the capsule nail polish collection

at one point i think i owned over 300 nail polishes. now i have under 30.

the reasoning behind this is that i do my nails about once every two months, and i pretty much only ever reach for the same four colours - navy, burgundy, nude or black. so i chucked/sold/gave away almost everything in my excessive collection, and now that all that's left are the bare necessities.
note: that's a bit of a lie, this isn't my entire collection cause i have a few shades that i don't use very often or only use for my toes etc, but these are my faves & ones i'm likely to use more than once a year ok thnx

the nudes: butter london yummy mummy, essence hazelnut cream pie (let's not imagine what definition urban dictionary would come up with for that shade name), opi my vampire is buff (favourite) and l'oreal rose bagatelle. i also think i have a white nail polish floating about somewhere but don't hold me to that.

the metallics/glitters: opi lights of emerald city, opi happy anniversary, color club gold struck. i used to be such a huge fan of glitter nail polishes, but it was entirely how they looked in the bottle that drew me to them so i've cut down to just the one opi nail polish which i couldn't bear to part with - and look how beautiful it is.

there's three options for red nails - essie carry on, nails inc piccadilly circus (more of a raspberry pink but i love it anyway) and orly ruby. i have a very strong belief that the orly nail polish is without a doubt the best shade of red ever created, and it's like £2 here just sayin

the darks: sally hansen thinking of blue, nails inc motcomb street, sephora charcoal grey, orly liquid vinyl and essie power clutch.

there's also a few pastels in there bc i guess i have to lighten up sometimes, and the four that have made the cut are essie's bangle jangle, sally hansen green tea, opi steady as she rose and leighton denny babydoll. babydoll is my favourite of the lot, it's the perfect pastel pink for my skin tone (as pale as a jar of mayonnaise, if you were wondering) and - on the occasion that i acknowledge that i haven't painted my toenails in six months - is often the bottle i reach for to make my feet slightly more tolerable to look at.

for top and base coats (not pictured) i use the opi top coat and nails inc a&e base coat respectively. honestly i don't rate the opi top coat much, for the sole reason that it takes an age to dry which almost always results in smudged nails. when my bottle has finally run its course (which will probs be in approximately a decade) then i will be purchasing the sally hansen insta dri, which is one of the best affordable top coats i've come across.