mini spring clean (my makeup drawers are calling me- they're in one hell of a state) I thought I had better sort through my varnishes as there is no way that I wear all of them or will ever want to wear some of them again.

Above you can see the before, during, and after pictures. I streamlined my collection and put lots aside to go on to new homes, be put in the bin, or to be sent to Give and Makeup. These included the majority of my Barry M, all of my 17 (they chip too quickly), prehistoric MUA, gooey GOSH and Rimmel, plus excess coral varnishes from Nails Inc. (I had 6 corals. All the same. Girl got problems)

The storage:
The shelves are from the Ribba range that you can buy from Ikea for around the £5-£8 mark. I bought these shelves a year ago when I was shopping with my mum and instantly knew they were perfect for nail varnishes. 
I didn't put too much thought into how I would organise the ones that made the cut, I just sorted them by brand. Top shelf, front row I put my Illamasqua beauties, O.P.I, No.7, Nars, Dior, Rococo, Jessica, China Glaze and Orly. Behind the front row I put some odd glitter polishes and unbranded ones, and some nail wraps.
Second shelf I put my Essie's, Models Own, L'oreal Colour Riche, GOSH (including the original Holographic polish which I couldn't bring myself to get rid of), and all of the mini Ciate from my advent calendar. Behind these I popped any spare base and top coats and the one Barry M the made the final line up ('Mushroom' incase you were wondering.)

Already I feel a little more organised and have made it my aim to sort one section out each week. Now my nail stash is sorted I fear it may be time to move onto lip products..I dread to think how many of them I own! Would you be interested in seeing more spring clean/storage posts?

NEW IN! Dior Scented Nail Lacquer #NOTD

Dior Nail Lacquer 'Waterlily' £18.

I think these were released on Friday (forgive me if I'm wrong) as part of the Limited Edition Spring Collection 'Garden Party.'

As with all Dior nail varnishes, the packaging, and the brush to apply the polish with are excellent quality and pretty smart. The brush is wide and firm which makes application a dream. 

'Garden Party' contains two scented nail varnishes, Waterlily and Forget Me Not. Of course the names tie in with the garden theme, and the 'intoxicating rose scent' does too.

 Waterlily is a fresh, soft aqua green colour. It's too deep to be deemed a pastel shade, and the dried finish is a very subtle soft focus pearl- not matte or sheen particularly. I do like this colour but imagine the lilac Forget Me Not colour will be more of a popular sell!

I must say, the scent isn't immediate and you cannot smell it in the bottle (you'll just get a big 'ole whiff of nail varnish smell instead!- I did warn you!). The scent develops after drying and if I'm honest, me, my friend and my boyfriend (don't worry he didn't wear the polish!) were all hard pushed to smell anything there. There was a really faint floral smell, but it is in no way 'intoxicating' as Dior describe it and unless you want to go around all day smelling your fingers then don't let the scented varnishes trick you into purchase!- It is a little disappointing! By the second day of wear any fragrance that was there has faded.

Despite the lack of scent, the varnish itself is a lovely one. High quality, good drying time and excellent application brush.

Have you bought anything from Garden Party yet?

Dior Review #1 Rock Coat

Dior Rock Coat Nail Polish, available for between £14-£18 for 10ml

My friend Makeda sent this to me a few of weeks ago to test out and review for this 'ere blog. I was pretty chuffed to get this really, as much as I have always loved nail varnish I don't really branch out to high end brands like Dior etc because I would normally choose to spend the money on makeup from brands such as these. However, chuffed to have this in my collection!

Rock Coat is a top coat to be used on the shade of your choice, though I imagine this would work best on darker shades- a smokey nude nail doesn't seem very appealing! Dior claim that Rock Coat 'sets and speed dries' nail varnish, that it 'coats the varnish with a veil of smoky lacquer extending wear and increasing shine' for a 'sensual and enigmatic' finish, - 'citing! 

The image below shows the Rock Coat used on a clear basecoat;

I chose to use Rimmel London Professional Finish nail varnish in 420 Aqua Cool as my 'underneath' colour because I find it a bit too pastel/bright for this time of year when I prefer deeper colours on my nails. While I'm on the subject I'll say that I really think these Rimmel Pro Finish varnishes are amazing for the price; both formula and the application brush. They apply evenly and don't take long to dry at all, plus they come in quite good colours. This is the colour on my nails;

 I applied two coats of Aqua Cool (only takes two coats to create a completely opaque finish) and then put one coat of Rock Coat on top. The Dior brush is great, it's quite large, flat with firm fibres that allow precise application. There's a slight angle point at the end to help getting into any hard to reach corners, two brushstrokes and the nail is covered- dreamy.

I love the results, I was pleasently surprised because I wasn't expecting much of a change really! It dries within a minute or two and the finish is so smooth and so glossy. It has achieved the 'smokey' look it was meant to, but it has also added depth, almost a 3d finish and looks so unique and gorgeous.

 All in all, I'm really pleased I now have this in my collection, I think I have been converted to higher end nail varnish (great news for my future bank balance) because the experience using it was so much more enjoyable than with cheaper brands; a perfect smooth finish and dries quickly (and properly!). With cheaper polishes I have at times sat there for far too long, applying layers and waiting for them to dry inbetween only to pick something up half an hour later and smudging occurring. Not with Dior Rock Coat, oh no. I'm looking forward to trying this on more colours and to using it more, painting my nails was becoming such an inconvenience for me, but this only took about 5 minutes altogether, which is a bit better ;-)

Do you like the effect Rock Coat gives? What other high end varnishes have impressed you?