How To Store Nail Polish

Since this blog is called My Polish Stash and (I assume) is read mainly by nail polish lovers like myself, it was about time to tell you about some recommendations for nail polish storage. I have written about how I organize my nail polish collection before and how I moved from the six drawer Alex to the larger nine drawer Alex. However, if you have a smaller nail polish collection, you do not need such a big unit. There are smaller and more budget-friendly options available, which work just as well.
Before we dive into the different storage options, some general remarks concerning storage of your treasured polishes to prolong their life and keep them in perfect condition for as long as possible. Firstly, you do want to store your nail polishes in a dark place with a constant, rather cool temperature. Light exposure can promote discoloration or fading of the pigment. The colder temperature slows down evaporation of the solvents and pigment settling. Please refrain from storing your nail polishes in the bathroom! They will constantly be exposed to humidity and temperature changes due to shower use. A good place to set up your stash would be the bedroom, a guest room or your office, if you have one at home. Of course the living room is good, too, but try to find a space away from the heater.
Once you have found the perfect space for your stash, you need to find something to store your bottles in.

For small collections, a shoe- or cardboard box works well and is super cheap. When I started out collecting nail polish, I kept them in two clear plasting boxes like the one shown above. I am not sure where exactly I got these from, but you will find something similar at Ikea, Target or online. To keep the polishes in the dark, I simply tucked the boxes away into a closet in my office. When using a cardboard or plastic box, the bottles need to stand upright, or else the polish might leak into the cap and dry, which makes the bottle hard to open. Trust me, I've been there. If that happens, putting the lid into hot water for a few minutes might do the trick. The Daily Varnish has written a nice post on how to unstick a stuck nail polish lid.

Another affordable option for small to medium size nail polish collections is this chest of drawers from Ikea called Moppe. At least here in Germany it is called like this. I searched for it on Ikea UK and Ikea USA, but could not find it. So maybe it has a different name where you are. Actually I use this to store my stationary, but it nicely holds nail polish, too. Even the taller bottles like OPI or NOPI fit in there upright. It is available in various sizes and if you do not like the plain wooden look of it, it is easy to customize using paint or fabric for example.

A very popular storage unit is the Helmer from Ikea. This steel drawer unit can easily be moved around thanks to its casters. It is inexpensive ($40 or 29€), fits most bottle shapes and holds a ton of nail polish. I have never owned one, because it has a few drawbacks in my opinion. Firstly, I did not like its general look. It does not seem overly sturdy to me. Secondly, there is nothing that stops the drawers from sliding all the way out. That makes accessing the bottles in the back easy, but there is the danger of dropping the drawer on the floor if you pull it out too far.

Another popular option among US nail polish lovers is the Melmer, which stands for Helmer from Michael's. It is around $30-40, so pretty affordable, too. It holds less bottles compared to a Helmer, but is made from MDF and looks more sturdy.

By now, I keep my nail polish collection in an Alex drawer unit from Ikea. This is kind of an investment, as this nine drawer unit costs 99€/$119, but I do not regret buying it. It fits my whole collection, which must be around 900 polishes right now (I prefer staying in denial of how much nail polish exactly I own, lol). Even the more shallow drawers hold OPI bottles, which is not the case for the six drawer unit, just so you know.

I lined my drawers with these anti sliding mats to prevent movement of the bottles when opening and closing the drawers.

There is a variety of inserts available to organize the drawers of your Alex or Helmer or Melmer. The one pictured above is also from Ikea and I believe it is called Summera. I found it in the office section. It can be cut to the proper size of your drawer. I am using this to organize my nail care items and base and top coats.

I just realized that my whole nail polish storage is from Ikea. This Antonius insert holds all my nail art items, from stampers over stripers and glitter to stud wheels.

If you prefer keeping your nail polishes in sight, rather than tucking them away, you can use wall racks or cake stands. As this option exposes the polish to light, I recommend this is a decorative solution for short-term storage, e.g. polishes you want to wear or swatch soon.

Finally, what about the myth of keeping your nail polish bottles in the fridge? There still is some debate going on whether or not this actually prolongs the life of nail polish. As mentioned previously, colder temperatures slow down solvent evaporation and pigment caking and settling. This speaks for the fridge. On the other hand, storing nail polish in the fridge exposes it to extreme temperature changes. Nail polishes require room temperature in order to work, otherwise the formula will not apply smoothly. Going back and forth between warm and cold temperatures probably causes more harm to the nail polish than good. Secondly, I doubt your significant other or room mate appreciates bottles of nail polish in between steaks and cheese. Lastly, this surely is no option for storing larger collections - unless you can life off of nothing but nail polish ;)

This post turned out longer than I had in mind, but I really wanted to tell you about the different options and the pros and cons. I hope this was helpful. And now I would love to hear how YOU store your nail polishes!