My New Organization

Before I started the Crumpet Tart Challenge, there were a few days of silence from me.  I indicated that I was still doing nail stuff.  Thought I'd show you what I was busy doing.

Yes, those are nail swatch sticks.  I originally used nail wheels to swatch, but it was hard to coordinate colors and didn't leave much room to put names of the polish.  I kept my nail wheels organized by color and polishes by brand, so it made it difficult, for instance, to figure out if Ess on my wheel meant Essie or Essence.  Although this took quite a bit of time (even with my son helping...He asked to help and did a lot of the gluing) it makes my nail life so much easier.  Not only can I coordinate colors for manis better, it makes blogging easier as I don't have to have polish bottles sitting out to reference polish names.  Now I just group my swatch sticks by mani until I get them blogged, then they go back in my carousel of polish goodness (tee hee).  Each color group is in it's only little compartment and the whole thing spins around for easy access.  It's actually a kitchen utensil organizer, but I stole if for my new obsession.  The only problem is that I can no longer be in denial about how out of control this obsession is.  Look at all those sticks!

And since I am showing you this, I might as well show you more of my cozy polish desk.  Don't want to see it?  Just skip it!

 This is what I originally started out with for polish storage, an old wooden spice rack that had been sitting around unused with three shelves that held polish two deep.  But then I outgrew it and got this.

Mmmmm....this makes me happy.  If I had the room (and the money), all of my polishes would be stored like this, visible in all their shiny glory (tee hee)  This is where I keep all my OPI and China Glaze, but then I outgrew even this, so now I have a three drawer file under my desk.  Not my ideal storage system, but will have to do for now.  Want to see more?
 

 Next I need some storage solutions for my stamping plates.  And there are my old nail wheels.  I painted over with some white acrylic paint so I can use them for pattern practice.  And speaking of practice, want to see what I use to check stamping polishes?

 I don't remember where I saw the idea for this....somewhere on YouTube.  These are clear, flat glass pebbles about the size of a quarter.  I use these when I want to see what different colors look like on a base color.  This may use extra polish, but I love that I can make sure the stamp will look right before applying to my nails.  Plus these can be reused again and again.

Hope you enjoyed this little peek inside my polish space.  If not, why did you read this far?  See you tomorrow!