Fanatic Feedback – Use It Up
After discovering that so many of you have medium to large nail polish collections, I’m curious… when was the last time you used up a bottle of polish? Have you ever finished a bottle? What was it? Did you repurchase the shade?
I personally go through top coats, base coats, remover and treatments like there is no tomorrow but with the exception of OPI I’m Not Really A Waitress (my go to pedi shade throughout my 20s), I can’t remember the last time I actually went through an entire bottle (other than minis). What about you?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I went through a full bottle of Chanel’s vamp! It is my favorite color ever and goto shade for the perfect dark and but not too dark!
I’ve never used up a whole bottle. I’ve gotten it down to where the brush barely reached the polish though.
The only bottle that ever came close for me, color-wise, is Essie’s Nude Beach. But Sephora-OPI’s Never Enough Shoes may get to that point because it has been my 24/7 pedi shade since I got it. The few times I have changed pedi colors, I’ve lasted about 2 days before I’m slapping a couple of coats of NES on top.
I’ve used up at least one bottle of Essie’s Fifth Avenue (the perfect creme orange-y red for me), Chanel’s Ballet flats (I know I know Bore-ing), and I bet I’ll finish Essie’s Clam Bake (jelly orange). I have back-up bottles of the above as well as OPI You Don’t know Jaques and Sephora Metro Chic just in case…Also I go through bottles of Solar Oil, Nailtiques treatment #2 and Avacado foot creme, Seche top and basecoats, and I’m on my third tin of Burt’s Bee’s Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme, which I keep at work to apply after every handwash.
Never.
I went through two bottles of Chanel’s Kaleidoscope by February. If my mother only knew I skipped grocery shopping for a couple of weeks to feed my addiction…
I have never used up a full bottle. At least not in the past 10 yrs.
You know I have never in my life used a full bottle! How bizarre. I do go through a lot of top coat though.
I have never used a full bottle (except top coat) because before, I didn’t use lot of polish, and now, my collection increase and increase…and I’ve only 10 fingers LOL !
However, I’ve already threw some of bad quality which had become pasty… Sorry for language mistakes, I’m French ^^
I never get through a whole bottle. LOL.
Not since I was a teenager (and that’s more years since that I’d care to admit!).
Anon – Impressive. I'm such a hoarder that as I get near the bottom of a beloved shade, I stop using it. Terrible, I know.
Sydni – That's pretty good. Better than me
HeidiG – I love NES! I'm sure it's a great pedi shade. I get like that where I'm hooked on a certain color for my toes and I do it over and over.
Bottoms up – tell me more about this avocado foot creme. Who makes it? I'm always looking for new products to try
Pipi – LOL
Allison – 2 bottles??? Wow, that's devotion to a color. I hope you still have a bottle left. Kaleidoscope is such a killer shade.
Vanessa – Have you had to pitch any because they're too funky? Or do you still have all your polish from the past 10 years (minus swaps & RAOKS)?
VampyVarnish – I go through base coat more than anything since I show my swatches without top coat
Little Fairy – don't apologize. You're doing very well for having to write in a foreign language. Merci de commenter (I hope that's correct).
Orli – It seems that you're not alone in that.
Delirium – More than I'd care to admit as well. Let's just say we're eternally 21.
I’ve never used an entire bottle, although I’m on my 3rd or 4th round of Essie’s Plumski on my toes, so it may only be a matter of time!
I want to know how all you polish addicts store your bottles. My collection is quickly growing, and I’m having trouble coming up with an organized (and possibly attractive) way to store all these little beauties!
I’ve finished 2 bottles of a cheap sheer pink that I use for french manicures and a bottle of a black in the past year. I’ve just started using a top coat (I used to paint my nails once a week with friends so I really didn’t realise how long it took to dry), so I haven’t finished one yet.
I’m on my second bottle of Essie Allure, just because it’s my HG sheer. It’s my bridesmaid/interview/spending-time-with-small-minded-people color.
I’m too new to the polish thing to have used any up yet, but it’s somehow comforting to know that my favorite colors will be with me for some time, based on these comments!
I’ve never went through a bottle of polish, although my OPI speed top coat is pretty much empty. I also have a clear nail polish that is ending, and my mini OPI’s are looking bare. With that many nail polishes, Michelle, you would never go through one!
I never used up any of my polishes but my cousin is a polish monster. She slabs on hundreds of coats of polish and removes polish on a few fingers during a manicure and slabs again. She does not close the bottles properly and the polish becomes sticky and hard to apply. On top of that, when she’s finally satisfied, the next one or two days, she’ll choose another color and reslab. She is the reason why my hard-to-find Metro Chic, Run With It, Parlez-Vous OPI? and recently, Emerald Sparkle have been almost used up. Though I admit she does have good taste in nail polish. But I have to constantly buy polish thinner.
Nailtiques makes that fantastic Avacado foot cream…also I love the Cuticle and Hand Conditioner. I happened to find them both at a local beauty supply store in SF, but I’m not sure where it’s widely available. You can order if from thier website, though:
http://www.nailtiques.com/
I’m also dying to try thier Oil Treamtnet to see how it measures up to CND Solar Oil.
I, too have gone through an entire bottle of OPI I’m Not Really a Waitress–two, actually. I’m also on my second bottle of OPI Princesses Rule!, which is my go-to shade for French manicures. Other than those two, I’m halfway down my China Glaze LOL, which is eternally on my toes.
As far as non-polish products, I go through Orly Ridgefiller and Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat like crazy.
I always buy new polishes before I can wear a color twice! I had to buy a second bottle of ChG Frostbite beacuse I used the first for frankening. It’s such a gorgeous color!
I’ve gone through probably 2, maybe 3 bottles of Orly’s Liquid Vinyl, but I tend to go through bottles of black polish because my husband and I share it for clubbing. I also go through base and top coats like you wouldn’t believe, because I always use a base and top coat.
I never own more than 5 bottles of polish, mostly cheap brands, like L.A.Colors, or any other. But when I get tired of them, I franken them with another that’s no longer favorite. That makes life interesting. Like I have my own laboratory
Back when they were still in stores, I went through 5 bottles of Sally Hansen Prisms Turquoise Opal, and 3 bottles of the Amber Ruby. I truly miss those!
I’ve used a bottle and a half of OPI DS Glamour. My favorite blue! And I’m hoarding two unopened bottles!
I’ve used up top coats – a few bottles of Poshe. But I’ve never used up a bottle of polish. With the amount I have, I probably never will! I thought My Private Jet was a contender until I found Revvvolution. I guess that’s the contender now. Or OMG.
I feel in love with an OPI color from the London Collection, London Bridge is Falling Brown. Oh My!, it was the perfect blend of red and brown, at night it was almost black but by day it was the perfect color. Actually, it was my 1st OPI color ever… and my hubby knows how much I like it, that every time we go to a store he ask me about the color and he says to me that if he can, he would buy me a case.
Other color that I really really loved was a limited edition from Loreal, they came in a slim small bottle, this was a shiny black, but it was very easy to wear. I bought all of them, I think 4, on sale at a Walgreens, for about .99 cents. It was way before the black madness. I used them all. =)
I have never used up a full bottle also. But i just became a fan of nail polishes. So, I have time to used up a few bottles.
Just have to say it again, great blog!
Hmmm tricky. I have ALMOST finished my bottle of Urban Decay ID and bought a backup of it on ebay
I've gone through several bottles of UD's Gash,Frostbite,Oilslick and S&M. Also have had several Chanel Vamps.
I have never used up a whole bottle… I’ve gotten about 3/4th through a bottle and then it got dry/chunky so I threw it out. But I have yet to actually finish one.
Ive just about gone through 3 bottles of the KONAD white, for i am a stapmoholic. And tons of top coats and Barielle base coats. And 1 bottle of Metro Chic already
Oh, Ive gone through basecoats and topcoats- and a whole bunch of removers. But never a nailpolish. Ive always gotten tired of them before they were finished. Maybe that says a lot about my personality- hahahahaha
i have never used up a bottle, lol
i started polish collecting in 2007 and i haven’t yet to go through a bottle of polish. i have about 90 bottles and try to use all of them before i reuse a color again.
i am almost out of yoga-ta get this blue by opi becuase the summer it came out i applied it like a mad woman and i have almost used [ like not enough to dip the brush in] of another cheap blue nailpolish that i got at the dollar store that was so pigmented
i dont think i’ve ever truly finished a bottle. but like others have said before me, i’ve gone through 3/4 of some favorites before throwing it away. it gets a lil’ cumbersome when you have to keep tilting the bottle while doing your nails to get every last drop out.
I’ve been through several bottles of Revlon Colorstay in sheer pink/natural shades (Camisole and Absolute Bliss) before I started using color on my hands. I think I also killed a couple of bottles of various reds, back when red was all I used on my toes.
Now I have enough polish to last me seven lifetimes.
I’ve never ever gone through a whole bottle, but that’s because I can’t bring myself to wear one shade again and again, no matter how much I love it. I own about 50-60 bottles and while I love some more than others, I like to change the color depending on the weather, my mood, what I expect to be doing. And then of course, every season OPI comes out with a new collection, so I always buy at least one or two that I feel I really have to have.
While I’ve got 2 big drawers full of solo polishes and I use them frequently, I’ve gone thru 2 bottles of Myrtylle, an old Bourgois color (before it was sold in the US). I’ve got 3 left and use them sparingly. It’s the perfect wine color and never gets outdated. It’s a shame Bourgois has cut down its polish production to a few colors rather than its earlier great, wide color selection.
Ive gone through a bottle of OPIs Black Cherry Chutney– its my go-to fall vamp color. Almost done w a bottle of Lincoln Park after Dark as well.
(my collection is well over 200 bottles– which is nothing compared to some of you girls, but not tiny either
Hi: I have almost gone through OPI's Mate Nail Envy. I just keeping botle when they get really low. My other favoriute is OPI's Romeo and Juliet, I have thre bottles of that shade.
I use a medium sized plastic sealed box, "Lock & Lock" with four snaps omn all four sides and store the box in my metal filing cabinet. I only have about 30 different shades though.
Never used a whole bottle! I have almost 80 polishes I'd say. I'm almost done with my first Seche Vite, because I got my best friend into nail polish and we used to both use it every day. I go through remover and cotton balls like it's my job!
Never a full one, but like others down to the very last reachable drop and then some. Til I got sick of tilting the bottle. I probably have about 50 polishes, but more on the way.
It’s been a long long time since I’ve used one up. Now I just give away the ones I won’t use.
Actually, I’ve used an entire bottle of Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas… I LOVE the brightness of the purple, but it’s not quite neon. And I’ve used up an entire bottle of Chanel Feu de Russie.
Very close to finishing Essie After Sex and Seche Rose. Gone through too many bottles of Seche Prep to count.
I have just finished my second bottle of base coat and 1 mini bottle of red. I have just under 90 polishes. I love finishing things (get the best feeling ever LOL). I can’t stand the idea of waisting things and its not about the money. That is why I force myself to use the same color for 2 weeks (3-4 manis) to match my pedi (that last normally 2 weeks) even though I have a lot of untrieds. Then will switch to another color. I will rather keep the untrieds full and fresh while I slowly work through other bottles one by one – and I often plan which polishes to finish first etc. It sounds weird but I am having fun!! Maybe I have some compulsive disorder – you never know.
Forever ago Cover Girl Nailslicks had a shade called Classic Red 520. It was a true red creme, not the maroonish red with a slight shimmer that comes up now (and that I unfortunately received when I thought I’d found my long gone, HG on Ebay) when you google it. I went through multiple bottles of it before life interfered with having nails and it was gone when I went looking again. I have a half bottle that is hoarded away from the rest of my current 150+ collection, used only on special occasions. My husband likes it too, so much that when I pulled it out a few months ago for a rare appearance he realized that THAT was the color he’d been looking for to paint his lovingly restored, classic ’69 Camaro. When he took it to the auto place to get matched I threatened him with sleeping in that car if they used more than one drop of my precious polish! LOL. Other than that, never finish them. I either toss them or give them away. I might finish CG’s Stroll though, love it. It’s like Ruby Pumps grown up.
I used up a whole bottle of OPI Miami Beet for half moon maniqures, and bought another bottle