Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The... great? half-assed de-stash begins!


Yes, I'm totally chicken to not completely let go of some of my polishes but what if I might want to wear them again one day? And then can't find them? And then pay through the nose on eBay to remember why I de-stashed them to begin with?

(I did this with OPI Lincoln Park After Dark: bought it, hated it, swapped it away, started seeing pictures of it looking nice, started lemming it again, bought it again, hated it again, swapped it away again. Never again!)

In case anyone was wondering: I bought dozens of the 1/8th fl. oz. mini bottles from Supply Source (which is where the "David" topcoat is from) and the small labels from OnlineLabels.com (you can also print the labels too). The only hesitation I have about this whole project is that I don't really enjoy the mini-bottle brushes that much. But these are polishes I probably wasn't going to use more than a couple of times anyway. I've already de-stashed about 35 of my polishes and freed up some much needed space. The mini bottles fit very well into my (still-spacious) small drawer set for short polishes such as Essie and RBL. :)

...errrr, yes, I'm working. Very hard. Super hard even.

ETA: I just counted and I've de-stashed about 60 polishes pretty quickly this way. About 50 of those have been decanted into mini bottles but the remainder I realized that I didn't even want to save 1/8th (or less) of a fluid ounce. Which means: "onto the swap/sell pile it goes!" All of my China Glaze and OPI polishes fit into two Container Store stackable shoeboxes now. I mean, it's a very tight fit and some are put in upside down but I used to need a third for the overfill (it shared a space with Mattese, Guppy and Color Club).

I intend on de-stashing at least another two dozen. It feels like I've ruthlessly de-stashed a bunch already but I'm addicted to making space in storage now. I love having more space to fill up again.

It's strange: when I swatch a polish, if I don't like it, I'm pretty quick to let go of it. But the ones that I've owned for awhile, even if I don't really like it, I'm hesitant to let it go. It's almost a familiarity thing: if I've known it and had it for months or years, I like it better than it might otherwise merit if I had just gotten it today.

Oh man, it's past midnight and I should get to bed. Leading a discussion tomorrow morning, bright and early.


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8 comments:

kada said...

Same LPAD problem here! I swapped it and now I wanted it back!

flinty said...

Just keep reminding yourself that you swapped it away for a reason!!

emmajoy said...

If you're swapping Project Runway please let me know!

SalvagedExpression said...

Are you swapping at MUA?

Papaya Bunny said...

Mini bottles is a brilliant idea! I never thought of that, I tend to just swap away polishes that I look at thinking "Well, I'll only use this once or twice more". I'm definitely going to order some empty bottles after work. Sadly to say, most of my polishes will only be used 1-2x. I'm always amazed at the people who can finish a bottle of polish, I never use it that often!

Every so often I go through my stash and start swatching away and giving myself the hard task of "Do I want to keep this? Can I live without this?". I actually did that the other day and got rid of around 10 polishes.

Tenns Reid said...

This is a really awesome idea!

flinty said...

@emmajoy: Actually, D swooped in, like, two minutes after I posted and reserved PR for herself. Sorry! :(

@SalvagedExpression: currently, I'm on a de-facto swap break. I just have no time to get to the PO these days. I will return to swapping in the summer. :)

@Papaya bunny: I've never finished a whole bottle of polish. I've never used one bottle of polish more than six or seven times. Besides the sad brush, the mini bottles are really a much better idea for me than hoarding the full bottles. Btw, Supply Source only allows you to purchase with a minimum of $25. ...yes, I bought $25 worth of mini bottles.

I usually do a major de-stashing by swatching my collection during the summers. Also, I lay everything out by color and check for dupes. But that process is really slow and I was quickly running out of space. :)

@Tennsley: thanks! I'm pretty pleased with it. :)

emmajoy said...

Dang! Thanks for letting me know :(

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