Minimalism: Getting Rid Of Nail Polish

This first appeared on my old blog, Atheist Journeys. 


I like having nail polish in ever color I can, so it was scary to get rid of even one bottle. I found a system that worked for me and let me get rid of some colors painlessly, though.
 I got rid of about twenty-five bottles, and I still have about fifty-four bottles (collected over the years, almost all of them cheaper brands, and once I got multiple bottles when my favorite, rare color was being discontinued). I'm still going through them, and maybe I'll get rid of more, but right now I have both a huge rainbow of colors, and I hopefully have only what I'm likely to use.
Here's what I've found to be helpful. It was painful to even think about getting rid of some, at first, because I've gotten rid of nail polish and regretted it, before. So I go slow when going through anything, and make sure that I don't think I'll want it again.
Use these tips, if you like. I hate it when books or people try to tell me what to do, so apply these suggestions as far as you want to apply them:

1) Get rid of the colors that are so thin, that you need four coats and a strong light just to see them. I like thicker nail polishes, and richer colors, so that I don't have to waste a lot of time putting on multiple coats.

2) Don't collect a whole series of colors. Or, unless you like them all, don't keep them all. This is your personal collection, and if some colors are too thin, or you don't like them, they're not worthy of you.

3) Write down a list of colors and brands you get rid of, if it makes you feel better, so you can get them back later if you regret it. This doesn't work for discontinued colors, but you might be able to get them online, or a shade like it, if you really want to get rid of a discontinued color.

4) When you have two or more shades that are just off of each other, put them on side-by-side and compare them, then keep the color you like best. You may discover, also, that one color is very thin, and so you can get rid of that one in favor of the more vivid one. Ironically, Avon's Vivid Violet is not vivid at all. More vivid was its cousin, Avon's Decadence. Avon is very thin sometimes, if it's not a dark color.

5) I got rid of some nail art tools and decals, because I don't care to do nail art. You may like it, but if you don't, then you won't miss the supplies. You could always use sponges and toothpicks, if really you want to do nail art.

6) I also got rid of some colors I just didn't like, at least as much as other colors. They were all fairly common shades, so I could get them back, or something similar, if I wanted. I may not have grey, or gold glitter, but I could easily get it, if I really wanted it.

7) When buying nail polish, apply what I call the Rule of Immediate Consumption: If you don't want to wear it that very night, then don't buy it. You can get multiple shades, even with this rule, if you love them. But if you don't want to wear them right away, then you probably don't love them. I apply this rule to clothes, too, even if I don't get to wear them right away, as long as I would wear them right away.

8) I have a small plastic box with all of my nail polishes, and I like to arrange them in rows (as much as I can with the different-shaped bottles), and in rainbow order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple), then pink, white, black, gold, and silver. This way, I know exactly where a color is supposed to be, and I like rainbows because they're both beautiful and gay (like me). So this arrangement makes me smile. I don't worry about sorting the individual shades within the colors in any specific order. Extra bottles of the same shade go after all of the other colors, so they don't get in the way.


Nail polish doesn't take up much room at all, but sometimes it's really nice to have fewer shades to "have" to choose from, if you want to paint your nails. It's all about balancing the urge to have every color and shade possible, with the urge to get rid of everything. I have to do this with my clothes, too, since I love having a lot of nice clothes to wear, but I also love having a few favorites to wear over and over again.